Supply and Demand: The Development of Arlington and Fairfax Counties, 1649–1960
The history of Northern Virginia can be clearly seen in the changing values of its real estate.
Arlington and Fairfax counties constitute a resilient population consistently grappling with changes that framed its growth from a frontier post to an agrarian economy and ultimately to the influential suburb of the nation’s capital that we see today.
Supply and Demand provides readers a clear narrative of that development through an economic lens. It draws back the curtain on social conditions and property values that shaped the northern portion of the commonwealth for more than three centuries.
Historian and Realtor Karen Washburn presents extensive research going back to the seventeenth century. Northern Virginia has watched the economy sink often, only to recover every time. The path back was rarely clear, and sometimes it was painfully slow, but ultimately real estate values would surpass the previous hot market.
Northern Virginia’s past is full of successes and failures. Opening this window, Washburn lets us experience a piece of regional growth that will increase knowledge of this robust area in an educational and entertaining way—in the process, highlighting the value of telling economic history anywhere.
