Restaurants in Alexandria will face off later this month to determine which eateries have the best cherry-oriented appetizers, entrees, drinks and desserts.
It’s all part of the “Cherry Challenge” culinary contest starting Sunday, Jan. 25, hosted in tandem with other festivities to commemorate George Washington’s birthday by the president’s Birthday Celebration Committee.
Alexandria honored the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with song, dance and poetry, as well as a thorough rebuke of political violence and societal divisions under the Trump administration last night (Thursday).
The 53rd annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Program began with an impassioned invocation from the Rev. Quardricos Bernard Driskell of Beulah Baptist Church, who said King is remembered as “a prophet who named America’s sins and paid his life for it.” Driskell denounced current approaches to immigration enforcement, military spending and “taking over sovereign nations for profit, power and greed.”
A free, public event at The Lyceum this month will celebrate historical programs, exhibitions and events coming to Alexandria for America’s 250th anniversary.
Guest speakers at the America250 Kick-Off will discuss “the significance of the Semiquincentennial and Virginia’s unique role in shaping and continuing to tell a fuller, more inclusive American story,” according to OHA.
The Freedom House Museum reopened last Thursday following over a year of exterior renovations to restore the building’s pre-Civil War facade.
Alexandria leaders cut the ribbon on the renovations during a ceremony Saturday afternoon, where Mayor Alyia Gaskins said the museum — formerly a site where slave traders trafficked tens of thousands of enslaved peoples — serves as a declaration that the city will not forget its history.
Emmy and Grammy Award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns unveiled his latest documentary series, “The American Revolution,” at George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate on Wednesday.
The filmmaker spoke in a panel discussion before sharing an outdoor preview of the new six-part series, which features George Washington and his pivotal role in winning the Revolutionary War. Episodes will air on PBS at 8 p.m. nightly from November 16 to 21.
D.C.-based real estate investment company Carr Properties has been awarded Alexandria’s top archeology award.
On Tuesday, Oct. 28, the City Council will announce the award and commend the company for its “commitment to the highest quality archaeological preservation at the site of the Alexandria Canal in Old Town North,” according to a proclamation. Carr Properties partnered with the city after uncovering part of Alexandria’s history as it worked to redevelop a 1980s-era office building into a mixed-use apartment building.
Three grant recipients will unveil their findings on Alexandria’s history during the Civil War, records at Douglas Cemetery and more.
The grants were awarded as part of the Alexandria Historical Society‘s 50th anniversary celebration. The “golden grantees” will present their findings at the free event at the Lyceum (201 S. Washington Street) on Wednesday, Oct. 22, starting at 6:30 p.m.
A new Union Navy exhibition opened at Fort Ward Museum (4301 W. Braddock Road) on Oct. 2, and will be on display through 2026.
The “Aboard Ship with the Jack-Tars of the Union Navy” exhibition is being held in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Navy on Oct. 13, 1775, according to the city. Thousands of sailors, nicknamed jack-tars, helped blockade the 3,500 miles of Confederate coastline, catapulting the unit into the largest navy in the world. Hallmarks of the exhibition include examples of tools, clothing, weapons and personal items from the sailors. It also features a profile on Commander James Harmon Ward, the namesake of the fort, who was the first Union Naval officer to die in the war.
A new traveling exhibit chronicling 400 years of struggle for Black equality in the U.S. will open in Alexandria on Wednesday, Sept. 24.
The Kate Waller Branch Library (717 Queen Street) will host Determined: The 400-Year Struggle for Black Equity Exhibit from Sept. 24 until Oct. 25 (Saturday). The traveling exhibit from the Virginia Museum of History and Culture highlights the stories of Black Virginians who fought against injustice. Alexandria history makers are included in the exhibit, and the opening on Sept. 24 will be hosted by Alexandria Library Director Rose Dawson and feature a presentation from genealogist Char McCargo Bah on 15 African Americans “whose lives and legacies shaped the city’s journey toward equality,” according to Alexandria Library.
Five African-American youths staged America’s first deliberate and planned sit-in at the segregated Alexandria Library on Queen St. on Aug. 21, 1939 — more than two decades before the tactic would become the trademark of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, according to Historic Alexandria.
The protest had its roots in earlier efforts by attorney Samuel Wilbert Tucker and retired Army Sgt. George Wilson, who on March 17, 1939, had walked through the doors of the whites-only library and requested applications for library cards. Library policy prohibited issuing cards to “persons of the colored race.”
Alexandria’s “Colored Rosemont” neighborhood will be recognized in September with the dedication of a Virginia State historic marker. The neighborhood was home to the first Black homeowners in the city in the early to mid-20th century.
The marker is a reminder of racial segregation in Alexandria. It will be dedicated at 3 p.m. near the corner of Wythe and N. West Streets — across from the Braddock Road Metro station — on Sept. 13 (Saturday). Mayor Alyia Gaskins, representatives of the Office of Historic Alexandria (OHA) and former and current residents of the neighborhood will attend the ceremony. The event is free and open to the public.
