Modern-day Arlington County is a center for government institutions and a critical part of the Washington, D.C. community. But the identity of the area goes far beyond the influence of the nation’s capital. During the War of 1812, the original copy of the Declaration of Independence was hidden from the British in a local area gristmill. Arlington was the only county in Virginia to vote against secession, despite being home to Robert E. Lee. In the...

"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...

"Arlington is the smallest, most densely populated county in the United States. Its destiny has been driven by its geographic proximity to Washington, D.C., and very important by the fact that most Potomac River crossings begin in the county. Initially part of a large land grant to Lord Fairfax before the Revolutionary War, what is now Arlington was ceded to help form the new federal government seat by the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1790. It remained...