Meadow View Swimming Club (Site)

These coordinates mark the exact location where the club building once stood. No visible remains exist.


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Here follows a history of the pool as prepared by Fairfax County Public Schools and published on the Rose Hill Elementary School website:

Swim and Stay Fit:
In the late 1960s, Rose Hill Elementary School students began receiving swimming and water safety instruction as part of their regular physical education program. Principal Joseph Hucks, Jean Medford (a Red Cross swimming instructor), Gladys Thomas and Mike Wells (physical education teachers), and Meadowview Pool partnered to introduce the "Swim and Stay Fit Program" at Rose Hill. The program made it possible for every child to learn basic swimming skills, and encouraged children to improve their physical fitness through swimming.

The swimming program was also described by the Red Cross as a "drown-proofing" measure to teach children about water safety.


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Here follows a history of the pool as written by Carl Sell, Jr. for the Rose Hill Civic Association and published on their website:

The Rose Hill Civic Association was formed in 1956. The hot issue in those days was swimming and recreation. The Association supported Highland Park, which already was open, and opposed Morrell’s plans to construct what would become known as Meadowview. Morrell went ahead with his plans, but the club couldn’t make it financially and finally closed.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Fall 2022 edition of the "Franconia Legacies" newsletter published by the Franconia Museum:

Remembering the Silos and Meadow View
Written by Ronald Lord

I grew up on Apple Tree Drive, several doors down from one of the more memorable landmarks of our neighborhood, the silos at the site of the Meadow View Swimming Club. Beginning at age six, and well into my teens, the summer morning ritual would repeat itself as my mother rousted my brothers and me for swim team practice just before 7 a.m. Despite our opposition to waking so early when school was no longer in session, she had each of us on our way, towel and goggles in hand and donning our Speedo swimsuits.

So many friendships were forged at Meadow View. Competing as part of the Northern Virginia Swimming League (NVSL), just sitting around enjoying the sun or playing Marco Polo, the pool seemed to provide endless freedom and possibilities in things to do. I remember the occasional weekend pool parties for “older” kids. Although I was too young to attend, living so close, I could hear music wash over the entire block along with the laughter, screams and splashing that accompanied it. Beginning with Memorial Day, the Fourth of July celebration with the annual greased watermelon contest and coin toss, and wrapping up on Labor Day, summertime seemed to pass quickly.

Growing up in Rose Hill offered an opportunity for real adventure. The woods behind Meadow View provided ample space to construct forts, hike endlessly or spend time searching Dogue Creek for crayfish, mud puppies and other aquatic life. A few hundred yards behind the pool, the woods also provided cover to explore an old, dilapidated house shrouded in thick vines and clearly vacant for many years. We regarded this house with some apprehension and to my recollection never entered alone for two reasons. The occasional sign that some transient soul was using it for lodging would keep us at bay, although it was the damp and decaying odors in the basement entrance that drew the line at where adventure stopped, and rare moments of common sense prevailed.

Salvage from places that hold a historical or personal reference has always intrigued me as a medium in my art. I believe that holding your great grandfather’s pocket watch or your mother’s broach provides a connection to them. The same applies to the creative process that guides me while using materials that I have gathered from places of interest, such as Meadow View. I imagine the shards of tile used in this piece may well have been that same tile touched by teammates at the end of a race. I wonder if the red clay brick was from the Baltimore Brick Company, known for producing brick with the “Calvert” mark and providing an association between the Meadow View barns and the long history of Maryland’s masonry tradition. How many years had passed since the wood and metal hinges that lined the silos, repurposed for this assemblage, had been touched by another person?

I try to honor the energy in the materials I gather by recognizing them as resources, not refuse. Weathered by exposure, scarred, and broken by demolition and time, these abandoned castoffs speak to another time. My desire is to provide the viewer with a connection to that period and the history behind the elements in my composition.

“Meadow View”
By Ronald Lord (2021)
Mixed Media Assemblage
Recycled wood, metal, ceramic tile, brick, and memorabilia.
39” x 17 ¾” x 2 ½”