History in Your Own Backyard

Generally speaking, the history of Reston goes back to the early 1960s, when Robert E. Simon purchased some farmland and planned his new town.

But the area is part of a commonwealth rich in Civil War history, and two local men have spent time searching for clues, artifacts and stories that tell about the Vienna-Reston area and the role it played in the war between the states.

Jim Lewis, a retired Xerox employee who has lived on Buckthorn Lane for more than 30 years, did not have to look very far.

He saw that his wooded lot featured a ridge and there were holes in the earth. He teamed with his neighbor Bob Eldridge, and the two attended meetings of the Hunter Mill Defense League and other historic groups. They also conducted research in the Virginia Room of the City of  Fairfax Regional Library  . 

The men discovered that their yards were probably trenches and rifle pits where a Confederate unit, First South Carolina, spent time in the on the lookout for Union troops coming heading west from Washington, DC.

Lewis and Eldridge are giving a tour of on Saturday at 1 p.m.  The tour meets at Reston Museum, then will move by car caravan over to Buckthorn and then over to the W& OD Trail.

The trail (formerly a railroad, of course) and Hunter Mill Road both played prominent role in the area's Civil War story, says Lewis.

"Hunter Mill Road is unbelievable," he said. "We've documented 60 generals who were in this corridor during the war. No one can believe that little road was so important."

Lewis says that the trail was well traveled as one of the main supply lines from the Fairfax Courthouse.

The men have found many artifacts in the area, including a 12-lb. cannonball, artillery shells, harmonicas and a gold watch. They take them to Civil War events 

Lewis says Confederate troops were very active in the area early in the war, from summer 1861 to Sept. 1, 1862, the day of the Battle of Ox Hill (also called the Battle of Chantilly).

That battle was fought over near where Fair Oaks Mall now sits. It happened just days after the Battle of Bull Run (Second Manassas).

"After that,  ther was a stalemate, and [Gen. Robert E.] Lee decided  to go north into Maryland. That led to Antietam on Sept. 17, the bloodiest battle of the war.

Eldridge and Lewis research and helped create a Danger Between the Lines, which describes the life on Hunter Mill Road during the Civil War. They also helped place six historical markers at the intersection of Hunter Mill Road and the W&OD Trail.