What did Northern Virginia look like back in the day (60s, 70s, 80s)

[Anonymous]

Intrigued to hear from anyone who’s been in the area for decades, and can share any insight into how this region has changed demographically, socially, economically, etc. Was it still culturally southern, and did people have southern accents? Were there still farmers in Fairfax/Arlington County? What schools did you attend, and how has the academic scene/boundaries changed since then? Always been curious.

[Anonymous]

LOL no people did not have southern accents in Fairfax in the 70s/80s! This is a very transitory area thanks to the govt/military.

That being said, Reston Town Center was a field in the 80s!

[Anonymous]

Ashburn was corn fields; Broad Run High school was built in the middle of a farm to become the third high school in Loudoun.

[Anonymous]

WETA had a good documentary about Alexandria and Nova during that time frame, but it isn’t available anywhere. Kingstown used to be sand pits

[Anonymous]

My sister moved into reston in the late 80s. I don’t feel like it’s actually changed that much. Most of the housing stock is identical and the strip malls and lake etc.

[Anonymous]

Tysons was a farm, Route 66 did not exist, and Herndon was WAAAAAAYYYYY far away - wouldn't even consider moving and commuting from OUT THERE!!

[Anonymous]

Ive seen some license plate toppers with county tags on them, does anyone know what they are/used for back in the day?

[Anonymous]

No bypass around Leesburg. Nothing on Route 7 between Leesburg and Sterling. When you got to the double decker McDonalds you knew you were about halfway to Tysons. There used to be big bird cages with live birds in the Tysons Corner mall.

[Anonymous]

They wanted to build Dulles airport in Burke because there was so much undeveloped land. Let that sink in for awhile. The residents banded together and opposed that.

It was considered very modern and healthful to have classrooms without walls in the 70s. Eg orange hunt, lake Braddock. Literally as soon as they were built people realized this was stupid and impractical but it took many years to renovate.

There was no Fairfax county parkway until the 80s. Just a lot of 2 lane country roads. Plenty of farms and country folk who yes, had a very specific old nova accent and said things like “warshington”. But, there was a lot less traffic, too.

Fairfax county had a budget surplus in the 90s from all the construction so all these county programming was free. The county employees also voted themselves massive pensions and built a glass and marble monument to themselves in the form of the Fairfax county government center.

Children took a test in 2nd grade to track them as smart or stupid—the “smart ones” were segregated into GT classes away from their base schools. Not sure if that is still a thing.

George Mason was the school you went to “if you dont want to go to NOVA”.

[Anonymous]

Fairfax Underground had a super long thread on this with pictures people posted.

Wish I could link it for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They wanted to build Dulles airport in Burke because there was so much undeveloped land. Let that sink in for awhile. The residents banded together and opposed that.

It was considered very modern and healthful to have classrooms without walls in the 70s. Eg orange hunt, lake Braddock. Literally as soon as they were built people realized this was stupid and impractical but it took many years to renovate.

There was no Fairfax county parkway until the 80s. Just a lot of 2 lane country roads. Plenty of farms and country folk who yes, had a very specific old nova accent and said things like “warshington”. But, there was a lot less traffic, too.

Fairfax county had a budget surplus in the 90s from all the construction so all these county programming was free. The county employees also voted themselves massive pensions and built a glass and marble monument to themselves in the form of the Fairfax county government center.

Children took a test in 2nd grade to track them as smart or stupid—the “smart ones” were segregated into GT classes away from their base schools. Not sure if that is still a thing.

George Mason was the school you went to “if you dont want to go to NOVA”.

My middle school was that way!

[Anonymous]

Search " i grew up here and remember..." thread

[Anonymous]

Was Northern Virginia politically conservative?

[Anonymous]

Flint Hill School used to be on the other side of 123. It was moved in 1986.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1986/08/11/flint-hill-school-moves-down-the-road/ae5c3ee4-7f57-4889-93fd-0230ab881a21/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Was Northern Virginia politically conservative?

Yep. Two long-time Congressmen in NoVa were Republicans - Joel T. Broyhill and then Frank Wolf. If I recall, there was a Democrat elected in the mid-70s following Watergate, but then he got ousted. And the Board of Supervisors in Fairfax was headed by Republicans for many years, including Jack Herrity (the father of Pat Herrity, who's the lone Republican on the BOS now) and later Tom Davis.

Of course, being Republican then meant being fiscally conservative, but not full MAGA, and the Democrats in NoVa were "good government" types rather than self-styled progressives, so the differences weren't as stark.