So Arlington and Alexandria were once part of the District of Columbia..."Whoodathought?" (Fairfax: casinos, legal)

[jmking]

Originally Posted by still_waiting

Hey try not to look too deeply into my statement in order to create dissonance. By the way there is nothing obvious when it comes to borders.

I meant history in general by my statement "especially when it is presented truthfully" ,not what I just learned about Arlington and Alexandria. I am not ignorant to the geopolitics of early America, but I was not aware that Arlington and Alexandria were part of The District.

Did you know DC used to be part of Maryland, and that Montgomery, Charles counties and what is now DC used to be Prince Georges County.

[still_waiting]

Originally Posted by jmking

Did you know DC used to be part of Maryland, and that Montgomery, Charles counties and what is now DC used to be Prince Georges County.

I have heard about DC once being a part of MD, but I didn't know anything about the counties you named once being a part of PG County. That's definitely nice to know. Though I have read about the late Anne Arundel.

Anybody who has info they'd like to share as far as geo-political history of the current DMV area please share!! I find this to be very interesting, especially since I am new to the area.

[brooklynborndad]

"The border could have very well been the result of the Potomac in the eyes of someone who did not know that they seceded. "

I think you are misreading us. The post 1848 boundary between DC and Virginia, like the pre-1789 boundary between virginia and maryland, IS a result of the Potomac. I think the border goes back to the Maryland charter, of 1630 or so.

What we are pointing out is that the border between Arlington County and Fairfax county is OBVIOUSLY not based on a natural geographic feature. And that the form it takes STRONGLY hints at the earlier relationship between Arlington County and DC. (absent knowing the history, one might, I suppose, surmise that there was a special district within Virginia, not part of DC, but created to be a virtual mirror image of DC. I think thats going on a bit overboard on excluding historic knowledge - one does not need to know about the retrocession to know how unlikely such a thing would be)

But of course, if you don't look at county boundaries, you wouldnt see the Arlington/Fairfax boundary, and so would miss the hint.

The hint is very obvious on a map - the map just needs to be detailed enough.

[betamanlet]

One of the original "markers" of the boundaries of DC is located right off Wilson Blvd, right on the border of Arlington/Falls Church, in the parking lot of some apartment building.

[brooklynborndad]

another interesting factoid

I think the border runs along the VA side of the river, so most of the river is IN maryland/DC which creates issues with water rights.

[still_waiting]

Originally Posted by brooklynborndad

"The border could have very well been the result of the Potomac in the eyes of someone who did not know that they seceded. "

I think you are misreading us. The post 1848 boundary between DC and Virginia, like the pre-1789 boundary between virginia and maryland, IS a result of the Potomac. I think the border goes back to the Maryland charter, of 1630 or so.

What we are pointing out is that the border between Arlington County and Fairfax county is OBVIOUSLY not based on a natural geographic feature. And that the form it takes STRONGLY hints at the earlier relationship between Arlington County and DC. (absent knowing the history, one might, I suppose, surmise that there was a special district within Virginia, not part of DC, but created to be a virtual mirror image of DC. I think thats going on a bit overboard on excluding historic knowledge - one does not need to know about the retrocession to know how unlikely such a thing would be)

But of course, if you don't look at county boundaries, you wouldnt see the Arlington/Fairfax boundary, and so would miss the hint.

The hint is very obvious on a map - the map just needs to be detailed enough.

Ok, it's clarified now. I'm going to make a GIS map and post it on here, you are right it does stand out now that you mention it .

[still_waiting]

Ok so here is a quick and dirty GIS map I put together showing the counties. (Mod, I created this map using my CERTIFIED official copy of ArcGIS 9.1 using public data...no copyright infringement at all).

I can see what you all in here are talking about, but how obvious it is depends on how a person is looking at it.

[brooklynborndad]

it looks even more obvious using a standard map - the dimensions are a little clearer, and the arlington plunge into alexandria is more dramatic.

[still_waiting]

If you did not know anything about the succesion, it would not be obvious, point blank period end of story. It's one of those things that becomes "obvious" after the fact. They even have a phrase for that...something like hindsight being 20/20

I could quiz you on other "obvious" occurences map-wise in the U.S. that if you did not know any background information about it, it wouldn't be obvious.

Discussion over.

[Stephen 81]

My guess is that a large percentage of Americans couldn't tell you which two states gave up land to form DC, let alone make accurate inferences based on a geopolitical map of the area, so obvious is definitely in the eye of the beholder.

Personally, I think it's obvious, but I also like maps, and history.