News and notes from Reston (tm).

Monday, June 13, 2011

Flashback Monday: Early Reston, From the Air

PCA_Media-Photos_107-2_aerial3_1966.jpg
If you could build a time machine out of a hot air balloon instead of a DeLorean, and for some reason you decided to set the controls to 1966, this is what you might see before a squadron of F-4s shot you out of the sky: An earth-toned real estate development rising from the Virginia forest. Note the unpaved clearcut gash snaking to the top right that would become Wiehle Avenue. Otherwise, it's pretty much just Lake Anne Village Center, Lake Anne Elementary School, some single-family homes, the 'ole distillery near the lower left corner, and an unfinished golf course. We'll leave you to ponder a Reston without a Home Depot or Memco, much less a Macaroni Grill, the end.

4 comments:

  1. I can see the right-of-way for the gas piplelines were cleared and in place even back then.

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  2. I wish we could click on it and 'biggie' this photo. It's fascinating!

    When my in-laws moved here in 1970, Lawyers Road was gravel after the intersection with Hunters Mill...and you had to ford the stream when you went to Vienna where there's now a bridge!

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  3. A (much) bigger version:

    http://lh3.ggpht.com/-LKqE1t3DZQ0/TfVryKEN3CI/AAAAAAAACTg/xqRgv0xJbD4/PCA_Media-Photos_107-2_aerial3_1966.jpg

    ReplyDelete
  4. Somewhere in this photo, Robert Simon is striding around muttering, "Density... more density... more, more!"

    ReplyDelete

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