That Big Old White House on Burke Lake Road

I have driven by it for almost 20 years. I have wondered what was so special about that house. Other than confusing its owner with another much more famous man in history, I knew that it was the "Burke" house. Not Edmund Burke as I once thought but Silas Burke. I haven't been able to determine if the two were related (probably not) but they lived on the earth around the same time. Actually, Edmund died a year after Silas was born.

The home, built in 1824, was owned by Silas Burke. He was a local farmer, merchant, and politician according to Wikipedia and iloveburke.com. The area known as Burke, Virginia was named after Silas Burke as was Burke Lake Park, Burke Lake, etc. Mr. Burke "donated" the right of way for a railroad to be built with a station named Burke. As in many other areas, the local train station often became the name of the area. Other examples are Fairfax Station near Fairfax (City) and Clifton, VA.

Burke was primarily a rural community until about the 1960s and 1970s when a number of large subdivisions were built. Kings Park is one and and the other major subdivision, of course is Burke Centre, in the mid late 1970s with construction going well into the early 1980s.

At one time, the area was considered to be the location for an international airport. Articles I have read state that there was a mountain of protest from the locals as well as issues with the flight path that might interfere with Reagan National just up the road in Arlington. The new airport was finally built out in Chantilly on the Fairfax/Loudon county line and is known now as Washington Dulles International Airport. A better location in my book as Fairfax (the country seat) is roughly about halfway between Reagan National and Dulles making it easy access both airports.

The Washington area has an enourmous amount of national history in regard to The Revolution and the Civil War era. Everyone knows about Mt. Vernon, Ford's Theatre, and other national historic landmarks. If you live in the area, you are likely driving by lesser known landmarks everyday. The Burke and Fairfax area have alot of history and a quality of life that make it a desirable place to live.