 Click to enlarge |  Click to enlarge |
Introduction
Enterprising Beginnings
Alexandria, Virginia, was founded in the middle of the 18th century by a group that included several Scottish traders. From its earliest days, Scots played important roles in the town’s development and growth, from a simple tobacco port to a major regional transportation center. Like most American cities, Alexandria has become home to a diverse population, and continues to welcome people from around the world as it has since the 18th century. Today, Alexandria is also a very unique community — the oldest town in the Washington metropolitan area, one that goes to great lengths to preserve and use its history, and with a population that continues to cherish and celebrate the city’s Scottish heritage.
In the late 1740's, area tobacco merchants and factors representing commercial houses in England and Scotland needed a port close to them on the Potomac River, from which they could more easily ship Northern Virginia tobacco to Britain. Among these men were Scots John Carlyle, William Ramsay, John Pagan, and John Dalton, all of whom signed a petition to the Virginia House of Burgesses urging the creation of a new town near the government tobacco inspection station on Great Hunting Creek. In 1749, the town of Alexandria was created, and lots were quickly sold to these merchants and many others. Though the town’s cash crop changed from tobacco to wheat within the next few decades, by 1800 Alexandria was one of the busiest ports in America. The town had also become home to many native and second-generation immigrant Scots, including cabinetmakers, coopers, tinsmiths, carpenters, bakers, brewers, tavern keepers and doctors.
Click to enlargeThis coin silver Neoclassical coffee pot was made by Adam Lynn about 1796. In that year, Lynn opened a shop on King Street in Alexandria, announcing that he made "in the neatest and most fashionable manner all kinds of gold and silver work." By this period, Alexandria had become a very busy and prosperous place, allowing many skilled craftsmen such as Adam Lynn to flourish. The Lyceum Collection, purchased in memory of Charles Cecil Williams.
 Click to enlarge | George Washington attended in his last illness by Dr. James Craik and Dr. William Brown. Courtesy of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.
Born near Dumfries, Scotland, Dr. James Craik was trained at the Medical College in Edinburgh and moved to Virginia in the 1760s. Washington referred to him as “my compatriot in arms, and old and intimate friend.” |
In the 19th century, Alexandria continued to serve the region as a major shipping point, though it increasingly lost trade to Baltimore and its more advantageous position at the head of the Chesapeake Bay. The city had a large flour milling and baking industry, numerous furniture and pottery factories, and an active fishery, among other enterprises, along with the South’s largest slave-trading firm, Franklin & Armfield. After a rocky start, railroads eventually linked Alexandria to the farms and towns of the Virginia Piedmont by the 1850's. During the Civil War, Alexandria was occupied by the Union Army, and became a strategic rail, supply and hospital center, surrounded by the forts and guns of the Defenses of Washington. Men and women with Scottish surnames continued to make up a large percentage of city residents and civic leaders, including Ramsays, Hunters, Jamiesons, McKnights, McKenzies, and McReas.
 Click to enlarge | Alexandrians in the 1840s hoped to divert some of the lucrative trade flowing down the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal to Georgetown by constructing their own Alexandria Canal, but both eventually lost out to railroads. This case in the section "Transportation and Industry" holds a model of a canal excursion boat and other artifacts of 19th-century Alexandria." |
 Click to enlarge | Lewis McKenzie, ca. 1861-1863. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Born in Alexandria with Scottish ancestry, Lewis McKenzie was a major town figure in the mid-nineteenth century. A successful businessman, he helped form and served as president of the Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire Railroad. A staunch Unionist, McKenzie served on Alexandria’s City Council between 1855 and 1870, and as mayor of the occupied city during the Civil War, which cost him the friendship of many of his fellow residents. He was elected to Congress to fill a two-week vacancy in 1863, and returned with the Forty-first Congress in 1870. McKenzie served on City Council again from 1887 to 1891, retiring just a few years before his death. |
 Click to enlarge | This secretary was made in the Alexandria shop of Robert Abercrombie, a furniture maker trained by John Muir, and is the only known example of Abercrombie's work. Inside the lower half of the writing desk, an inscription in pencil reads "Made in Alexandria April 1821 Robert Abercrombies shop by HML". |
Old Town, Modern Suburb
Over the past century, Alexandria increasingly became a suburb of Washington, D.C. Residents traveled to shops, offices and government buildings on trolleys and ferries, as they still do today via the Capital Beltway and Metro system. Local industries continued to serve national needs; for example, torpedoes manufactured in Alexandria were used throughout World War II, and the city’s rail classification yards were the largest in the country.
