Discover the people who helped shape Arlington. This exhibit highlights early landowners and settlers whose decisions and choices laid the foundation for the county we know today. The Arlington Historical Museum is commemorating 250+ years of local history. This exhibit is upstairs on the 2nd floor of the museum. The Museum is open Saturdays 10-4 […]
Step into the moment Arlington helped shape the nation’s capital. In 1791, surveyors under President George Washington mapped a 100-square-mile federal district along the Potomac River, placing forty sandstone boundary stones; some of which still stand in Arlington today. Learn about the people who surveyed and mapped this land. The Arlington Historical Museum is commemorating 250+ […]
Explore how Arlington has been governed, and who has held the power to make decisions, over time in Who Decides? Governing Arlington Through Time. This exhibit traces the county’s evolving systems of leadership, from its early days as part of the District of Columbia to its return to Virginia and the development of today’s county […]
In the late 1700s, the first bridges, now completely gone, connected the new Federal City to the outside world. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, more and bigger crossings arose to support industry, allow the expansion of suburbs, commemorate cultural and civic leaders, and enhance the aesthetics of the District’s waterfronts and parks. Although the […]
New Changemakers Exhibit Installed The latest edition of our rotating Changemakers poster exhibit is now up, highlighting individuals whose contributions helped shape Arlington's history and community. As part of Arlington 250, the exhibit recognizes local leaders, advocates, educators, innovators, and community builders whose actions made a lasting impact on the county. By sharing these stories, […]
See Theodore Roosevelt Island with a new lens. Walk the places where enslaved people lived and worked on "Mason's Island" plantation from 1792-1860s. This guided walking tour is sponsored by The Memorializing the Enslaved (MEA) Project, a joint effort of the Arlington Historical Society and the Black Heritage Museum of Arlington. The tour will educate […]
As part of Arlington’s VA250 commemoration activities, the Arlington Historical Society is partnering with the Ballston Quarter to provide you with the opportunity to see the movie 1776. The one-time only event will take place at the Ballston Regal Cinema on Tuesday evening, June 30, at 7 PM. The theater only holds 200 seats, so space […]
“We hold these truths to be self-evident…” Back by popular demand again this year is a reading of the Declaration of Independence by YOU! out loud for all to hear at one of the only structures in the county that is still in existence to have hears the Declaration read aloud in 1776: the Ball-Sellers […]
As part of America’s 250th birthday celebrations, the Arlington County VA250 Committee is encouraging local churches, schools, or anyone with a bell of any kind to ring it at least 13 times (once for each of the original 13 colonies) at 2:50 PM on July 4, this Independence Day. If you want to participate please […]