Rosslyn ( ) is a heavily urbanized

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in northeastern

Arlington County, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

, United States. It is in

Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several County (United States), counties and independent city (United States), independent cities in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. ...

, north of

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. More than 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia. ...

and directly across the

Potomac River The Potomac River () is in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography D ...

from Georgetown and

Foggy Bottom Foggy Bottom is a neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States, located in the city's northwest quadrant. It stretches west of the White House towards the Potomac River, north of the National Mall, east of Georgetown, south of the West ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Rosslyn encompasses the Arlington neighborhoods of North Rosslyn and Radnor/Ft. Myer Heights, and is located east of

Court House A courthouse or court house is a structure which houses judicial functions for a governmental entity such as a state, region, province, county, prefecture, regency, or similar governmental unit. A courthouse is home to one or more courtrooms, ...

, another urbanized Arlington neighborhood. Characterized as one of several "

urban village In urban planning and urban design, design, an urban village is an urban development typically characterized by medium-density housing, mixed use zoning, good public transit and an emphasis on pedestrianization and public space. Contemporary urb ...

s" by the county, the numerous

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

s in the dense business section of Rosslyn make its appearance in some ways more urban than nearby Washington. Rosslyn residents have an average household income of $105,000 and 81% are college graduates. Establishments in the neighborhood include

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair, Inc., doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb o ...

-owned

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

affiliate

WJLA WJLA-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Washington, D.C., affiliated with ABC. It is one of two flagship stations of Sinclair Broadcast Group (alongside dual Fox/MyNetworkTV affiliate WBFF hannel 45in Baltimore), and is also sister t ...

located in the

Rosslyn Twin Towers The Rosslyn Twin Towers are twin office buildings located at 1000 and 1100 Wilson Boulevard in the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia. They were the tallest buildings in the Washington metropolitan area for three decades until the comple ...

, and

Marriott International Marriott International, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational company that operates, franchises, and licenses lodging brands that include hotel, residential, and timeshare properties. Marriott International owns over 37 ho ...

's longest operating hotel, the former Key Bridge Marriott. Notable structures include the

United States Marine Corps War Memorial The United States Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial) is a national memorial located in Arlington Ridge Park in Arlington County, Virginia. The memorial was dedicated in 1954 to all United States Marine Corps, Marines who have given t ...

, and the

Netherlands Carillon The Netherlands Carillon is a 127-foot (39-m) tall campanile housing a 53-bell carillon located in Arlington County, Virginia. The instrument and tower were given in the 1950s "From the People of the Netherlands to the People of the United States ...

and

Freedom Park In the Philippines, a freedom park is a centrally located public space where political gatherings, rallies and demonstrations may be held without the need of prior permission from government authorities. Similar to free speech zones in the United ...

offer views of the

Washington Monument The Washington Monument is an obelisk on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father of the United States, victorious commander-in-chief of the Continen ...

and other Washington landmarks.

History

During Virginia's colonial period, Rosslyn's shoreline included a landing for Awbrey's

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

, which transported travelers to and from Georgetown. A community that gradually developed behind the shore became known as ''Ross Lynn'', the name of a local farm owned by William and Carolyn Ross.

19th century

During the 1830s and 1840s, the Aqueduct Bridge was constructed between Georgetown and Rosslyn. When completed in 1843, this bridge carried the Alexandria Canal, which transported canal boats from the

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, abbreviated as the C&O Canal and occasionally called the Grand Old Ditch, operated from 1831 until 1924 along the Potomac River between Washington, D.C., and Cumberland, Maryland. It replaced the Patowmack Canal ...

in Georgetown to the downstream port of

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in Northern Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Washington, D.C., D.C. The city's population of 159,467 at the 2020 ...

