Watercolour of the United States Georgian era architecture with unusually walkable streets.
 
Old Town Alexandria is the historic heart of Alexandria, Virginia—a nationally designated historic district founded in 1749, laid out on a grid by a young George Washington, and celebrated today for its cobblestone streets, 18th‑ and 19th‑century architecture, and vibrant King Street corridor along the Potomac River. 
 
It is distinguished by red‑brick sidewalks, cobblestone lanes, and tightly packed row houses and townhouses from the Georgian and Federal eras, alongside later 19th‑century buildings.  The district’s compact, grid plan and riverside setting make it unusually legible on foot, with King Street acting as the main spine from the waterfront up toward the George Washington Masonic National Memorial. Its absolutely charming
 
Interesting facts...
Alexandria sat at the front line of the Civil War and became a hub for spying, counter‑spying, and covert movement. 
Intelligence operations on both sides focused heavily on Alexandria because of its rail links, hospitals, and Union garrisons.  Confederate agent Benjamin Franklin “Frank” Stringfellow operated in town under the cover of a dental assistant; his fiancée Emma Green, an Alexandrian, is thought to have aided his espionage. 
 
Beneath the grid runs the Wilkes Street Tunnel, an 1850s railroad passage now used by pedestrians and cyclists. It’s famous locally for its dark, vaulted brick interior and a string of grim 19th‑century incidents.  Reports from the 1860s describe violent deaths inside the tunnel, including a Union soldier stabbed to death, a drunken soldier whose leg was mangled by a train, and an unidentified man whose body was placed on the rails so his head was crushed by a passing locomotive. people who use it often get the spooks!
 
Daniel O’Connell’s Irish Restaurant & Pub in Old Town Alexandria is at:
112 King St, Alexandria, VA 22314 (on King Street in the heart of Old Town).