Make your own history in Old Town, Alexandria

Old Town is a charm-laden historic neighborhood in Alexandria, Virginia. Popular King Street offers galleries, shops, restaurants, hotels and a Saturday Market Square farmer’s market. A reinvented Waterfront Park offers boating, river tours, scenic walks, Torpedo Factory galleries and arts spaces. New luxury residences line the riverfront. Old town homes range from picturesque Federals adorning brick and cobblestone streets, to massive Victorians and modern condos and townhomes.

Old Town Alexandria is the oldest section of the city founded by Scottish merchants in 1749 and named for John Alexander, a Scottish planter whose land holdings stretched roughly from Hunting Creek to the Arlington-McLean border. Alexander purchased the land for 6,000 pounds of tobacco and farmed the land. Alexandria become a major trade hub and was incorporated in 1789. It became known as the “Port City” of the Potomac and was one of the largest ports in the country by 1790. Old Town is the third oldest historic district in the United States.

The Ramsay House, home of Scottish merchant and city founder William Ramsay, was the oldest dwelling in the city. The reconstructed version now functions as the Alexandria Visitor’s Center.

On quaint Prince Street, in the cobblestoned 100 block, is Captain’s Row, named for Captain John Harper, who built many of the homes on the north side of the block in the late 1700s for sea captains who worked on the Potomac River. The block was destroyed in a fire in 1827, then rebuilt with some changes to individual homes. They remain, however, a picturesque reminder of the town’s seafaring history.

The 200 block of Prince Street is known as Gentry Row. Elegant townhomes built for wealthy merchants of the day, many of whom were Quakers, bear plaques from the Historic Alexandria Foundation. Two such homes are 212 and 214 Prince Street, double dwelling wooden homes constructed around 1785 or 1786 by merchant William Hartshorne when he relocated from Philadelphia. Hartshorne became a longtime friend of George Washington and the two men also transacted business together for flour and tools. 

George Washington built his own townhouse in Old Town, for use when he was away from Mount Vernon conducting business or attending social events. The 508 Cameron Street home we see today is actually a 1960 reconstruction on the site since Washington’s original 1769 dwelling was unfortunately demolished in 1855.

Rising above Shuter’s Hill at the north end of Old Town is the George Washington Masonic National Memorial (aka the ‘Masonic Temple’), constructed in Washington’s honor. It offers an unobstructed view of Old Town, from the King Street Metro to the Potomac.