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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

History Melds With Today In Alexandria, Va. Stroll Down The Cobblestone Streets Where Terday’s Historic Meeting Places Are Today’s Popular Watering Holes

Jay Clarke Miami Herald

It is evening, and a cheery glow from storefronts spills out onto the tree-lined sidewalks of King Street. Couples stroll hand in hand, window shopping. Antiques, prints and paintings, gift wines, curios from exotic lands, stuffed parrots, crystal and porcelain - the range is wide and the choices are hard.

Restaurants beckon with whiffs of steaming food emanating from doorways. This riverfront suburb of Washington, D.C., offers plenty of seafood, but there are many other choices - among them Afghan, Lebanese, Vietnamese, Scottish, Moroccan and Basque cuisine as well as the better known Italian and French fare. And Sunday brunch is a tradition here; the lines can run as long as Sunday sermons.

For those who come to play, there are enough spots to make a long night of it: jazz, blues and country music, dinner theater and dinner cruises, stand-up comedy and watering holes.

All this, enveloped in a wealth of historic buildings, is found in and around King Street, a trendy thoroughfare that is busy day and night.

Situated across the Potomac River from downtown Washington - and only 15 minutes away by the Metro subway - Alexandria is a world away in spirit. So much so that more and more tourists these days make it their base when visiting the Washington region, rather than the other way around.

For visitors, Alexandria is a pleasant discovery, combining the appeal of history with the lure of contemporary lifestyles.

Not far from the apothecary in Alexandria’s Old Town where Martha Washington bought castor oil two centuries ago are modern pharmacies. A few steps from the tavern where Light Horse Harry Lee often dined are cafes offering nachos and imported brews.

Alexandria was here long before the federal capital was, and that’s why it played an important role in the early years of our country.

Situated on the Potomac, it was a major port in those years. Sugar cubes were brought in from the Caribbean to grace Alexandrian dinner tables. Fine fabrics and china were unloaded from English sailing ships.

George Washington, whose Mount Vernon estate was just eight miles away, kept a home here and used to frequent Gadsby’s Tavern, which served not only as a restaurant and rooming house, but also as a site of meetings and assemblies. In Washington’s day, merchants sold their wares at Gadsby’s and traveling dentists treated patients there.

Gadsby’s, now part museum and part restaurant, still does a thriving business. Dinner is served on pewter platters set on plain wood tables much as existed in Washington’s day; a violinist plays during a colonialstyle meal.

Washington’s good friend, Gen. Light Horse Harry Lee, often met him at Gadsby’s. So did future presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. In 1798, Washington attended a Birthnight Ball in his honor in the upstairs ballroom and he conducted the last review of his troops from the steps of the tavern in 1799.

When Washington died later that year, it was Light Horse Harry who gave the funeral oration at Alexandria’s Old Presbyterian Meeting House. “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen,” were the immortal words Lee spoke that day.

Lee wrote the speech at the home of a Lee relative, Philip Fendall, now known as the Lee-Fendall House. In it are displayed many furnishings and memorabilia of Light Horse Harry and his famous son, Robert E. Lee, among them Robert E.’s crib and rare photos of the officers who served with him.

Oddly, this house became the home of another famous American in the 20th century. Labor leader John L. Lewis lived there from 1937 to 1969.

Robert E. Lee was raised in a home his father bought in Alexandria in 1812. Now known as the Boyhood Home of Robert E. Lee, this elegant Federal-style mansion was also the site in 1804 of the marriage of George Washington Parke Custis, grandson of Martha Washington, to Mary Lee Fitzhugh. Their daughter Mary Ann married Robert E. Lee in 1831.

The city simply overflows with history. Washington and his contemporaries often visited the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary, which was in continuous operation from 1792 to 1933 and today displays an extensive collection of medical vials and hand-blown glass.

In the sales book, you can see the entry made when Robert E. Lee ordered paint for the Custis’ Arlington house, now part of Arlington National Cemetery.

All these historical sites stand within yards of King Street, the main drag of contemporary Alexandria, whose brick sidewalks remain crowded well into the evening.

Restaurants, art galleries, antique shops and boutiques line the street, many with catchy names like Hats in the Belfry, Bullfeathers, The Pineapple and Silver Parrot.

King Street ends at the Potomac, where the Old Dominion Boat Club and the Seaport Inn, dating to 1765, look out over the river.

A mile or so away, at the other end of King Street, stands Alexandria’s most visible tribute to Washington, the Washington Masonic National Memorial atop Shooter’s Hill, the highest point in the Washington, D.C., area. Washington, a Mason, was the first Worshipful Master of the Alexandria lodge and actually retained that post for the first eight months of his presidency.

When the structure was built in 1923, President Calvin Coolidge used the same silver trowel that Washington had used to lay the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol across the river. Actually, Shooter’s Hill was originally selected as the site of the Capitol by Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, but Washington vetoed the plan.

Inside the 333-foot-high memorial is a replica of the original lodge room and many mementos of our first president. Among them is the bedchamber clock that was stopped by the attending physician at the moment of Washington’s death and the desk Washington used in his Mount Vernon home. In the main hall stands a 17-foot-high bronze statue of the general and two huge murals depicting his life. Twelve dioramas on the lower level chronicle his career.

If that seems too tame for you, step inside the Alexandria Convention and Visitor Bureau, situated in the old Ramsay House on King Street. The brochures there can clue you in on nightspots to visit - or you might even get the thrill of your life right there: It seems that the place is inhabited by a ghost.

“It’s not threatening, though,” says Diane Bechtol, the city’s publicity chief, who once ran screaming out of her office when the office machines all began chattering and her three chairs began rocking back and forth.

Whose ghost is it? Certainly not Washington’s. He was too proper a man to go around spinning typewriter rollers and drinking other people’s coffee, as this ghost does.

Of course, the apparition could be just a figment of a publicist’s mind, but then, ghosts have been reported all over Alexandria.

Maybe they, like today’s visitors, just like the place.

ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: IF YOU GO How to get there: Alexandria’s Old Town is two miles from Washington National Airport or eight miles from downtown Washington. King Street is linked to both by the Metro subway. Historical sites: Lee-Fendall House, 614 Oronoco St.; Gadsby’s, 134 N. Royal St.; Carlyle House, 121 N. Fairfax St.; Boyhood Home of Robert E. Lee, 607 Oronoco St.; George Washington Masonic National Memorial; Old Presbyterian Meeting House, 321 S. Fairfax St.; Ramsay House, 221 King St.; StablerLeadbeater Apothecary, 105-107 S. Fairfax St.; Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105 N. Union St. Information: Alexandria Convention and Visitors Bureau, 221 King St., Alexandria, Va. 22314; (703) 838-4200.

This sidebar appeared with the story: IF YOU GO How to get there: Alexandria’s Old Town is two miles from Washington National Airport or eight miles from downtown Washington. King Street is linked to both by the Metro subway. Historical sites: Lee-Fendall House, 614 Oronoco St.; Gadsby’s, 134 N. Royal St.; Carlyle House, 121 N. Fairfax St.; Boyhood Home of Robert E. Lee, 607 Oronoco St.; George Washington Masonic National Memorial; Old Presbyterian Meeting House, 321 S. Fairfax St.; Ramsay House, 221 King St.; StablerLeadbeater Apothecary, 105-107 S. Fairfax St.; Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105 N. Union St. Information: Alexandria Convention and Visitors Bureau, 221 King St., Alexandria, Va. 22314; (703) 838-4200.