.Rosslyn. Plaque posted in Gateway Park, Arlington, Virginia. County of Arlington. Following the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

in the 1860s, a lawless community developed at the base of the bridge. Known primarily for its

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

halls, pawnshops,

saloons Saloon may refer to: Buildings and businesses * One of the bars in a traditional British pub * An alternative name for a bar (establishment) * Western saloon, a historical style of American bar * The Saloon, a bar and music venue in San Francis ...

brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...

s and unsavory inhabitants, the community failed to attract much

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development (music), the process by which thematic material is reshaped * Photographic development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting * Development hell, when a proje ...

other than the Arlington Brewery, which became a Cherry Smash

soft drink A soft drink (see #Terminology, § Terminology for other names) is a class of non-alcoholic drink, usually (but not necessarily) Carbonated water, carbonated, and typically including added Sweetness, sweetener. Flavors used to be Natural flav ...

bottling plant after

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

went into effect. Eventually, spurred by the real estate potential that the arrival of electric trolleys in the 1890s inspired, developers and

reform Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...

ers ousted Rosslyn's more unsavory elements in the early 20th century. They organized under the name "Good Citizen's League" and nominated Captain Crandal Mackey as the Commonwealth's Attorney to fight corruption. Mackey, after being unsuccessfully challenged by the incumbent on legal grounds, won the election by two votes. When the sheriff did not execute Mackey's orders to clean up in Rosslyn, Mackey organized a group of thirty citizens to raid and destroy the saloons and gambling houses. This expedition took place of 30 May 1904. The area around Rosslyn remained dangerous, especially at night on the Falls Church Turnpike, now U.S. Route 29, Langston Boulevard. A short way past Rosslyn heading west was Dead Man's Hollow, near today's intersection with Spout Run. The name came from the occasional gruesome murders as the result of robberies.

20th century

In 1923, the Aqueduct Bridge connecting Rosslyn to Georgetown was replaced by the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge. In 1964, the

Theodore Roosevelt Bridge The Theodore Roosevelt Bridge (also known as the Teddy Roosevelt Bridge, Roosevelt Bridge, or T.R. Bridge) is a bridge crossing the Potomac River which connects Washington, D.C., with the Commonwealth of Virginia. The bridge crosses over Theodore ...

opened to carry

Interstate 66 Interstate 66 (I-66) is a 76.32 mile east–west Interstate Highway in the East Coast of the United States, eastern United States. The highway runs from an interchange with Interstate 81 in Virginia, I-81 near Middletown, Virginia, on its w ...

(I-66) between Washington, D.C., and Rosslyn. Soon afterwards, a development boom in the 1960s began to revitalize Rosslyn with the construction of a large number of high-rise office buildings and

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

s in its center and a smaller number of residential buildings on its outskirts. Arlington County widened Rosslyn's major streets to accommodate the increased

motor vehicle A motor vehicle, also known as a motorized vehicle, automotive vehicle, automobile, or road vehicle, is a self-propelled land vehicle, commonly wheeled, that does not operate on railway track, rails (such as trains or trams), does not fly (such ...

traffic Traffic is the movement of vehicles and pedestrians along land routes. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic laws and informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly an ...

that this new development would bring. A

skywalk The SkyWalk is an approximately 160 metre enclosed walkway connecting Union Station to the CN Tower and the Rogers Centre (SkyDome) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Part of Toronto's PATH network, the SkyWalk passes above the York Street ' s ...

system carried

pedestrian A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, by wheelchair or with other mobility aids. Streets and roads often have a designated footpath for pedestrian traffic, called the '' sidewalk'' in North American English, the ''pavement'' in British En ...

traffic over these widened streets. While planners expected

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...

establishments to develop along the skywalks, few such establishments actually opened. As a result, the skywalk system attracted few pedestrians. The Arlington County government has since announced plans to dismantle some or all of the bridges that carry the skywalks over Rosslyn's broad streets. During the

Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the Presidency of Richard Nixon, administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Resignation of Richard Nixon, Nix ...