Heritage Tourism
As the automobile fueled American interests in travel and tourism in the last century, Alexandria became the gateway to the South for many Northerners, who visited local historical shrines like Gadsby’s Tavern and Mount Vernon. Today, people throughout the country and around the world come to Alexandria, “The Fun Side of the Potomac,” as an escape from their hectic 21st century lives, to relax along the banks of the Potomac River, enjoy community festivals and events, to shop and enjoy dozens of fine restaurants, to stroll the streets lined with old homes, and to reflect on some of the richest and best-preserved history in the area.
The Alexandria Scottish Christmas Walk
Several times a year, Alexandria’s Scottish history comes front and center, reminding us all of the city’s earliest Scottish roots. Started in 1969, the Campagna Center’s Alexandria “Scottish Christmas Walk” is an annual parade and celebration to honor the city’s Scottish founders, rich heritage, and unique quality of life. The Walk has grown from a small, informal parade to an entire weekend filled with events, and is generally regarded as the local kick-off to the Christmas season. Festivities include a whisky tasting, the sale of holiday greens, and a house tour. The parade itself consists of Scottish military regiments, costumed highlanders, school bands, citizen groups and associations. A grand marshal leads local clans and floats filled with volunteers and children. The Lord Provost of Dundee (Alexandria’s Scottish sister city) and the British Ambassador to the United States, along with local political leaders riding in vintage cars, also participate in the parade. Traditionally, the crowd joins in at the end of the procession, walking the route to City Hall for a short ceremony. The Alexandria Scottish Christmas Walk typically takes place the first Saturday in December.
Photo courtesy of the Alexandria Convention & Visitor's Association
Click to enlarge
Dundee, Scotland: Alexandria’s Sister City
Surrounded by hills on the Firth of Tay along the east coast of Scotland, Dundee has been an important seaport for centuries. In the past, the city was a prosperous manufacturer of jute canvas and jam; in fact, marmalade is said to have been developed there. Today, the city’s rich maritime history is represented by two ships docked on its waterfront: RRS Discovery, which was built in Dundee and sailed to Antarctica under the command of explorer Robert Falcon Scott, and HM Frigate Unicorn, the oldest British-built ship afloat. Dundee is the fourth largest city in Scotland, and home to thriving publishing, technology and medical research industries.
In 1974, Alexandria forged a symbolic bond of friendship with Dundee, making her a “sister city,” and further strengthening the historical ties between Alexandria and Scotland. Delegates regularly travel between each city in a spirit of civic pride and goodwill, promoting an appreciation for what is both shared and special about their hometowns. Representatives from Dundee visit Alexandria annually to help celebrate traditional events such as the Scottish Games and the Campagna Center Scottish Christmas Walk.
The Virginia Scottish Games in Alexandria
The first Virginia Scottish Games and Gathering of the Clans was held in Alexandria in 1974, on the grounds of Episcopal High School, and were organized as an early part of the city’s national Bicentennial activities. Since that time, the Games have become an annual event, and one of the largest in the country to celebrate and promote Scottish arts, culture and customs.
The modern-day Scottish Games are rooted in highland traditions that started more than 1,000 years ago, as clansmen sought to prove their prowess as warriors to their clan chiefs. Grand clan gatherings were held which focused on athletic tests of skill and strength — races, wrestling, tossing heavy objects such as stones or hammers, and pitching sheaves of wheat. Today, athletic events such as the caber toss, hammer throw, “putting the stone,” and tossing the sheaf are combined with piping, dancing, harp competitions, and other Scottish cultural demonstrations, continuing the tradition of the earliest highland games.
