history

Arlington Cinco de Mayo Guide

By ARLnow.com

Cinco de Mayo celebrates an 1862 battle in which Mexican troops beat back French forces who invaded to force the country to repay a debt.

In Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is primarily a regional holiday with “limited significance nationwide.” Across the United States, however, the fifth of May is recognized as a time to celebrate Mexican heritage by some, and as a good excuse to drink lots of Coronas and margaritas by others.

Here are a few of the planned events and specials happening around Arlington on Wednesday. Let us know if we forgot anything.

Mexicali Blues (2933 Wilson Boulevard)

  • Cinco de Mayo party featuring free trinkets and t-shirts
  • $3.50 24-oz. Modela Especial cans
  • $3 16-oz. Tecate and Miller Lite cans
  • $3 Corona and Pacifico bottles
  • $6 margaritas

Cantina Mexicana (515 23rd Street South)

  • All day specials
  • Sangrias: $3 small, $8 large
  • All imported beer $2.50
  • $5 “super nachos”

Guapo’s Shirlington (4036 Campbell Avenue)

  • Mariachi bands  from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m.
  • All Mexican beers at an unannounced “special price”

Chevy’s Fresh Mex (1201 South Hayes Street and 4238 Wilson Boulevard)

  • “Party all day and all night.”
  • Mariachi band, time TBA
  • $5 margaritas

(more…)

Tulips In Bloom at the Netherlands Carillon

By ARLnow.com

Maybe you’ve jogged by it and never quite knew why it’s there: thousands of colorful tulips in bloom between the Iwo Jima Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.

The tulips are planted on the grounds of the Netherlands Carillon, a gift given to the United States on behalf of the Dutch people in appreciation for our sacrifices during World War II. It was dedicated on May 5, 1960, to mark the fifteenth anniversary of the Netherlands’ liberation from the Nazis.

The Carillon consists of fifty bells, which play various military hymns and anthems at regular intervals during the day. The bells occasionally play other songs for special occasions, like Auld Lang Syne on New Years Eve.

The Carillon is held aloft on a 127-foot tower designed by a leading Dutch architect. A clavier that can play all fifty bells is housed in a “playing cabin.”

Pool photo by Micha84

Arlington and the Freedman’s Village

By ARLnow.com

There’s a section of Arlington National Cemetery, near the Iwo Jima Memorial, that contains graves unlike any other. The graves belong not to soldiers, but to freed slaves who lived on the grounds after the Civil War, in a thriving “Freedman’s Village.”

The village was home to more than 1,100 former slaves, including the black abolitionist Sojourner Truth, who spent a year there, on what was once the estate of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s family.

More on the historical significance of the village, from the Associated Press.

Arlington, The Birthplace of Radio (Sort Of)

By ARLnow.com

You may not realize it, but Arlington was once home to the biggest, baddest radio towers in the world.

The U.S. Navy Radio Station was built in 1910 on what is now Columbia Pike, overlooking the nation’s capital. The 600-foot high, 100,000 watt towers were monsters, able to transmit signals much farther than your standard AM or FM broadcast today.

The Navy Radio Station was the place where the term “radio” was first used to describe wireless voice transmissions. The towers also relayed the first successful overseas radio telephone message.

But perhaps the most dubious distinction came in 1916, when the towers were used to relay the results of the U.S. presidential election overseas. The transmission was heard around the world. Unfortunately, as this clip from a documentary celebrating Columbia Pike’s bicentennial explains, they got one important detail wrong.

Happy Birthday, George Washington

By ARLnow.com

The arbitrary federal holiday known as President’s Day might have been last week, but don’t let that stop you from recognizing the actual birthday of an actual president. Founding father George Washington turns 278 today.

Did you know that our first president owned 1,200 acres of land in Northern Virginia, much of it in Arlington? If you don’t believe it, head out on a historical trek to find the George Washington Survey Tree.

Okay, the tree is long gone, but a marker was erected at the site where it once stood. It’s located just off the W&OD trail, near the Glencarlyn and Barcroft sections of Arlington.

There is also a section of the original tree on exhibit at the Glencarlyn Library.