Annandale Tutors Come To You

Located along the 64-mile Capital Beltway Loop (Interstate 495), Annandale, Virginia is a suburb of Washington D.C. only a few miles west of the National Mall. Settled in the late 17th-century as a tobacco plantation by Englishman William Fitzhugh, the area which is now Annandale was originally named “Ravensworth.” It wasn’t until the early 1800’s that the town came to be known as Annandale, apparently after the River Annan in Scotland. By 1830, the large plantations were gone and an influx of northern farmers settled the land, many of them determined to succeed without the use of slaves. These new farmers brought innovation, including the practice of crop rotation. Rather than continually planting tobacco or cotton on the same stretch of land, they began mixing in different crops on a rotating basis.

In 1861 the entire state of Virginia seceded from the United States but Annandale was quickly occupied by Union forces and became part of the protective perimeter around Washington D.C. While skirmishes between North and South raged in the Annandale area throughout the war the major battles were fought in other parts of Virginia. A few miles west of Annandale two major battles were fought at what came to be known as Bull Run by the Union and Manassas by the Confederacy. The first battle at Bull Run, on a sunny summer Sunday in 1861, drew hundreds of spectators out of Washington D.C. eager to get a glimpse at history. What they witnessed was a chaotic and bloody affair which brought many to the conclusion that the war would be a long and protracted affair. While there was no clear winner to the battle it was certain that the Confederacy would be a determined foe and hopes of a quick Union victory faded in the smoke. The second battle at Bull Run in 1862 was a decisive Confederate blow to any hopes that the war would end soon. Almost three more years would pass before the slaughter stopped.

Although Annandale is mostly a residential suburb, it benefits from its proximity to the many attractions and activities available in Washington D.C. A Grade Potential Tutor can get you caught up on your academics so you can make time to enjoy all that is available in this exciting metropolitan area. TripAdvisor.com has ranked the top things to see in the nation’s capital and the Lincoln Memorial topped the list. Less than two years after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln Congress began appropriating money to build a memorial to the 16th president but actual construction didn’t begin for nearly fifty years. It took eight years for the monument to be finished but by 1922 the Lincoln Memorial as well as the entire National Mall including the Reflecting Pool were finished. Nearly eight million visitors come the monument each year.

The second most popular monument in D.C. is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. Completed in 1982 the monument is adjacent to the National Mall and not far from the Lincoln Memorial. The wall lists all of the 58,000 Americans who gave their lives in the service of their country during the Vietnam war which lasted from 1955 to 1975.