of the early 1970s, " Deep Throat" ( W. Mark Felt) passed information to ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' reporter

Bob Woodward Robert Upshur Woodward (born March 26, 1943) is an American investigative journalist. He started working for ''The Washington Post'' as a reporter in 1971 and now holds the honorific title of associate editor though the Post no longer employs ...

in the middle of the night in an underground parking garage at 1401 Wilson Boulevard in Rosslyn. In 1977, Metrorail's Blue Line reached Rosslyn. In subsequent years, the Blue Line and the Orange Line were extended from an underground junction near the

Rosslyn station Rosslyn station is the westernmost station on the shared segment of the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines of the Washington Metro. It is located in the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington County, Virginia. Rosslyn is the first station in Virginia ...

to serve Northern Virginia's suburbs. In the early 1980s, I-66 was extended through Rosslyn to reach the

Capital Beltway The Capital Beltway, designated as Interstate 495 (I-495) for its entire length, is an List of auxiliary Interstate Highways, auxiliary Interstate Highway in the Washington metropolitan area. The Ring road, beltway encircles Washington, D.C., ...

. The extensions of Metrorail and I-66 attracted additional high-rise development to Rosslyn.

21st century

In 2003, the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority attempted to attract the relocating

Montréal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (NL) East division from 19 ...

by proposing three Arlington County locations for a new baseball stadium. Two sites were in the urban village of

Pentagon City Pentagon City is an unincorporated neighborhood located in the southeast portion of Arlington County, Virginia. It is located near The Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery. Location Pentagon City is located less than a mile from the Potomac ...

; the third was a site in the southeastern corner of Rosslyn that was already occupied by four cooperative buildings, formerly the historic ''Arlington Towers'', which were the first high-rise towers in Arlington County, now known as River Place. The issue proved highly divisive, and Virginia's bid failed when Virginia

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Mark Warner Mark Robert Warner (born December 15, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Virginia, a seat he has held since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Warner served as the 69th gove ...

ruled out state financing for stadium construction. The Expos moved to D.C. after the 2004 season to become the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...

, with a new stadium built in southeast Washington. In 2013, the Georgetown Business Improvement District proposed a

gondola lift A gondola lift is a means of cable transport and type of aerial lift which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel wire rope that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate suppo ...

between Georgetown and Rosslyn as an alternative to placing a Metro stop at Georgetown in its 2013-2028 economic plans. Washington, D.C., and Arlington County have been conducting feasibility studies for it since 2016.

Economy

The original corporate headquarters of ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'', owned by the

Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as severa ...

, was located in Rosslyn. Both the company and the newspaper occupied two high-rise silver-colored towers, built in the early 1980s, which adjoin each other at 1000 and 1100 Wilson Boulevard. Gannett did not own these buildings, and moved from their original home to a new campus in

Fairfax County, Virginia Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. With a population of 1,150,309 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most p ...

, in 2002. In the same year, the

-affiliate in Washington, D.C., WJLA-TV, "ABC 7", moved their main studios into the space in Rosslyn previously occupied by ''USA Today.'' Federal agencies based in Rosslyn include the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, the

Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations The United States Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) is responsible for overseeing the construction, management, and operations of U.S. diplomatic facilities around the world. Mission OBO’s mission is to prov ...

, the

Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations The Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations (CSO) is a bureau of the United States Department of State. Mission CSO’s mission is to anticipate, prevent, and respond to conflict that undermines U.S. national interests. The bureau i ...

, and the

Bureau of Diplomatic Security The Bureau of Diplomatic Security, commonly known as Diplomatic Security (DS), is the security branch of the United States Department of State. It conducts international investigations, threat analysis, cyber security, counterterrorism, and pr ...

. The

Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs ...

has several office locations in Rosslyn. Nonprofits based in Rosslyn include the

American Institute in Taiwan The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT; ) is the ''de facto'' embassy of the United States of America in Taiwan. AIT is a wholly owned subsidiary of the federal government of the United States in Taiwan with Congressional oversight. The AIT was ...

