Dumfries

DUMFIRES, Va. — Jennifer Stringfellow likes Dumfries and its older houses. She ought to, as she is the head of the town’s Architectural Review Board (ARB), a volunteer commission charged with overseeing development, changes, and preserving the town’s historic district that includes an old street grid, something that resembles Old Town Alexandria’s layout.

The small town, Virginia’s oldest continuously charted town of 5,000 residents, wasn’t always known for its busy U.S. 1. When it was founded in 1749 it was one of the nation’s largest deep water ports, and water flowed right up to present day Main Street and the street grid. Many of the old homes and buildings are no longer there, but the Weems-Botts House, Williams Ordinary, the Anderson House that sits about a block away from the Weems-Botts House, Town Hall, and homes that are more than 50-years-old are all in the district.

By URIAH KISER

Sitting at his desk on a snowy late March morning, Dumfries Police Chief Robert Forker answers a phone call. He, and is second in command Capt. Rebecca Edwards, are the only ones in the office this morning because their two-person front office staff is contending with a minor bout of the flu.