Burgundy Flag Stop (Site)

These coordinates mark the exact spot where the flag stop was located. No visible remains exist. The photograph above is an exact replica of what this flag stop looked like, with the standard Pennsylvania Railroad shelter directly abutting the railroad tracks.

A railroad flag stop is a station where a train will only stop if a passenger waiting on the platform waves a flag or gives a signal to the conductor, essentially requesting the train to stop; this is typically used at lightly used stations where trains wouldn't normally stop unless someone needed to get on or off. Many stations would have a box on the platform or station containing a white or green flag that the passenger would wave at the train. If it was a staffed station, the agent or clerk would flag the train. The conductor of the train would acknowledge they had seen the flag by sounding two short whistles.


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Here follows an excerpt from "The Iron Road of Franconia" book about the railroad written by local historian Nathaniel Lee.

BURGUNDY FLAG STOP: 1890-1942

This railroad line through Fairfax County changed its name several times, which continues to be the cause of much confusion for armchair historians. The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company was chartered in 1834, and the line was finished as far as Fredericksburg by 1837. From this point, passengers bound for Washington took a coach to Aquia Creek and then took a steamboat up the river. The line then extended to join the Pennsylvania Railroad's subsidiary line, the Alexandria and Washington Railroad after the Civil War. In 1872, the name was changed to the Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railroad Company. In 1890, the Washington Southern Railway took control of the railroad through Fairfax County, and then folded into the Richmond - Washington Company as a part of the RF&P Railroad in 1920, which is what most people remember. CSX Transportation finally took over operations along the line in 1991. Confused yet? You should be. That's about six name changes over 150 years for the railroad in Fairfax County. Please read the book "The Iron Road of Franconia" for a more detailed explanation of all the changes.

Another flag stop to appear under the new Washington Southern management was Burgundy. Burgundy Stop derives its name from the home built in 1808 by James Hooe (pronounced HOH -- think Santa Claus, ho ho ho!). The home stood on a hill just to the south of the private school that still bears its name. Ownership of the Burgundy farm was in the hands of Thomas Walsh at the time the railroad came through his property.

Walsh came to America in 1840 from Limerick, Ireland. A true immigrant success story, he was a humble apprentice before starting a grocery in Brooklyn, marrying in 1851 and raising ten children. They moved to Burgundy in 1869. Burgundy Road originally served as a driveway leading from Telegraph Road to the mansion house. Fire destroyed the home on the evening of October 15, 1916 and the property spiraled through several owners in rapid succession, and the condition of the farm deteriorated rapidly.

A group of concerned Alexandria parents purchased the farm property to construct a new school. The Burgundy Farm Country Day School became the first desegregated school in the state of Virginia and has educated students on the property since 1946.

The Burgundy Flag Stop was located on the south side of the railroad track near what is today the parking lot for Lake Cook, a four-acre man-made lake in Cameron Regional Park in Alexandria. Access to the railroad flag stop was via Cox's Lane, a small path running between what is today Wheeler Avenue and the Burgundy property.