The childhood home of the famous general's mother is now a small, walled garden.

Once the largest trading firm of enslaved people in the U.S., this building is now a museum that preserves Alexandria's dark past.

This homestead was occupied by Union soldiers, who believed the owners were signaling Confederate forces.

At Brandy Station, Civil War soldiers left their mark on the battlefield and the walls of this small wooden house.

Metal dinosaurs lurk in a sculpture garden on the outskirts of a popular resort town.

Long buried under the 20th-century landscape, this lift lock of the Alexandria Canal is the lone remnant of an ambitious early American transportation project.

The only remaining African American schoolhouse in northern Virginia is now a museum dedicated to formerly enslaved people.

This church is known as "The Home Church of George Washington and George Mason."

A massive, majestic mammal watches over pedestrians from his perch atop a former B.P.O.E. lodge.

The last of nine massive kilns that produced many of the red bricks for buildings in Washington, D.C. and northern Virginia in the early 20th century.

Memorial stone for GWAR vocalist, depicted in his iconic costume.

The former home of the man whose radical ideas changed the nation.

Anna Anderson spent most of her life claiming to be the lost Romanov child Anastasia.

A highway marker that honors a former spy plane pilot and local hero.

The final resting place of a controversial man who was instrumental in plucking the banjo from obscurity.

These trees are living witnesses to events that inspired poet Walt Whitman’s service during the American Civil War.

A memorial dedicated to a highly decorated Marine and Korean War veteran, who also happened to be a horse.

An eponymous directional signpost erected by the first president of the United States.

This little brick tunnel built by Confederate forces was used to conduct surprise attacks on the railroad.

A graveyard that dates back over 200 years stands near a busy shopping center.

The most historic church in Fairfax County played a role in the creation of the American Red Cross.

The naval commander’s proudest moment in battle is memorialized in this unique tomb at Arlington Cemetery.

The grave of a champion Thoroughbred hides within the former presidential estate.

A 14-foot monument marks the resting place of two of the town's earliest residents—and one unknown soldier.