Catch up on the latest issue of Historic Alexandria Quarterly.

Read transcriptions of more than 200 interviews conducted with long-time City residents.

“Out of the Attic” has appeared in the Alexandria Times newspaper since 2007. Each week, the column focuses on the story behind an historic image or an aspect of Alexandria's history.

Learn about the history of preservation in Alexandria. 

Alexandria was originally founded as a port on the Potomac River. Research and ongoing archaeological work is revealing more about the City’s maritime past.

These historical summaries place Alexandria’s history in a wider perspective.

Alexandria’s African American History includes a vibrant free black population dating to the 18th century, one of the largest domestic slave trading operations, and early actions in the Civil Rights movement.  

Learn about the history of Black education in Alexandria, from 1793 to 2023.

In Alexandria, there is documentation of the lynching of two individuals, Benjamin Thomas and Joseph McCoy. Learn about their stories and the times in which they lived. 

Throughout the centuries, women have made significant contributions to Alexandria. Find stories about some of the women in our community.

For thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans and the founding of Alexandria in 1749, Indians seasonally lived in and traveled through the lands that would become the City of Alexandria.

Learn about Alexandria’s immigrant community, through Oral Histories.

Alexandria has a long history of residents who moved here from Central and South America. Beginning in the 1980s, a large community from El Salvador settled in the neighborhood we now call “Chirilagua,” after the city in El Salvador of the same name.

LGBTQ+ History is American History. Learn more about LGBTQ+ History is American History. Learn more about LGBTQ+ history in Alexandria..

Learn more about the many historic cemeteries within the City of Alexandria. 

Learn about how Alexandria responded when British forces arrived off the shore of Alexandria just after the burning of Washington in August of 1814. 

Theseresources provide some insight into the War and its effect on Alexandria and its inhabitants.

The Confessions of John Trust is an epic story from 1866 that has it all: adventure, romance, a long-lost twin, hypnotism, and murder. It combines the Tale of the Female Stranger, the real-life murder of William Seaver, and features actual Alexandria locations.

Alexandria commemorates important anniversaries in the history of our country and our city.

Explore some of Alexandria's more obscure historic sites with City Historian Dan Lee and WTOP's Matt Kaufax.