The Story
The Town of Vienna, Virginia is a charming neighborhood 15 miles from Washington DC.
The original Fairfax County Courthouse, built around 1742 was likely the first European settlement in Vienna. Col. Charles Broadwater owned much of the land in the region and built his home there in 1754. John Hunter, a native of Ayr County in Scotland, married Broadwater's daughter and built a tobacco plantation called Ayr Hill.
In the mid-1800s, unseasonable weather in the north and attractive land values
brought migrants to Ayr Hill. Among them was the Hendrick family. They renamed Ayr Hill to Vienna in 1854, after their hometown in upstate New York.
In 1859, the W&OD railroad reached Vienna. When the Civil War began, Vienna became a camping ground for the two contending forces—switching hands several times.
By 1940, Vienna was still a small, quiet, rural town. However, the post-World War II rush to the suburbs brought a substantial increase in population.
