NOVA Parks News
THROWBACK THURSDAY—TELLING THE STORY OF AMERICA
Northern Virginia is full of history and NOVA Parks (Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority) have been telling the formative stories of our nation for 50 years.
In 1969, our ten year old regional park agency was asked to help with a new kind of task. NOVA Parks had already preserved over 3,000 acres of natural area. However, history was not yet a focus.
The upcoming Bicentennial in 1976 had regional leaders planning. The City of Alexandria needed help. Old Town Alexandria is rich with history but lacked the funding to do all that needed to be done before 1976. To solve this problem, the City of Alexandria joined NOVA Parks. NOVA Parks in turn purchased and restored one of the most significant buildings in the City of Alexandria—Carlyle House.
For over 100 years, this stone mansion was lost behind a brick hotel. The hotel had been a hospital during the Civil War and the inspiration for the PBS Series ‘Mercy Street.’ Carlyle House served as doctor and officer housing during the Civil War as well.
NOVA Parks purchased Carlyle House on July 13, 1970 and started work on the huge project of restoring it to its 18th century grandeur. The building required almost a complete rebuild by restoration experts. In the end, the largest 18th century mansion of Old Town Alexandria was ready for the United States Bicentennial.
Tourism spiked at Colonial Historic sites in 1976. Visitors to the Carlyle House could experience life during Colonial Alexandria. One important historical story they were told is about a meeting at the Carlyle House in 1755 between British General Edward Braddock, the Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty’s Forces in North America and five Colonial Governors to plan the French and Indian War.
At the 1976 grand opening of the Carlyle House people from around the world came to visit the museum. One such person was Mr. Samuel H. B. Twining, the head of the Twining Tea Company of London.
NOVA Parks Chairman Walter L. Mess welcomed several dignitaries, including Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Warren E. Burger.
The Carlyle House was the beginning of NOVA Parks’ focus on historic sites. Today our regional park system has many of the most significant historic sites in the Northern Virginia region. NOVA Parks has numerous Civil War battlefields, Native American and Civil Rights sites. In 2020, Occoquan Regional Park will see a new memorial to the Suffragist Movement.
