Tours and Educational Programs

Private Guided Tours:  Adult groups and educational programs for students or scouts are available for a fee. All tours are tailored for group needs, educational standards, and interests. Tours require advanced reservations. To arrange educational programs or tours of city-owned historic buildings email Susan.gray@fairfaxva.gov or call 703.385.8415.

Historic Walking Tours: Historic Fairfax City, Inc. (HFCI) walking tours of Old Town Fairfax for 2018 will be held on Saturdays May 12, June 9, July 14, Aug 11. The tours start at 10 am in front of the Historic Fairfax Courthouse located at 4000 Chain Bridge Road, Fairfax, Virginia, weather permitting and last about 90 minutes. Free parking is across the street in the Bank of America parking lot. Call 703.385.8414 for reservations. For more information on HFCI please click here.

The city has published a free self-guided walking tour brochure, "Courting History," that provides a brief history of the city and noteworthy buildings in the Old Town Fairfax Historic District. This brochure is available from the Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center, 10209 Main Street, or call 703.385.8414.  See Map of History.

Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center "Second Sunday" Program

Programs are held at 2 p.m. on the second Sunday of each month. Unless otherwise noted, programs are held at the Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center, 10209 Main Street. Free (unless otherwise noted). Check back to find out about additional programs planned throughout the year. Information: 703.385.8414.

2018

2 – 5 p.m., Sunday, December 9 – Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center

Holiday cheer, music, and refreshments. Stop by Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center for some holiday cheer.  Enjoy free seasonal music and refreshments while shopping for those special Fairfax and Virginia gifts, including the 2018 White House Christmas Ornament, honoring President Harry S. Truman.   

2019

Sunday, January 13 - Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center                                                         

 "Freedom is Not Enough:  African Americans in Antebellum Fairfax County"                      Curtis L. Vaughn, Ph.D will examine the lives of free African Americans in their search for land ownership and self-reliance despite living and working in a a slave-owning jurisdiction.

Sunday, February 10 - Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center 

"'A Loathsome Prison:' Slave Trading in Antebellum Alexandria"

Historian Caridad de la Vega with the National Historic Landmarks Program with the National Park Service will present her research on "Freedom House," the Antebellum Franklin and Armfield Slave Trading Pen in Alexandria.  The historic site is now under the management of Historic Alexandria, and Audrey Davis, Director of the Alexandria Black History Museum, will update visitors on the current status and future plans for "Freedom House."

Sunday, March 10 - PLEASE NOTE LOCATION:: Fairfax City Hall Council Chambers**

"Suffragists in Washington, D.C.: The 1913 Parade and the Fight for the Vote"                     Book talk, sale, and signing with author Rebecca Boggs Roberts. Co-sponsored by the City of Fairfax Commission for Women.  FREE  **Address: 10455 Armstrong Street, Fairfax, VA 703-385-8414.

Civil War Interpretive Center at Historic Blenheim

Program Series are free and held at 2 p.m. on Saturdays (unless otherwise noted) at the Civil War Interpretive Center at Historic Blenheim, 3610 Old Lee Highway.  703.591.0560.  

2019

Saturday, January 26 - Historic Blenheim

"The War Outside My Window: The Civil War Diary of LeRoy Wiley Gresham, 1860-1865"

LeRoy Wiley Gresham was born in 1847 to an affluent slave-holding family.  After a horrific leg injury at age 12 he began keeping a diary in 1860 just as secession and the Civil War began tearing the country apart.  He wrote even as his health deteriorated past the end of the war. He died in 1865.  The diary is published for the first time and editor Janet Croom captures the spirit and the character of a young privileged white teenager witnessing the demise of the South and a crumbling way of life even as his own as his body fails him.  Book sales and signings will be offered after the presentation.

Saturday, February 23 - Historic Blenheim

"Elizabeth Thomas:  The Free Black Landowner of Ft. Stevens,"

Living historian Donise Stevens will present the life of Elizabeth Thomas whose land in a free black community in upper NW Washington. D.C., was taken to build Ft. Stevens, one of the defensive fortifications surrounding the United States Capital city.  Learn about this remarkable woman both during and after the war when she became a civic leader in the Brightwood community.

 Saturday, March 23 - Historic Blenheim

"A Cruel Life in and Uncivil TIme: Julia Wilbur's Struggle for Freedom"

Author Paula Tarnapol Whitacre has written an historical narrative of Julia Wilbur, a 47-year-old single woman from Poughkeepsie, New York who as an abolitionist moved to Alexandria, Virginia in 1862 to aid recently escaped slaves  and hospitalized Union soldiers.  Following the Civil War Wilbur moved to Washington, D.C. to work and became involved in the women's suffrage movement.  Though Wilbur's diaries and historical documents Ms. Whitacre has woven together s story of this strong, independent woman who put her beliefs into action.  Book sales and signings will be offered after the presentation.

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