Only about a ten-minute drive or a Metro ride from downtown D.C., Alexandria is as charming as Georgetown, but with more history. It still has a lot of Colonial character, such as its brick sidewalks, cobblestone streets, and many historic homes. Washingtonians refer to it simply as Old Town.

Alexandria is a small town and is easy to walk around in. The center of the grid is the intersection of Washington and King Streets. Many of the streets retain their original Colonial names. For information on special events and celebrations, call the Alexandria Convention and Visitors' Association at 1-888-738-2764 or 703-838-5005, or visit its Web site, http://oha.alexandriava.gov. You can also drop in at its headquarters situated in the historic William Ramsay House at 211 King Street, (and South Fairfax Street), where you can obtain a free map for a self-guided tour, brochures, and knowing advice.

A Little History

Alexandria was named after a Scottish tobacco merchant who purchased the land in 1669. The town was founded in 1749, and one of the surveyors who helped plan the streets was seventeen-year-old George Washington.

Since its founding, Alexandria has always been a country retreat for prominent Washington families. George Washington had a townhouse here, and many of the upper-crust Colonial families worshipped at the English-style Christ Church (Cameron and North Washington Streets, 703-549-1450, www.historicchristchurch.org), where Washington was a vestryman and had his own pew; Robert E. Lee was also confirmed here.

Washington is also said to have held his last birthday party at Gadsby's Tavern (134 N. Royal St., at Cameron Street, 703-838-4242, http://oha.alexandriava.gov/gadsby), which features a museum and is still a restaurant where costumed wait staff serve homemade Colonial fare. Jefferson, Madison, and the Marquis de Lafayette are also said to have dined here.

Robert E. Lee's Boyhood Home at 607 Oronoco Street at North Street is another historic home in Alexandria. Lee lived here until he enrolled at West Point in 1825. He married one of Washington's great-granddaughters and lived in Arlington House, whose grounds eventually became Arlington National Cemetery.

On the south side of Oronoco Street (No. 614) is the Lee-Fendall House (703-548-1789, www.leefendallhouse.org), where more Lee descendants lived (a total of thirty-seven over 118 years), and where there is an extensive display of Lee memorabilia. Phillip Richard Fendall bought the property from his cousin, Revolutionary War hero “Light Horse Harry” Lee, father of Robert E. Lee.

Other historic homes in Alexandria include the Carlyle House (121 N. Fairfax Street at Cameron St., 703-549-2997, www.carlylehouse.org), where in 1755 Major General Edward Braddock met with five Colonial governors to begin taxing the colonies in order to defend themselves from the French and the Indians. The colonists were not happy with this proposal and eventually drove him out.

City Hall and Market Square (bounded by King, N. Royal, Cameron, and N. Fairfax Sts.) is the site of a weekly outdoor market, Saturday, 6:30 to 10:30 A.M. Across the street on the south side of King Street is the newly restored Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum (703-838-3852, www.apothecarymuseum.org) which was the second oldest drugstore in the nation until it closed in 1933. A Quaker family ran it for five generations. It is now a museum and gift shop.

The Lyceum (201 S. Washington St., off Prince St., 703-838-4994) is a museum that features changing exhibits on the history of Alexandria from the seventeenth century to the present.

The Torpedo Factory Art Center (105 N. Union St. between King and Cameron Sts., on the waterfront, 703-838-4565) is the shell of a former torpedo factory. Two hundred artists now show their works on the premises; an exhibition of Alexandria archeology lets visitors see archaeologists at work in their lab. Open seven days a week, 10 A.M. to 5 P.M.

The Alexandria Black History Museum (703-838-4356, www.alexblackhistory.org) is housed in the former Robinson Library, once a segregated library for Alexandria's black community. America's first sit-in against segregation was staged in Alexandria in 1939 to protest the exclusion of blacks from Alexandria's public libraries, which led to the creation of the Robinson Library in 1940. The center, located at 902 Wyeth Street, displays objects and records of African-American history in the region, as well as special exhibits. There is also a research library on the premises. The center is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M.; Sunday, 1 to 5 P.M. Free admission.

Getting There

By car take the Arlington Memorial or 14th Street Bridge to the George Washington Memorial Parkway south, which becomes Washington Street in Old Town Alexandria. If you go to the Visitors' Bureau, it will give you an all-day parking pass, or you can park in metered spaces on the street.

Alexandria is also surprisingly easy to reach by Metro (whereas Georgetown is not). Take the Yellow line to the King Street station, and catch an eastbound AT2 or AT5 bus to the Visitors' Bureau.