Old Arlington

From its origination, Arlington National Cemetery's history has been compellingly intertwined with that of African Americans. This book explains how the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the home of Robert E. Lee and a plantation of the enslaved, became a military camp for Federal troops, a freedmen's village and farm, and America's most important burial ground. During the Civil War, the property served as a pauper's cemetery for men too poor to be returned to their families, and some of the very first war dead to be buried there include over 1,500 men who served in the United States Colored Troops. More than 3,800 former slaves are interred in section 27, the property's original cemetery.

Arlington, the first photographic history of this Massachusetts town ever produced, presents a unique look at its rich heritage and remarkable transformations. From sleepy nineteenth-century village to renowned center of mills and market gardens, from elegant summer resort to flourishing commuter suburb of Boston, the many facets of Arlington's growth come alive through the fascinating images in this volume.

For over two centuries, Arlington County has been a steadfast center for government institutions and a vibrant part of the Washington, D.C., community. Many notable figures made their home in the area, like Supreme Court chief justice Warren Burger, General George "Blood 'n' Guts" Patton and a beauty queen who almost married crooner Dean Martin. The drama of Virginia's first school integration unfolded in Arlington beginning in the late 1950s. In the 1960s, two motorcycle gangs clashed in public at a suburban shopping center. Local author, historian and "Our Man in Arlington" Charlie Clark uncovers the vivid, and hidden, history of a capital community.

Upper Arlington was founded by brothers King and Ben Thompson, who purchased farmland in 1913 from James T. Miller. Inspired by the garden city movement, the Thompsons envisioned an idealistic residential community. The brothers engaged William Pitkin Jr., a prominent landscape architect from Rochester, New York, to provide the most modern concepts of city planning. Over the years, Upper Arlington annexed land to reach its current boundaries. Upper Arlington has had a Native American trail and a military training camp, and its historic district earned a place on the National Register of Historic Places. The community is still known for gracious living, celebrated schools, and the largest noncommercial Fourth of July parade around. Golfing legend Jack Nicklaus, Ohio State University football coaches Woody Hayes, John Cooper, and Jim Tressel, developer John Galbreath, Ohio governor James Rhodes, and United States senator John Bricker have all called Upper Arlington home.

Arlington began three centuries ago as the farm section of Alexandria County and emerged in the 1900s as a vibrant suburb of the nation's capital. Global notice came after the creation and expansion of Arlington National Cemetery, the Pentagon and Fort Myer, site of history's first airplane casualty--September 17, 1908. Add in some modern marquee employers--PBS, WETA, Nestlé, the Foreign Service Institute and Amazon--and it's a recipe for accelerating change. Unsurprisingly, residents are increasingly at odds over rising housing costs and demolitions of long-valued homes and businesses. A key to preserving Arlington's character is a deeper knowledge of history. Local journalist and author Charlie Clark provides a compendium of gone-but-not-forgotten institutions, businesses, homes and amusements.