After the Beatles launched the “British Invasion” of the 1960s, it seemed like every town in America soon had any number of aspiring rockers forming their own garage bands and Arlington was no exception.

Although usually regarded as a Washington D.C. band, local heroes The Cherry People had very strong connections to Arlington. The core of the band was the Grimes brothers, Chris and Doug, and Edwin Lionel “Punky” Meadows, who formed the Intruders in 1964 in Washington, D.C. A year later they moved to Arlington and became The English Setters and released three 45s. By the summer of ’67 they changed their name again, to The Cherry People, and began to play regularly in area nightclubs and WPGC-sponsored dances at Washington-Lee High School.

After a trip to New York, the band landed a contract with the Heritage Records label, and spent the entire fall of 1967 recording an album in New York City. The band soon found their songs were compromised by their record label, which added strings and horns in an attempt to promote a more pop sound. A devastating live band known for explosive guitar playing reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix, the album was released in May 1968, but its bubblegum-pop sound failed to represent what the Cherry People were really all about.

Though the band soldiered on, they never regained the focus and momentum of their early days, finally calling it quits in 1975. Guitarist “Punky” Meadows later achieved a degree of fame with the 70s hard rock band, Angel. The Cherry People’s album has recently been reissued on CD by the Collectibles label.

What about you?

Do you remember the Cherry People? Let us know what you remember!

The area known as Spy Hill may not be the largest neighborhood in Arlington, but it certainly can claim to have had a unique history.

Spy Hill was originally comprised of two land grants, the Thomas Pearson grant of 1707 (660 acres), and the John Ball grant in 1742 (166 acres). The Pearson property was leased in 1740 for clearing and cultivation while the Ball property, which included the log cabin erected by John Ball known as the Ball-Sellers house, was sold as small lots around 1835. Together, these two areas became known as Boulevard Manor.

In 1851, New York farmer Timothy Bishop Munson and his family moved to Fairfax County. Munson started a nursery and raised sheep on the land known as Munson’s Hill, now part of present day Arlington, which included the greater portion of Boulevard Manor. During the Civil War, Confederate forces established an outpost on Upton’s Hill where the regional park is now located, from which they could observe troop movements across the Potomac. When the Confederate army withdrew from this area, the Federal army established Fort Upton on Upton’s Hill as part of the defense of Washington owing to the ability to see the Washington Monument and the Capitol from this vantage point. The areas of Boulevard Manor and Fort Upton received the name Spy Hill as a result of these activities. The image above is a Harper’s Weekly sketch of Union troops on Spy Hill.

In the 1860s, William A. Torreyson purchased land from the Carlin and Munson estates, including a sizeable portion of Munson’s Hill, and established a dairy farm. Torreyson’s daughter Lucy married George Reeves in 1894 and they took over the dairy farm in 1902, the last to operate in Arlington, until closing in 1955 under the ownership of George Reeves’ son, Nelson. After its sale in the late 1970s, Spy Hill was a popular gathering place for teenagers until its eventual development in 1990.

What about you?
Do you have any memories of the Spy Hill neighborhood? Let us know what you remember!

J.E.B. Stuart Homes

The J.E.B. Stuart homes were one of several federally funded projects that built low-cost WWII housing with a minimum of amenities.

Built in the southern part of the county, they were constructed without regard to Arlington County building and zoning regulations. Segregated according to race, as was the custom at that time, the George Pickett, Shirley, J.E.B. Stuart and Jubal Early homes were for whites. The George Washington Carver and Paul Dunbar home were for blacks. The homes were built on concrete slabs without basements and heated by coal stoves. Tenants were selected on the basis of need. Residents of the Stuart homes, pictured above, and the other developments were for people employed by the rapidly-growing federal government during the war years; Arlington County in general had a significant upsurge in population during the 1930s and 1940s.

After the war, those who could afford to moved out of the homes and the properties gradually deteriorated. The federal government wanted to dispose of the projects and offered them to the County to be used for low income families living in sub-standard housing. However, the County decided against the offer as acceptance would have entailed the establishment of a local Housing Authority, a proposal which was very controversial at the time. As a result, the homes that had been built to a higher, more permanent standard were sold to tenants and the others were razed.

What About You?

Do you remember the J.E.B. Stuart homes and similar housing? What were the war years like in Arlington? Let us know what you remember!