For the number of times I've driven past the Fairfax Museum and Visitor's Center on Main Street (Highway 236) in Fairfax, VA, it's amazing that I've never actually stopped in for a visit. So, last Friday, Diggory and I decided to end that streak, and discovered a little gem of a museum. The museum and visitor's center are housed in the former Fairfax Elementary School built in 1873. It's a two story brick building with a lovely porch and well-maintained lawn and flowers. Lately, I've been more motivated to visit museums with parking lots and air conditioning, rather than brave the metro. (See my previous post to infer why.) And the Fairfax Museum has both. Also, since the museum is rather small, I decided to forgo the stroller and diaper bag, and let Diggory walk. It's our new thing. I had to hold is hand, of course, so he didn't go running off. But, what better way to practice being a big boy, right?!
When you first step inside the building, you'll encounter the information desk, staffed by friendly volunteers, and rows of racks holding brochures for sights in Fairfax County and beyond. (It is a visitor's center, after all.) The building is completely handicapped accessible and stroller friendly, with an elevator that serves both floors. The temporary exhibition space is on the mezzanine level, just a few steps up from the entrance and lobby on the first floor, and the permanent exhibition on Fairfax history is on the second floor. We took the stairs! Remember, no stroller! The restrooms are directly across from the elevator on the mezzanine level. No changing tables, but they are plenty spacious and very clean.
The current temporary exhibition, Collecting Fairfax: The First Twenty Years, 1992-2012, presents selected items collected for the museum's collections since its founding. I really love exhibitions about "collecting" because it gives visitor's a little peak into what, why, and how museums obtain objects for a permanent collection. Often more than the object itself, the story behind the object or what the object represents is the more intangible "thing" collected. I particularly liked the section about collecting ephemeral items from events happening now. It's an important act to decide what to hold on to now, that will be significant 100 years from now.
Upstairs you'll find the permanent exhibition on Fairfax history called The Fairfax Story. Once a major agricultural center, Fairfax county and city experience major population growth following World War II and is known known as a major hub of information technology and heritage tourism. The exhibition follows the area's history from the first Native American inhabitants to the present day. Many of the cases and artifacts are presented at ground-level, so I didn't have to do too much lifting so Diggory could see in the higher cases.
We were really only in the museum for about 30-45 minutes, perhaps less. So the next time you're driving by, stop in to have a look. As an extra bonus, there's a lovely park just behind the museum, on the other side of a seemingly rarely used parking garage. Diggory loved the playground equipment and climbing up the slides. Yes, up. We didn't stay long...it was 105 degrees and humid...but we had a ton of fun, and I'm so glad we finally made the visit.
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