This week in Historic Alexandria, enjoy the many exhibits, public programs and special event activities offered by our city’s great museums and historic sites! Information on daily calendar listings, museum hours, local history and much more is included in this e-newsletter, updated each week on this webpage or delivered to your in-box.  To subscribe to this and other information from the City of Alexandria, create an e-news  account and select your notifications of interest here.

Help us preserve two important fire-fighting vehicles on display at Friendship Firehouse Museum: The Rodgers Suction Engine, built in 1851, and the Prettyman Hose Carriage, built in Alexandria in 1858.

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of the hull of a fifty-foot vessel on the Indigo Hotel construction site at 220 S. Union Street. Scuttled sometime in the late eighteenth century, the ship served as the framework for part of the landfill process that extended the waterfront out to the deep channel of the Potomac River.  Watch a video of this exciting discovery. Earlier finds at this site include the 1755 public warehouse.

We need your help to ensure the preservation of the fragile wood timbers of the historic ship for future generations to study and appreciate. Please make a generous donation to the Save Our Ship Conservation Fund. 

The City of Alexandria is joining countless others around the world in commemorating the 100^th anniversary of World War I. The war began in Europe in 1914, and the US entered the war in April of 1917.

Experience Mercy Street in Alexandria with ongoing events and exhibits as we await the exciting second season. Mercy Street, the PBS drama, is inspired by true stories of Civil War Alexandria, Virginia. Set in 1862, Mercy Street follows the lives of two volunteer nurses on opposite sides of the conflict, whose lives collide at Mansion House Hospital. Alexandria was a border town between North and South and the longest Union-occupied city of the Civil War. Ruled under martial law, Alexandria was the melting pot of the region; a place where personal stories of the Union and Confederacy converge in a city setting. The Office of Historic Alexandria joins Extraordinary Alexandria in providing visitor experiences that uncover the real people behind the characters on the show, the realities of Civil War medicine, changing roles for women, and the breakthrough experience of enslaved African Americans claiming their freedom. Learn more about Emma Green and Frank Stringfellow: Alexandria's Civil War Sweethearts. Watch the seson one trailer here.

The occupation of Alexandria by Union troops forever changed the social, cultural and economic fabric of the old seaport town. For four years Alexandria was an occupied city; enduring the longest military occupation by Union troops of any town during the conflict.  Witness to War and Reunion  brings together resources from Historic Alexandria, Friends of Freedmen's Cemetery, the Alexandria Historical Society, and the Alexandria Library, that provide some insight into the War and its effect on Alexandria and its inhabitants. Read  First Person Accounts for insight from those who experienced the events, learn about  Civil War Hospitals in Alexandria, visit  Fort Ward Museum & Historic Site and the  Contrabands and Freedmen's Cemetery Memorial, and explore  Alexandria's Civil Defenses of Washington by bike.

Alexandria was a key site in the Civil War -- both for the Union and the Confederacy -- and many public and private Civil War references remain today. Following the summer 2015 debate over the display of the Confederate Flag in South Carolina’s capitol complex, the City received a number of inquiries about Civil War references in Alexandria. In response, the Mayor asked that staff provide a report to City Council, and in September 2015, City Council established the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Confederate Memorials and Street Names. For more information about the Advisory Group, including the group’s recommendations, final report, meeting agendas, minutes, written public comments and video records, please visit www.alexandriava.gov/Confederate.

City Council received the Advisory Group's report at its legislative meeting on Tuesday, September 13, and will consider the report as part of its regularly scheduled public hearing meeting on Saturday, September 17, in the Council Chamber in Alexandria City Hall, 301 King St. The public hearing meeting on September 17 will begin at 9:30 a.m. with public comments regarding items not on the docket, and City Council will then discuss and take public comments on docket items, including the Advisory Group’s report. The docket is available at www.alexandriava.gov/Dockets.  A form to sign up to speak at the hearing will be linked from the top of the docket.

The Office of Historic Alexandria is engaged in a multi-year project entitled Immigration Alexandria: Past, Present and Future. This initiative examines the history of immigration from the mid-nineteenth century to today in Alexandria. Oral histories of those representing different ethnic groups in the post-1970 immigrant communities of Alexandria, fundamental to the overall project, were conducted with funding from VFH. The purpose of this first city-wide endeavor is to increase public understanding of the historic and contemporary significance of immigration to Alexandria and its impacts on our social and cultural fabric. Funding for planning and research, as well as implementation to celebrate Alexandria’s diversity through public programming, is now being developed in partnerships with both government and the private sector. 

This program has been funded in part by a grant from Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.

“Out of the Attic,” featuring historical photographs of Alexandria, is a column produced by the Office of Historic Alexandria and published weekly in the Alexandria Times newspaper. An archive of articles dating back to the column's beginning in 2007 appears here with the permission of the newspaper. Sort or search the index to learn about places or topics of interest.

Visit Fort Ward Park to see new historic signage highlighting the post-Civil War African American community known as The Fort. A copy of The Fort Heritage Trail Brochure  is available online. This community 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. Archaeological excavations in the park, historical research, and oral histories highlight our growing knowledge of this community. Learn about the  Stakeholder Advisory Group , and about archaeological and historical research, including reports on excavations, transcriptions of oral history interviews with former residents.  
   

Visit the Historic Alexandria Museum Store, online and at two convenient locations. The shops offers great gift ideas, a wide variety of Alexandria-related merchandise and the very best selections from all the Historic Alexandria museum stores. Your purchases support programming at Historic Alexandria's museums.  

• Main Store at The Lyceum: Alexandria's History Museum, 201 S. Washington Street
• Satellite Shop at the Alexandria Hilton, 1767 King Street 
• Online at The Alexandria Shop.

Alexandria offers educators the unique opportunity to reinforce their teaching with hands-on experiences, field trips, lectures, educational kits and other media resources. These programs are designed to foster interest in the history and culture of Alexandria from colonial times to the present.

The Memorial, at 1001 S. Washington St., was officially opened on September 6, 2014. Learn about the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial history and the archaeology of the site, view news coverage of the commemoration ceremonies, and watch short videos about the Memorial on Comcast Newsmakers, of interviews with Char McCargo Bah, Audrey Davis and Francine Bromberg.

Explore Alexandria's Civil War heritage with a free iPHone app, find out about an array of historic and cultural attractions, go on a scavenger hunt, and walk or bike a part of the Alexandria Heritage Trail.

Make your child's birthday a historic occasion, with a party at one of several historic museums in Alexandria, including the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary, the Friendship Firehouse, and Gadsby's Tavern.

You can also schedule tours and programs at all of the Historic Alexandria Museums for school groups, scout groups, homeschool families, and camps, as well as for adults.