Lake Anne to Get Virginia Historic Sign

Reston is getting its own historic marker.

The Reston Historic Trust applied nearly two years ago to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources for one of the road signs that mark an important site, says RHT Chair Shelley Mastran.

Finally, it’s arrived and will be installed later this month at the entry to Lake Anne Plaza, Reston’s first village center in Robert E. Simon’s “New Town.”

Lake Anne Plaza is one of 140 historic sites in Fairfax County.

Here is what the sign says:

In 1961, Robert E. Simon Jr. began developing 6,750 acres of Sunset Hills Farm as a community for all races, ages and incomes. Simon engaged the architecture firm of Whittlesey & Conklin, who designed a “New Town.” Construction of Lake Anne Village, its lake, central plaza, stores and townhouses, began in 1963. 

With innovative zoning, Reston became one of the first master-planned communities in the United States, with residential clusters, mixed-use development, landscape conservation, ample recreational space, walking and biking trails, and public art. Reston received the Certified Planners’ National Landmark Award in 2002.