. As of 2010, Rosslyn has of office space and 6,365 housing units. Some of the tallest

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

buildings in the

Washington metropolitan area The Washington metropolitan area, also referred to as the National Capital Region, Greater Washington, or locally as the DMV (short for Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia), is the metropolitan area comprising Washing ...

are located in Rosslyn. In particular, the Waterview and Turnberry Tower. Construction of 1812 N Moore in Rosslyn began in 2010, and in late 2013 it became the tallest building in the

. In 2017, the international food and beverage company

Nestlé S.A. Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

announced that it would move its U.S. corporate headquarters from California to this building. In order to make the area more walkable, Rosslyn's elevated walkways and other urban peculiarities are planned to be demolished or modified, along with lanes being removed or reversed.

Arts and culture

Annual cultural events

The Arlington County Government operates the 367-seat Rosslyn Spectrum Theater. Five annual film festivals are held in Rosslyn. The Washington D.C. Independent Film Festival runs for nearly two weeks in March showing independent films from around the world in various locations in and around Washington, DC. In 2011 Rosslyn hosted over 30 film screenings as well as classes, seminars and workshops led by industry professionals. The Annual NoVa International Jewish Film Festival is held each spring in Rosslyn and other Virginia locations. The Rosslyn Outdoor Film Festival runs in the spring and summer months showing popular films for free in Gateway Park Friday evenings at dusk. Slapsticon is a four-day film festival in July that features silent films, occasionally accompanied by live musicians, as well as early films with audio tracks. The Rosebud Film & Video Festival is an all day event in November that features original works by regional film and video makers. The Rosslyn Jazz Festival, started in 1991, attracted 10,000 attendees in 2006. The annual US FreedomWalk Festival, started in 2000, draws walkers from around the world each Fall for a weekend of walks in Rosslyn and nearby areas.

Education

Rosslyn is part of Arlington Public School, the public school district for

The Art Institute of Washington The Art Institute of Washington was a For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit college in Arlington, Virginia. It opened in 2000 and was a branch of The Art Institute of Atlanta. It was accredited by the Commission on College ...

is located at North Fort Myer Drive. Rosslyn is a location for some of the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

's business programs, including

McIntire School of Commerce The McIntire School of Commerce is the University of Virginia's undergraduate and graduate business school that specializes in Commerce, Global Commerce, Accounting, Management of Information Technology, and Business Analytics. It was founded ...

Master of Science in the Management of Information Technology at the Waterview Conference Center, and

Darden School of Business The Colgate Darden Graduate School of Business Administration (branded as the Darden School of Business) is the graduate business school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. The school offers ...

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

's Executive/Global Executive at the

Museums and other points of interest

The

Marine Corps War Memorial The United States Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial) is a national memorial located in Arlington Ridge Park in Arlington County, Virginia. The memorial was dedicated in 1954 to all United States Marine Corps, Marines who have given t ...

in Rosslyn is visited by over one million annually. Among these visitors are audiences for the Sunset Parades performed Tuesday evenings during the summer months by the United States Marine Drum and Bugle Corps with the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon. Crowds also gather at the Memorial on the 4th of July to watch the national fireworks display. The

in Rosslyn is a set of 50 bells housed in a 12-story tower between Arlington National Cemetery and the Marine Corps War Memorial. The carillon is a gift from the Netherlands to the US in recognition of support received during World War II. Originally installed with 49 bells, a 50th was added by the Netherlands in 1995 on the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands. Each spring the grounds are planted with thousands of tulips imported from the Netherlands. During the summer months carilloneurs play concerts on the bells using a keyboard located in the tower. The tower is occasionally open to the public and offers views of the national monuments in Washington, DC, the Marine Corps War Memorial, and Arlington National Cemetery.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Rosslyn is a transportation hub for the subway and highway systems. It contains the intersection of

U.S. Route 29 U.S. Route 29 or U.S. Highway 29 (US 29) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs for from Pensacola, Florida, to Ellicott City, Maryland, just west of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, in the Eastern United Stat ...

