Reston

History

In the early days of Colonial America, the land that is present-day Reston was part of the Northern Neck Proprietary, a vast grant by King Charles II to Lord Thomas Fairfax that extended from the Potomac to the Rappahannock rivers. The property remained in the Fairfax family until they sold it in 1852. Carl A. Wiehle and William Dunn bought 6,449 acres in northern Fairfax County along the Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD) Railroad line in 1886, later dividing the land between them, with Wiehle retaining the acreage north of the railroad line. Wiehle envisioned founding a town on the property, including a hotel, parks, and community center, but completed only a handful of homes before his death in 1901. Simon officially launched Reston on April 10, 1964 (his 50th birthday). The name "Reston" is derived from Simon's initials, "R.E.S." or often was memorialized onto Reston merchandise as, "Live, Work, Play." Simon envisioned Reston as a model for clustered residential development, also known as conservation development, which puts a premium on the preservation of open space, landscapes, and wildlife habitats. Reston was the first 20th-century private community in the U.S. to explicitly incorporate natural preservation in its planning. Simon hired the architectural firm of Whittlesey, Conklin, & Rossant to design his new community. The plans for Reston were designed by architect James Rossant, who studied under Walter Gropius at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and his partner William J. Conklin. From the outset, Rossant and Conklin's planning conceptualized the new community as a unified, cohesive, and balanced whole, including landscapes, recreational, cultural, and commercial facilities, and housing for what was envisioned to be a town of 75,000. For Lake…

Geography

Reston is located in northern Fairfax County at . Neighboring communities are Great Falls to the north, Wolf Trap to the east, Franklin Farm, Floris, and McNair to the southwest, the town of Herndon to the west, and Dranesville to the northwest. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Reston has a total area of , of which is land and , or 2.10%, is water. The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Reston has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps. Reston is divided into three separate planning areas: the original Planned Residential Community (PRC) area that governs the majority of residential areas in the community; the Reston Town Center (RTC) District, which includes all of the high-density, high-rise portions of Town Center; and the Transit Station Area (TSA) on either side of the Dulles Toll Road. From Reston's inception, planning and zoning in the PRC area has emphasized the inclusion and integration of common grounds, parks, large swaths of wooded areas with picturesque runs (streams), wildflower meadows, golf courses, public swimming pools, bridle paths, a bike path, four lakes, tennis courts, and extensive foot pathways. Reston was built in wooded areas of oak, maple, sycamore, and Virginia pine, and remains heavily wooded. Extensive canopy guidance protects tree cover throughout the PRC, and homeowners are prohibited from removing trees larger than 4 inches in diameter without written permission from Reston's Design Review Board. Total zoning density throughout the overall PRC area is currently capped at 13 persons per acre. The village centers and the town center are an important part of Reston. Each village center, all of…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  122,852
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  103,443
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  88,138
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  81,007
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  80,579
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  79,438
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  79,314
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  78,634

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2025-10-27
  4 km E of Riverside, Maryland
• M 2.6 — 2021-06-25
  2 km SE of Woodlawn, Maryland
• M 3.03 — 2016-01-17
  3 km NE of Ranson, West Virginia
• M 3.6 — 2010-07-16
  5 km NNW of Barnesville, Maryland