In compliance with the governor’s Stay-at-Home order, the Office of Historic Alexandria (OHA) sites are closed and public programs are cancelled until further notice. The Alexandria History Museum at The Lyceum will reopen first when Northern Virginia enters Phase II of the Commonwealth’s Forward Virginia Plan in mid-to-late June. Refer to the Calendar for the status of Commission and other departmental associated meetings.

Miss visiting your favorite Historic Alexandria sites? Looking for some fun historic activities to share with your kids at home? Let our staff bring history virtually to you! 

Location, hours, directions, and everything you need to know to visit Fort Ward Museum and Historic Site. No Admission Charge.
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On View through September 2020. This exhibit explores how soldiers and civilians in Civil War Washington lived and worked. View the desk and personal effects of an officer stationed in a camp outside Washington, see objects and eyewitness accounts of the only battle to take place in the Defenses of Washington, and learn how traces of the lives of soldiers and civilians are revealed in documents and photographs of the period.

Come to Fort Ward and see a variety of medical tools, instruments, equipment and images from the Museum’s Civil War collection. Images and information related to some of Alexandria’s Union Army hospitals are also on view. The exhibit is accompanied by a brochure on medical care for the Civil War soldier. 

The goal of this project is to expand interpretation in Fort Ward Park to include the full range of its history, especially including the African American experience and the post-Civil War Fort community. Fort Ward's Civil War history will remain a core theme, but new elements will explore the legacy of that pivotal era. The public is invited to attend meetings of the Committee, announced on the  Calendar of Events. The latest design documents are posted here.

Visit Fort Ward Park to see historic signage highlighting the post-Civil War African American community known as The Fort. The Fort is the focus of an effort by the Office of Historic Alexandria to study and preserve the post-Civil War historic resources of Fort Ward Park. 

The Fort Ward Museum enlists the talents and knowledge of reenactors to offer numerous living history programs interpreting Civil War soldier and civilian life. Programs contribute to the public’s understanding of the period and enhance the Museum’s educational mission. Here are the resources you need to participate in an event.

The occupation of Alexandria by Union troops forever changed the social, cultural and economic fabric of the old seaport town. For four years (1861-1865) Alexandria was an occupied city; enduring the longest military occupation by Union troops of any town during the conflict. Learn more with a wide range of historic resources.  

A public walkway, which meets the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act, begins at the fort’s reconstructed entrance gate and leads visitors to the restored Northwest Bastion.