( Frances Scott Key Bridge and

Lee Highway The Lee Highway was a United States auto trail initially connecting from an eastern zero mile marker on the Ellipse in Washington DC to a western zero marker, the Pacific Milestone, in the center of San Diego, California — via the Ame ...

Virginia State Route 110 Virginia State Route 110 (SR 110) is a primary state highway in Arlington, Virginia, Arlington, Virginia. Known as the Richmond Highway (formerly Jefferson Davis Highway), the state highway runs from U.S. Route 1 in Virginia, U.S. Route ...

(Richmond Highway), the

George Washington Memorial Parkway The George Washington Memorial Parkway, colloquially the G.W. Parkway, is a limited-access road, limited-access parkway that runs along the south bank of the Potomac River from Mount Vernon, Virginia, northwest to McLean, Virginia, and is maint ...

, and I-66 (Custis Memorial Parkway). U.S. Route 50 (Arlington Boulevard) connects with all of these routes in and near Rosslyn.

Washington Metro The Washington Metro, often abbreviated as the Metro and formally the Metrorail, is a rapid transit system serving the Washington metropolitan area of the United States. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ...

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

, and Silver Lines service the Rosslyn Metro station. There are 14

Metrobus Metrobus may refer to: Transport services Bus Rapid Transit *MetroBus (Bristol), a bus rapid transit system in Bristol, England, United Kingdom *Metrobus (Buenos Aires), a bus rapid transit system in Buenos Aires, Argentina *Metrobus (Istanbul), a ...

lines to the urban village. There is a shuttle run by

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

. A

DC Circulator The DC Circulator was a bus system in Washington, D.C. The District of Columbia Department of Transportation operated the service in a public–private partnership with RATP Dev. The DC Circulator buses were similar to shuttle buses since they ...

route connected Rosslyn with Georgetown and

Dupont Circle Dupont Circle is a historic roundabout park and Neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood of Washington, D.C., located in Northwest (Washington, D.C.), Northwest D.C. The Dupont Circle neighborhood is bounded approximately by 16th St ...

in Washington, D.C. until Circulator service discontinued in 2025 There are 2 private bus companies that provide service between the Rosslyn Metro Station and New York City.

Vamoose Bus Vamoose Bus is a privately owned intercity bus service that provides daily transportation between New York City and three suburban cities in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area: Bethesda, Maryland; Arlington, Virginia ( Rosslyn area) and Lort ...

provides daily service from 1801 N Lynn Street in Rosslyn to

Penn Station Pennsylvania Station or Penn Station may refer to: Current train stations * Baltimore Penn Station * New York Penn Station ** Pennsylvania Station (1910–1963), the predecessor to the present New York City station * Newark Penn Station Train ...

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...

in New York City. Tripper Bus provides daily service from 1901 N. Moore Street to the

Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...

flagship store A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

on 34th Street in New York City.

Trails

Multiple cycling and pedestrian

trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or a small paved road (though it can also be a route along a navigable waterways) generally not intended for usage by motorized vehicles, usually passing through a natural area. Ho ...

s are present in Rosslyn, connecting

and Washington, D.C. The paved

Custis Trail The Custis Trail is a hilly -long shared use path in Arlington County, Virginia. The asphalt-paved trail travels along Interstate 66 (I-66) between Rosslyn and the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad Trail (W&OD Trail) at Bon Air Park.Route ...

travels through Rosslyn along Interstate 66. By traveling southeast on the Custis Trail and crossing the George Washington Memorial Parkway, one can reach the paved

Mount Vernon Trail The Mount Vernon Trail (MVT) is an long shared use path that travels along the George Washington Memorial Parkway in Northern Virginia between Rosslyn and George Washington's home at Mount Vernon. The trail connects the easternmost portions of ...

