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CNN Live At Daybreak

Alexandria, Virginia, Rich With History

Aired July 02, 2001 - 08:26   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here at home, 225 birthdays in honor of Independence Day. For the next three days, we're going to visit some of the places on America the Beautiful, the America the Beautiful tour.

COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. And today's site is Alexandria, Virginia, a few miles from Washington and rich in history.

CNN's Elaine Quijano is there this morning.

Elaine, where in Alexandria exactly are you?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're about six miles south of Washington, D.C., in Market Square, Colleen -- the heart of Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia.

During Colonial times, this is a wealthy seaport town, known for exporting tobacco, sugar and wheat. It was also a very busy social center, and it's that history that the city of Alexandria has preserved for visitors today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO (voice-over): In late 18th-century Alexandria, Virginia, weary travelers and locals would gather at Gadsby's Tavern, where they could get a hot meal, see live entertainment, and hear the news of the day.

George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and others could be found here having dinner or a drink as they were mapping out the future of a new nation.

PAM CRESSY, CITY OF ALEXANDRIA: The philosophizing, the political wheelings and dealings -- that's where it was going on.

QUIJANO: Today, in these same buildings, weary travelers and locals alike are still served, more than 200 years later.

Just a few blocks away, the 18th-century well-to-do attended the Christ Church, completed in 1773. Not much has changed, visitors can still worship and sit in the same pew as George Washington.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Christ Church as an Episcopal Church. It particularly drew many of the elite, planters who would come in from all the surrounding plantations.

QUIJANO: More than 250 years since its founding, Alexandria and the area known as Old Town have flourished. Its quaint boutiques, red brick sidewalks, and rich history draw more than one million visitors every year.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a respite in the rest of Washington, but truly bringing you back to the beginning of the nation's capital that you really can't achieve any place else.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO: Here now is a live look at another place worth visiting here, in Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia. The Stabler Ledbeater Apothecary, established in 1792, served customers like the George Washington family, James Monroe, and Robert E. Lee.

Tourism is big business here in the city of Alexandria. City officials estimate that last year alone, tourists generated about $469 million in revenue.

We're live in Alexandria, Virginia. I'm Elaine Quijano. Colleen, back to you.

LIN: Thanks so much, Elaine.

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