pseudo-historical buildings

[saganista]

Closer to home, take a day off for afternoon tea at Oatlands. Route 15 south of Leesburg, north of Gainesville. It dates from 1803...

View of the Mansion

[Yankeesfan]

Check out Woodlawn Plantation in Alexandria:

History of Woodlawn (http://www.woodlawn1805.org/history.htm - broken link)

Frank Lloyd Wright's Pope-Leighey house is also on the grounds:

Frank Lloyd Wright's Pope-Leighey House

[springfieldva]

From the Old Town waterfront, you can also take a cruise down the Potomac straight to Mount Vernon. And vice versa.

[akorosdc]

Regarding Fredericksburg, most of the town is Civil War era, since a fire in the late 18th century (or was it early 19th?) destroyed all the old buildings, so they were rebuilt in the Federalist style. However, it still tries to be a blend of colonial and Civil War (the Apothecary shop and Mary Washington's house vs. Confederate Cemetary and battlefields). It's a great historical town (case in point, one of the few colleges offering a great Historic Preservation program is there), and if you're interested in Civil War there's about 5 battlefields in the area. I always thought it was fun pointing out the Civil War bullet holes/dents in the building walls to visitors.

[normie]

Originally Posted by littlewmn

Lake Anne plaza sounds like a great place to walk around. Was looking at a website that described it: "The plaza was modeled on the “new towns” concept that emerged in western England and Scandinavia in the 1960s. Reston was itself created in 1963 to be a green, walkable community, that integrated urban areas with the original rural surroundings" Sounds pretty darn cool. But it also said in comments that many businesses there were closing as people were not frequenting the area. Sounds like another big box casualty.

Go check it out, and if you can check out an open house in one of the town houses. Austin Powers would feel comfortable in one of these places. The plaza itself has all kinds of "mod" details. My favorite are the abstract sculptures along the walking trail. The abstract diving ladder next to the lake is something to ponder, too. There's a museum there that can tell you some interesting stories behind the different features. Stores come and go, but the problem is the commercial spaces are too small for today's tastes and parking is limited. Big Box stores are not a problem, they don't work with the unique design of the plaza.

[littlewmn]

Normie- I meant that people would go to the big box stores instead of the ones in the Plaza, causing Plaza stores to shut down.
Thanks all for some really cool suggestions! He is in Fairfax right about now, and will interview soon.