Alexandria Academy

Alexandria County · dedicated 1999 · Washington Street, southeast corner of interesection with Wolfe Street

On 17 Dec. 1785, George Washington endowed a school here in the recently established Alexandria Academy "for the purpose of educating orphan children." In 1812, an association of free African Americans founded its own school here in space vacated by white students. Young Robert E. Lee attended another school in the Academy from 1818 to 1823, when it closed and the building was sold. During the Civil War the Academy served as a freedman's hospital. Returned to the Alexandria School Board in 1884, the Alexandria Academy was used as a school and administrative facility until 1982. The Historic Alexandria Foundation restored it in 1999.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

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Historic Alexandriaunder 1 mi

On the National Register nearby

Davis Chapel170 ft
Alexandria Historic District220 ft

Places within about 300 feet of this marker that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A nearby listing is not always the marker's own subject.