The scenic Nathaniel Ellicott footbridge over the Occoquan River got a bit of a facelift this week.
The bridge links the town in Prince Willaim County to the Vulcan rock quarry in Fairfax County. A spillway makes for a serene waterfall near the bridge. Before Hurricane Agnes in 1972, the bridge carried traffic on Route 123 over the river. The storm washed away the bridge, and a new one was built.
A footbridge was built on the remaining pylons, and the Virginia Department of Transportation still owns the bridge.
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A coffeehouse or a restaurant at the Workhouse Arts Center?
The artisan destination in Lorton says construction work to add these amenities has begun with two campus buildings, W13 and W15. Once completed, the Fairfax County Government will lease these buildings to commercial entities. Workhouse officials also say a brewery could be located in one of the new buildings.
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Occoquan will kick off a series of Halloween events, starting tonight with the 1988 classic "Beetlejuice."
The event series is called Spirits & Spirits in historic Occoquan and will provide fun activities for adults, children, and families. Tonight, it's "Beetlejuice: on the big screen at River Mill Park. The movie stars Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, and Gina Davis. The movie starts at 7 p.m., and tickets are $10 each or 2 for $15, available online or at the door. Popcorn, candy, and beverages will be available in the park. Children under 12 are free.
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Nearly 130 volunteers cleaned up the Occoquan River on Saturday, October 15.
Volunteers removed 168 bags of trash from the river. They found rusted chairs, iron beams, pillows, buckets, and seat cushions.
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Chair Ann Wheeler acknowledged that the Prince William Digital Gateway CPA review was "confusing" and announced a delay in bringing it to the Board of County Supervisors for a vote.
Despite the compromised nature of the September 14th Planning Commission public hearing, there was no mention of invalidating its recommendation or conducting a new hearing under more trustworthy conditions. So, you can expect the pause is merely designed to give weary citizens time to forget.
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Occoquan kicks off the fall season with the Fall Arts & Crafts Show on September 24 and 25, 2022.
More than 200 crafters, artisans, and local boutique owners will fill the streets of the historic district with vendor booths in just a few short weeks. The Craft Show will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and will take place rain or shine.
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While they always haven't had a town hall in Occoquan, they've held regular town business meetings for years.
Town Mayor Earnie Porta tells us the town staff uncovered meeting minutes dating back about 90 years to the early 1930s. Porta says some meetings were held inside shops and inside people's homes.
Some minutes show a New Deal project, a key public works program during the Great Depression. The project was a culvert for Ballywhack Creek, which runs into town down a slope from Old Bridge Road in Lake Ridge.
The Ballywhack flooded the town during Tropical Storm Lee in 2011, filling basements with water. The storm also damaged the Holly Acres trailer park in Woodbridge, leaving 300 homeless.
Porta notes he's scanning the old documents for posterity and will make them available to the public, including researchers who want a glimpse of the river town's past.
Today, the Town Council meets on the first Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. in Town Hall, 314 Mill Street.
More in an email from Porta:
Town staff have discovered Occoquan Town Council meeting minutes going back, thus far, to 1933. To preserve them and make them readily available for researchers and others, I am scanning the documents and placing them for public access on the Occoquan Historical Society web site (www.occoquanhistoricalsociety
.org). Thus far the site contains the minutes from 1933 through 1935. Among the information that immediately stands out:
- In the absence of a Town Hall, meetings were held in businesses and even in personal residences.
- The town participated in the very brief Civil Works Administration (CWA), a New Deal program designed to provide jobs during the winter of 1933-1934. Occoquan's project appears to be related to a storm sewer and possibly involved "Ballawhack branch," our Ballywhack Creek.
- Some will note that the scans reveal that on the reverse of some pages (I included a direct scan of the reverse of one such page) is the letterhead of the American Surety Company of New York, including an image of its iconic 19th-century building that is today a New York City landmark. The Town Clerk at the time, B.W., Brunt, was an agent of the company, and appears to have sometimes had the minutes of the Town Council meetings typed up on the blank side of his office letterhead.
To check out this collection of historical documents at your leisure go to https://www.occoquanhistorica
lsociety.org/documents. I will attempt to issue updates as more are scanned and uploaded. This article is FREE to read. Please Sign In or Create a FREE Account. Thank you.
"The improvements ... are pretty dramatic," Occoquan Mayor Earnie Porta Jr. said at a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony. "This has a lot of advantages for us both in terms of the way it directs traffic as well as the safety for pedestrians."
Prince William County, the town, and the Virginia Department of Transportation, or VDOT, collaborated on the project along Mill Street between Washington and Ellicott streets. Updates to the area will improve pedestrian safety, accessibility and connectivity. The project included five crosswalks and nine ramps with detectable warning domes that comply with the American with Disabilities Act.
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Occoquan officials will gather at Town Hall today to remember the 50th anniversary of Hurricane Agnes.
A new piece of art will be unveiled. The creation uses a part of The Route 123 bridge that fell during the storm, Mayor Earnie Porta said. The commemoration begins at 11 a.m. at 458 Mill Street.
![1878 iron Occoquan River Bridge carrying VA 123 is wrenched off its abutments by flood waters. Potomac News, Paul Lewis, photographer, courtesy of the Library of Virginia [Prince William County Office of Historic Preservation]](https://www.potomaclocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/agnes-2-1260x840.jpg){kind=link}
![Collapsed US1 bridge built partially on the 1870s Washington Southern Railway bridge pillars. Image courtesy of the Library of Virginia [Prince William County Office of Historic Preservation]](https://www.potomaclocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/agnes-1-1260x840.jpg){kind=link}