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

 Sunday, August 12 – Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center

“Sowing the Seeds of Victory:  The Women’s Land Army of American in Virginia and Washington, D.C.”

Adjunct Instructor Anna E. Kiefer from Lord Fairfax Community College, will share her research about the women called into service as farmers during World War I. 

Sunday, September 9 – Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center

“Bringing Our Boys Home: Arlington National Cemetery, The First World War, and the Cration of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.”  Christopher Warren, Senior Historian at Arlington National Cemetery, will discuss the impact of World War I on the cemetery and the history behind the creation of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Sunday, October 14 – Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center

“Sowing the Seeds of Victory:  The Women’s Land Army of American in Virginia and Washington, D.C.”

Adjunct Instructor Anna E. Kiefer from Lord Fairfax Community College, will share her research about the women called into service as farmers during World War I. 

Sunday, November 11 – Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center

“Women of Resilience: Daughters of the American Revolution Service in World War I.” Join Tracy Elizabeth Robinson, CA, Director of Archives and History at the DAR Headquarters in Washington, D.C., for a talk on the different roles and services DAR members performed during World War I.   

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.   

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.  

  2018

Saturday, July 28 - Historic Blenheim 

"This Sorrowful War": A Veterinary Surgeon in the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign

Based on a memoir written by Gustavus Asche-Berg—a German-born veterinarian who served with the 4th New York Volunteer Cavalry during  the disastrous 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign,--Phil Teigen, PhD, Retired Deputy Chief, History of Medicine Division, National Library Of Medicine. will discuss  a nearly unique account of horses in the Civil War, with details about their training, their use, and their "sorrowful" fate. 

Saturday, August 25—Historic Blenheim

“Walt Whitman in Washington.” Author Garrett Peck will speak of Walt Whitman’s definitive decade in DC.  His journey to the nation's capital at the height of the Civil War to find his brother George, a wounded Union officer, culminated with Whitman serving as a volunteer "hospital missionary" for three years. With the 1865 publication of Drum-Taps, Whitman became poet laureate of the Civil War.

 Saturday, September 22 – Historic Blenheim

“Women Soldiers of the Civil War.”   Tracey McIntire and Audrey-Teller Scanlan will speak about the experience of more than four hundred women who disguised themselves as men and served in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War.  They will explore individual stories, gender roles and military culture of the era.

Saturday, October 27 –Historic Blenheim                                                                                                                   

Real v. Reel: A Closer Look at the Medicine of ‘Mercy Street’”

Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. When watching the portrayals of Civil War medicine it can be hard to know which is which.  Rewatch some notable scenes, and separate the medical and historical basis for the drama from the "TV magic." Looking at the PBS original series “Mercy Street”, Jake Wynn, the Program Coordinator at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, will look at what the medical drama got right and wrong about Civil War medicine. 

Saturday,  November 17 –  Historic Blenheim

“Ever the Gray Ghost: Colonel John Singleton Mosby and the Lincoln Conspiracies. How much did Mosby know, and was he complicit in an attempt to murder the President of the United States?  In his new book, author Dave Goetz offers new insights and focuses on numerous attempts to capture or kill Abraham Lincoln and is the first to write a book considering Mosby as an integral part of the Lincoln conspiracies.

Sunday, December 2, Noon-4pm - Historic Blenheim, SPECIAL TIME AND DATE

“Christmas in Camp and Making do at Home.” Engage in holiday customs of Civil War soldiers and civilians at home.   703.591.6728 for scout reservations.

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