Historic Jones Point

Jones Point was designated by President George Washington as the southern corner of the District of Columbia. In 1790 Congress established the nation’s capital with a ten-mile square of land ceded by Virginia and Maryland, with Alexandria City and what is now Arlington County forming Virginia’s contribution. In 1791 the District of Columbia’s original cornerstone was erected on Jones Point, and forty boundary stones, one per mile, outlined the District. Andrew Ellicott conducted the land survey for the nation’s capital with Benjamin Banneker. In 1846, after many Alexandria citizens urged the change, Virginia petitioned the federal government and regained its territory. Jones Point remained an important landmark with the construction of a federal lighthouse there in 1856, marking the river channel to Washington’s Navy Yard and to Alexandria, then the third busiest seaport in the Chesapeake Bay region. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1926, and today the lights of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge orient vessels.

Belle Haven, Virginia · United States