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.

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.

2019

Sunday, December 8 --Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center - 2p.m.

"Prohibition in Washington, D.C.: How Dry We Weren't" 

Author and tour guide Garrett Peck  will explore how prohibition impacted our capital city.  Book sale and signing will follow the talk.

 2020

 Sunday, January 14, 2020 ---Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center,  2p.m.         

Discover the "New Virginians" of Fairfax County                                                                                           Fatima Khaja, Manager of Economic, Demographic and Statistical Research for Faifax County, will use statistics, charts and stories to highlight the changing demographics of Fairfax County.

 Sunday, February 9, 2020 - --Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center

"Dignity and Defiance:  A Portrait of Mary Church Terrell" - Filmmaker Robin Hamilton will screen her documentary on Terrell, a trailblazer for women's and African-American rights.

  Sunday, March 8, 2020 - Fairfax City Hall Annex, 2p.m.

"Valiant Women of the Vote" - Joint Women's History Month Program. Co-sponsored by the Office of Historic Resources and the Commission for Women

 Ratcliffe-Allison-Pozer House

10386 Main Street  Special tour date:  Winter Lights and Carols. Saturday, December 7.  Tours from 2-5pm.  Call 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.

“Christmas in Camp and Making Do at Home”

Travel back in time to learn how Civil War soldiers and the folks back home celebrated Christmas.  Meet the soldiers in camp; drill with soldiers; join in with a cease-fire exchange of gifts; house tours; make Handmade Victorian ornaments; write letter to soldiers; sew a "housewife"; pack a food crate for soldiers.

2020

Historic Blenheim, Saturday, January 25, 2020, 2pm

 "The Consummate Citizen-Soldier: Charles Russell Lowell, Jr." - Learn about Lowell's reputation as an exceptional battlefield Commander and his service in Northern Virginia with historian Jim Lewis.

 Historic Blenheim, Saturday, February 22, 2020,  2pm

"We Know Their Names: Fairfax County Connections to and African-American Burial Ground in Adams Morgan, D.C."

Artist and independent historian Mary Belcher since 2005 has worked with concerned citizens to protect a nearly forgotten post-Civil War African American cemetery in her Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC. While Howard University anthropologists conducted a non-invasive survey of the cemeteries, she led the effort to document the names of the 8,428 people buried there. (They can be found at www.walterpierceparkcemeteries.org.) Historic Blenheim historians reached out to her after finding that one of those named was the child of a couple whose roots reach back to Blenheim. She will speak about that connection and how other African American families from Fairfax County might have ties to the Adams Morgan cemeteries.

 Historic Blenheim, Saturday, March 28, 2020, 2pm

"Angelina Grimke: One Woman Against a Nation"

In 2020 we are celebrating the 100^th Anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing and protecting women's constitutional right to vote.

 Join Lynn Garvey-Hodge as she gives a first-person voice to Angelina Grimke, a Southern born early 19^th-century abolitionist who spoke out the horrors of slavery with her eldest sister, Sarah.  Angelina Grimke was an early American political activist, women's rights advocate,  and a supporter of the women's suffrage movement.

Historic Blenheim, April 25, 2020, 10am-5pm $

Fairfax History Day,   Check here for program updates

Explore the 19th-century life in Fairfax with living history presentations, exhibits, and historic tours.  

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