Fairfax County Virginia Real Estate

Fairfax County Virginia Real Estate

In many ways the recorded history of Fairfax County, Virginia is a reflection of the history of the entire United States. Although the county was not formally created until 1742, the history of the English settlement on the land that is now Fairfax County spans the early 1600s to the present. Such familiar Fairfax County names and places as George Washington, George Mason, Dulles International Airport, and Mount Vernon—have played or are still playing important roles in the lives of Americans everywhere.

Early in the Civil War, Confederate troops held much of the county but Union troops were positioned in the northern and eastern areas, especially near Alexandria. Troops from both sides crisscrossed the county. Several minor engagements occurred in Fairfax County early in the war. On June 1, 1861 a Union cavalry raid at the Fairfax County Court House (which still stands on Chain Bridge Road) resulted in the first Confederate casualty, John Quincy Marr, for whom John Marr Drive in Annandale is named today.

Fairfax County was largely agricultural up until the 1930s when Franklin D. Roosevelt became President. After that, the word that best summarizes the County is growth! As government became bigger and the automobile became more accessible, Fairfax became a desirable lifestyle choice for those wanting out of hectic city life.

Dining

A great place to eat, Fairfax County offers a variety of foods from around the world along with most of the major chains such as Ruth Chris, Morton’s, Bonefish Grill, and Capital Grille. Some of our favorites include a number in the Great American Restaurant chain such as Arties, Ozzie’s, and Coastal Flats. Great Vietnamese food can be found at Four Sisters, Bamian’s in Baileys Crossroads is great for Afghan food, Marks Duck House in Falls Church is great for Chinese, and Elephant Jumps in Merrifield is great for Thai. One of our overall favorites for an evening out is L’Auberge Chez Francois in Great Falls. For special occasions, it is a must!

Parks and Recreation

More than 50 square miles of public parkland beckon county residents to enjoy the great outdoors. The Fairfax County Park Authority operates 420 parks, eight recreation centers, five nature centers, a working farm and mill, equestrian trails and numerous public golf courses on more than 24,000 acres. The Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority operates numerous regional parks, including five located in Fairfax County. The county is also home to Great Falls National Park and Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge, America's first refuge for the bald eagle.

Hikers and Bike Riders will love the 100-foot-wide W&OD Trail--called "the skinniest park in Virginia" with its 45 miles of paved trail for walking, running, bicycling and skating and 32 miles of adjacent gravel trail for horseback riding. Built on the roadbed of the former Washington & Old Dominion Railroad, the multi-use W&OD Trail runs through the urban heartland and countryside of Northern Virginia.

Golf is a lifetime sport, and the Fairfax County Park Authority gives golfers the opportunity of a lifetime to play through the seasons on quality courses at affordable prices. From par-three to championship length, the Park Authority offers courses to suit beginner and expert golfers alike. All courses are professionally designed and carefully conditioned and maintained to provide the finest golfing in Northern Virginia. All courses are open year round, weather permitting. Check out the courses here.

Education

The Fairfax County Public Schools system is known as being one of the best school systems in the county. It contains the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a magnet school which consistently ranks at or near the top of all United States high schools due to the extraordinary number of National Merit Semi-Finalists and Finalists, the high average SAT scores of its students, and the number of students who annually perform nationally recognized research in the sciences and engineering.

George Mason University is located just outside the city of Fairfax, near the geographic center of Fairfax County. Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) serves Fairfax County with campuses in Annandale and Springfield a center in Reston which is a satellite branch of the Loudoun campus. The NVCC Alexandria campus borders Fairfax County. Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Medicine recently constructed a medical campus wing at Inova Fairfax Hospital in order to allow third and fourth year medical students to study at state-of-the-art facilities in the Northern Virginia region.

Industry

With one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, the economy of Fairfax County revolves around professional services and technology. Many residents work for the government or for contractors of the federal government. The government is the largest employer, with the greatly expanded Fort Belvoir in southern Fairfax being the county's single largest location of federal employment.

Fairfax County also is home to major employers such as Volkswagen Group of America, Hilton Worldwide, CSC (formerly Computer Sciences Corporation), Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Gannett, Capital One, General Dynamics, Freddie Mac, Sallie Mae, Mars, NII and NVR. ExxonMobil headquarters its downstream operations in the county at a site that was formerly the headquarters of Mobil Oil. The county is home to seven Fortune 500 company headquarters, 11 Hispanic 500 companies, and five companies on the Black Enterprise 500 list. Northrop Grumman announced in 2010 that it would move its corporate headquarters from Los Angeles to Fairfax County.

The Tyson’s Corner CDP of Fairfax County is Virginia's largest office market and the largest suburban business district in the nation. It is the country's 12th-largest business district, and is expected to grow substantially in the decades to come. It contains a quarter of county's total office space inventory, which totaled 105,200,000 square feet (9,770,000 m2) at year-end 2006, which is about the size of Lower Manhattan.

Every weekday, Tyson’s Corner draws over 100,000 workers from around the region. It also draws 55,000 shoppers every weekday as it is home to neighboring super-regional malls Tyson’s Corner Center and Tyson’s Galleria.

After years of stalling and controversy, the $5.2 billion expansion of Washington Metro in Virginia from Washington, D.C. to Dulles International Airport received funding approval from the Federal Transit Administration in December 2008. The new line, informally dubbed the Silver Line, will add four stations in Tyson’s Corner, including a station between Tyson’s Corner Center and Tyson’s Galleria.

Housing

With its vast size, Fairfax County offers everything from garden and high rise apartments and condominiums to multi million dollar homes. One section of Fairfax County does have a Fairfax mailing address and the homes there feed into Woodson High. Some of the subdivisions in the Fairfax mailing address include Amanda Place, Ashford, Braddock Greens, Braddock Manor, Bradfield, Brecon Ridge, George Mason Forest, Mantua, North Hills, Old Creek Estates, Ridgelea Hills, Rutherford, Somerset, Somerset South, and Springbrook Forest.