Neighborhood Name Change
Dear Neighbors,
This year we chose a new name for our neighborhood to coincide with the street name changes in the City of Fairfax that follow a vision to be more accountable, diverse and inclusive.
One thing that doesn’t change however is how special this neighborhood is. We take care of one another. Celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. Graduations and holidays. We laugh. We cry. We grieve with each other and are grateful for a shoulder to cry on or a hug. We provide meals for those in need. We swim together. We have parades to celebrate homecoming and Halloween. We have Hugo! We have very generous donations and charity drives. We have fun. We border Daniels Run Park. We run, walk and bike here. We play here. We meditate here. We go through the woods to get to school; to get a cup of coffee; or to see a friend. The park connects us to one another.
And now we are Daniels Run Woods. But no matter what our name is, we’re a neighborhood where neighbors are friends who genuinely care about one another. We respect one another. We appreciate one another. We are a very special community. We are a neighborhood. We are a family. We have a genuine sense of belonging. We call this home.
One of the endearing and charming aspects of our neighborhood is that we
were not a planned development. We were built street by street in stages with different developers and different names. We were called Green Way Hills, Fairmont Estates, Country Hills Estates amongst other names. In 1955 the Greenway Hills development included Embassy Road and Parklane. The open field on Cornell was replaced in the late 1970’s early 80’s by new houses. Country Hill Drive and Queen Anne were built in 1958. Colony road did not unify our neighborhood until 1970’s. Each street or two was developed individually which attributes to the architectural differences some split level, some ramblers, some bungalows. A house on Blenheim Boulevard dates back to 1935.
But we’re not just a collection of 345 houses. We’re neighbors. We know each other’s names. We know each other’s children; we know the parents and often the grandparents. And we know and love all the cats and dogs. We’re a neighborhood.
We’re excited about rejuvenating our webpage, DRWCA.org and hope it’ll be a primary source of information for everyone. Look for links to our Association events, City events and City News. It will list current Board members and contact information, block captains, a current calendar of annual events as well as announcements for upcoming events. Our goal is to have the webpage serve as the primary resource for our communications. We will continue to hand deliver newsletters to every house even if you are not an Association member; we will continue to post to our Facebook page and send out emails to our Association members.
I encourage you to meet and get to know your neighbors, or build stronger relationships through our Civic Association activities and events. I also invite you to be more active in our neighborhood Association and volunteer for one of the many board member positions.
With the City’s renovations and improvements, we continue to feel a sense of stewardship for our neighborhood. We try to be good to our environment and yet still make room for progress. All of these things are change. We may not always like them, but we can take solace knowing that we are at home.
So yes we have a new name but behind that is a neighborhood that has relationships that span generations. Bonds that are deeper than trends and fads. We genuinely care about each other. This makes us special. This makes our neighborhood special. We are Daniels Run Woods.
Jana M Tilinger
President Daniels Run Woods Civic Association
