Nearby

Clifton is located in the southwestern corner of Fairfax County, a fact that is somewhat hard to believe after you negotiate a heavily wooded, serpentine road (Route 645, which becomes Clifton Road once you pass U.S. 29) to reach the place. Here is a true redoubt from the hurly-burly, from the frantic shopping centers, office parks and exurban bedroom communities throbbing with intensity only few miles away. Here is a real community of shops, restaurants and homes not pre-designed and predestined by Toll Brothers or Van Metre, but built up organically more than a century ago. No apartment buildings, no high-rises.

For example, the William E. Beckwith House, also known as the Homestead, was built in 1771 and is the oldest remaining structure in Clifton, according to town historical markers and the Historic Town of Clifton Walking Tour pamphlet prepared by the Clifton Betterment Association. The Mayhugh Tavern, now a private home, was built in 1870 as a one-room structure and operated in the early 1900s by F.G. Gustie “Grandpap” Mayhugh as an “orderly and genteel bar.” The Clifton Baptist Church, built in 1877 and later replaced by the current 1910 building, has a gabled roof, tall spire and gothic-arched windows. The Hetzel House was owned and named for Susan Riviere Hetzel (1846-1908), who was one of the organizers the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Hetzel lived in the house with her mother for 25 years.

“This [town] is different than anywhere else,” says Tom Peterson, current mayor and owner of Peterson’s Ice Cream Depot. “It’s like going back in time. I think if you talk to any resident, they would brag. People here are very passionate about living here.” While much of Fairfax County is tuned to all the latest political and policy developments in Washington, the biggest news in Clifton, typically, is that the homemade brittle brownies have just arrived at the All That Glitters gift shop on Main Street, the announcement heralded in handwritten lettering on a blackboard propped up outside the business.