Living in Reston

Like much of Northern Virginia in the 1880s, the 7,000 acres of land now known as Reston once belonged to Lord Fairfax and was called “Sunset Hills.” After Lord Fairfax’s death, his sons sold the land to A. Smith Bowman who used it for farmland and built a bourbon distillery which operated until 1987. In 1961, Robert E. Simon — a real estate entrepreneur — used funds from the sale of Carnegie Hall to purchase all of the land except for the distillery. Simon envisioned a planned community with a full range of housing styles that would be affordable to a wide variety of people no matter their income or age. Simon named the planned community Reston after his own initials, and wanted the neighborhood to be a place where people could live, work, and play all in one community. Simon was very specific that Reston should offer the widest choice of opportunities for leisure time with a wide range of cultural and recreational facilities, as well as an environment for privacy. Lastly, Reston should be beautiful — both naturally and structurally. Over the next few decades, Simon’s visions came to life, and Reston flourished into the popular, successful community we know and love today.

• Drinking
• Dining
• Shopping
• Animal Care
• Exercising
• Recreation
• Fixing
• Local Services
• Health