Author Archive for: Yzhou

On this day in Arlington history: December 4, 1863. Freedman’s Village is dedicated.

On this day in Arlington history, December 1, 1843 The Alexandria Canal, which connected the Alexandria seaport to what is now the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park, opened to traffic and linked to the Potomac River.

On this day in Arlington history, November 29, 1940: All official activity ends at the Arlington Experimental Farm. The Arlington Experimental Farm, located on a portion of the Arlington estate close to the Potomac River, had been the main research facility for the US Department of Agriculture in the Washington area since 1900.

On this day in Arlington history, November 27, 1754, John Parke Custis is born. He was a Virginia planter, the son of Martha Washington and stepson of George Washington. He bought Abingdon plantation in what was then Fairfax County (now Arlington County) and settled there in 1778 with his wife, Eleanor Calvert, granddaughter of Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore.

On this day in Arlington history, November 25, 1884 James Elwood Donaldson was born. This Donaldson was a fifth generation descendant of ensign John Ball who fought in the Revolutionary War and whose father was Moses Ball (a very early settler of Arlington’s Glencarlyn neighborhood).