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Hunter Mill Road was as popular a shortcut during the Civil War as it is today.

"The reason [the Virginia Department of Transportation] wants to widen the road is that it still holds the same attributes it held 150 years ago," said James Lewis, a retired Xerox salesman turned historian.

Running from Route 123 in Oakton to Route 7 in the Herndon/Great Falls area, Hunter Mill is still the straightest line connecting Fairfax City and Vienna to points north.

The old Fairfax Courthouse, about a mile down Route 123 from Hunter Mill Road, was used as military headquarters for Confederate and Union troops at different points during the Civil War.

Hunter Mill Road also had three water sources, four mills and a railroad station, which gave it additional value as a traveling corridor. Over the course of the Civil War, at least 60 generals traveled through the area, according to research by Lewis and the Hunter Mill Defense League's history committee.

The league's latest effort to educate the public about the area's rich history involves installing six markers to commemorate historical activities along the 7-mile road. Most of the markers focus on Civil War skirmishes and daily wartime challenges for residents near Hunter Mill Road's intersection with the present-day Washington & Old Dominion Trail, a former rail line.

In 2007, a group of five league members released the documentary "Danger Between the Lines" about life along Hunter Mill during the Civil War. Lewis also developed a self-guided tour booklet of the historical sites and has conducted bus tours of the area.

Lewis and his neighbor, Bob Eldridge, a retired CIA analyst, got involved in the league's history committee after they got curious about some holes in the ground behind their Reston houses, which turned out to be the remnants of Union earthworks.

Through the committee they met fellow Civil War enthusiasts Charlie Balch; Tom Evans, a longtime Hunter Mill resident who has collected numerous Civil War artifacts in the wooded areas around Hunter Mill; and Steve Hull, who was already mulling making a documentary about the area's history.

The scope of the quintet's research, education and preservation efforts has ballooned from their first meeting.

"We were blown away as we learned this stuff," Lewis said. "We've just decided to try and bring exposure to it."

Getting one marker installed is considered a notable accomplishment in the Civil War history community, according to Lewis; to be unveiling six at once is unusual. The markers will be unveiled during a ceremony Nov. 21.

"It enhances the experience for trail users," said Karl Mohle, manager of the W&OD Railroad Regional Park. "I think it helps foster a sense of community."

The group worked with four different agencies — the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Civil War Trails, Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority and Fairfax County.

For each, they had to back up every fact with their research and get the placement and wording of the signs approved. Funds from the "Danger Between the Lines" DVD sales helped pay for the markers, which cost $1,300 to $2,500 apiece.

The group hopes that raising awareness of Hunter Mill's history will support the Hunter Mill Defense League's larger goal of preserving the corridor as a less-developed, primarily residential area. The group fought past efforts to widen the two-lane road and to build a high-density complex toward the Reston end of the road, which crosses under the Dulles Toll Road.

"The pressures have grown," Eldridge said. "We were able to beat them back."

The county's comprehensive plan now shows the road, which is a Virginia Byway, remaining a two-lane road rather than being widened to four lanes.

"Hunter Mill Road has history we want to protect," said Supervisor Linda Smyth (D-Providence), whose district includes the Oakton end of the road. "We put development where development makes since," she added, such as urban cores like Merrifield and Tysons Corner.

The Hunter Mill Defense League has helped to educate the public about the importance of preserving neighborhoods in the corridor "in a very systematic way," Smyth said, and the new historic markers feed into that educational mission.

"[The signs] remind people that hey, there's history that happened here," she said. "Sometimes, people think that the only historic things we have in Fairfax County are Mount Vernon and Gunston Hall."

Dedication ceremony

Six new historical event markers will be officially unveiled Nov. 21. The dedication ceremony starts at 10 a.m. at the intersection of the Washington & Old Dominion Trail and Hunter Mill Road. Parking will be available on Silk Oak Drive. Go to www.hmdl.org for more information.