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History · Lorton

Lorton in old photos and postcards

Postcards, papers and photographs of Lorton from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.

12old photos & papers
2historic places
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Lorton’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Lorton’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers, 1861–1993.
★ What stands out · By decade

Lorton, decade by decade

4 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s1 item
Pohick Church1861Pohick Church
1900s5 items
Old Pohick Church built in 17731900Old Pohick Church built in 1773 Old Pohick Church built in 17731900Old Pohick Church built in 1773 Old Pohick Church built in 17731900Old Pohick Church built in 1773 Old Pohick Church built in 17731900Old Pohick Church built in 1773 George Washington Church1909George Washington Church
1920s5 items
Fredricksburg tour, Pohick church1920Fredricksburg tour, Pohick church Fredricksburg tour, Brompton on Mary [...] HTS1920Fredricksburg tour, Brompton on Mary [...] HTS Pohick Church, (Virginia)1921Pohick Church, (Virginia) Pohick church1922Pohick church Old Pohick Church built in 17731929Old Pohick Church built in 1773
1930s–1980snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
1990s1 item
Auto Train leaving Lorton, October 19931993Auto Train leaving Lorton, October 1993
Today6 recent
Interstate 95 - Virginia2009Interstate 95 - Virginia Interstate 95 - Virginia2009Interstate 95 - Virginia Interstate 95 - Virginia2009Interstate 95 - Virginia Interstate 95 - Virginia2009Interstate 95 - Virginia Houses in2009Houses in Houses in Lorton (2)2009Houses in Lorton (2)
The story

How Lorton came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Lorton.

Read it all →

Lorton is named for a village in the Lake District National Park, Cumbria, in England. Joseph Plaskett of the Cumbrian village settled in southern Fairfax County, running a general store and opening the Lorton Valley Post Office on November 11, 1875.

Before the identity of Lorton, the commercial center was Colchester, and the spiritual and historical center of the community around which the leading citizens of the time revolved was Pohick Church, where George Washington and George Mason were at times members of the vestry.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Lorton, 1861 to 1997

Woven from the archive, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1861In the archivePohick Church
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900In the archiveOld Pohick Church built in 1773
  5. 1920In the archiveFredricksburg tour, Pohick church
  6. 1993In the archiveAuto Train leaving Lorton, October 1993
  7. 1995Born hereAndi Sullivan is born here
  8. 1997Born hereTrevor Stewart is born here
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Pohick Church
Retake this viewPohick Church, 1861

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Lorton’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Lorton

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1969
Pohick Church
in Virginia
#163
by listings
Pohick ChurchFairfax Arms
Buildings
Pohick ChurchBuilding
Fairfax ArmsBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Lorton

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
A
Andi SullivanAmerican soccer player · b. 1995
T
Trevor StewartAmerican sprinter · b. 1997
Help out

Finish Lorton’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewPohick Church: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

NewingtonIts storyLaurel Hill1 historic placeMason Neck2 historic places

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Has Lorton changed for the better?

Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.

Start a conversation

From Wikimedia Commons (9), the Library of Congress (9), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia and Wikidata for famous people. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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