, which travels downstream on the Virginia side of the Potomac River to

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

and

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is the former residence and plantation of George Washington, a Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States, and his wife, Martha. An American landmar ...

, as well as the unpaved Potomac Heritage Trail, which travels

upstream Upstream may refer to: * Upstream (hydrology), the direction towards the source of a stream (against the direction of flow) * Upstream (bioprocess), part of therapeutic cell manufacturing processes from early cell isolation and cultivation until ...

near the

riverbank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrain alongsid ...

to the

. By heading west along the Custis Trail, one can reach the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad Trail, which travels for through Northern Virginia. One can also cross the Francis Scott Key Bridge at the end of Lynn Street and pick up the unpaved

C&O Canal The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, abbreviated as the C&O Canal and occasionally called the Grand Old Ditch, operated from 1831 until 1924 along the Potomac River between Washington, D.C., and Cumberland, Maryland. It replaced the Patowmack Canal, ...

towpath A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, Working animal, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mod ...

or the paved

Capital Crescent Trail The Capital Crescent Trail (CCT) is a , shared-use rail trail that runs from Georgetown in Washington, D.C., to Bethesda, Maryland. An extension of the trail from Bethesda to Silver Spring along a route formerly known as the Georgetown Branch ...

in Washington. By heading south on North Lynn Street, one can cross over U.S. Route 50 and travel through the grounds of the Marine Corps War Memorial to reach a paved trail that travels along the wall of

to Memorial Drive. A sidewalk and paved path along the Drive connects in Lady Bird Johnson Park on Columbia Island to the Mount Vernon Trail and to the wide

sidewalk A sidewalk (North American English), pavement (British English, South African English), or footpath (Hiberno-English, Irish English, Indian English, Australian English, New Zealand English) is a path along the side of a road. Usually constr ...

of the

Arlington Memorial Bridge The Arlington Memorial Bridge, often shortened to Memorial Bridge, is a Neoclassical masonry, steel, and stone arch bridge with a central bascule (or drawbridge) that crosses the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United Sta ...

, which crosses the Potomac into Washington.

In popular culture

The following media feature Rosslyn in some way, usually by showing its distinctive skyline.

Movies

* ''

All the President's Men ''All the President's Men'' is a 1974 non-fiction book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, two of the journalists who investigated the June 1972 break-in at the Watergate Office Building and the resultant political scandal for ''The Washingto ...

'' (1976) * ''

True Lies ''True Lies'' is a 1994 American action comedy film written and directed by James Cameron. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Harry Tasker, a U.S. government agent, who struggles to balance his double life as a spy with his familial duties, ...

'' (1994) * '' Minority Report'' (2002) * '' Mission: Impossible III'' (2006) * '' Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' (2009) * '' Captain America: The Winter Soldier'' (2014)

Music

* Rosslyn Mountain Boys (1977)

Television

* ''

The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White House, where t ...

'' (1999–2006) * ''

Bones A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...

'' (2005–2017) * ''

House of Cards A house of cards (also known as a card tower or card castle) is a structure created by stacking playing cards on top of each other, often in the shape of a pyramid. "House of cards" is also an expression that dates back to 1645 meaning a struc ...

'' (2013–2018) * '' The Walking Dead'' (2016)

References

External links

Rosslyn Metro Station Area Data, Statistics and Development Profile

Rosslyn: Discover a New Horizon

Rosslyn walking map and guide

Urban Arlington County

Discover Rosslyn: Restaurants, Shopping and Living

Rosslyn City: the Brooklyn of Washington City
- 1889 advertisement from The Washington Post {{Coord, 38, 53, 48, N, 77, 04, 21, W, type:city_region:US-VA, display=title Neighborhoods in Arlington County, Virginia Edge cities in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area