NoVa, where the population is growing and where the money to pay the state’s bills comes from?

The “real Virginia” is pretty dependent on that unreal, dreaded northern slice.

-Former Northern Virginian

I lived in The Woodlands for 21 years, raised kids there & headed my n’hood watch. I was one of those who made a point of knowing my neighbors & I created a community because I wanted to impact my world, make a safe network of contacts, and insure my home’s value.
However, as I see it, the trouble is that this sort of ‘community’ requires constant energy infusions and may not be maintained over time, as economics, people and fashion take hold…

See, if it wasn’t for the assessment-supported covanant-police, The Woodlands would devolve into something much less lovely & utopian!
People get lazy.
People shift their focus.

So how can “I can create my family’s neighborhood!” remain in the minds of residents, in old or new neighborhoods?

In the 1950s suburb where I grew up, there were a limited number of them, and they existed because natural barriers like steep hills made continuing the street impractical. Most of the area was streets in grids which were perfectly safe, not overrun with speeding traffic, etc. The marketing of the cul de sac as the ideal place to live has been quite successful, but trying to find a benefit to it you wouldn’t find on any suburban street is tough.

Interestly, Virginia is no longer going to provide any public maintenance for new cul de sacs. Basically, they’ve said, this is a bad idea, it’s expensive, and if you want it, you can pay for your own street maintenace, snow removal, etc.

Friendswoods is still here today and the development company is still around and is spun off of Exxon as its own company.

The land for Tanglewood was purchased from Humble Oil (now ExxonMobil) for a pittance. Mr. Farrington was thought to be off his rocker when he developed Tanglewood. And maybe he was, but it succeeded.

The streets of Tanglewood are names from the Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne. And most will have an R and an S in the names as those are said to have a better ring to them when rolling off the tongue.

While cul de sacs may create community within that cul de sac, I think it cuts the few houses on it off from the rest of the streets and therefore offers fewer opportunities for casual social interaction and in effect creates an us against them.

Of course these are all generalizations, but developers deal in generalizations anyway.

Most of my co-workers live out in the northwest side of town past the Beltway. Most of them know several of there neighbors and regular converse with them. The community atmosphere of a neighborhood is determined by the people that live in it and not by how the streets are laid out.

There people that live in all neighborhoods that aren’t sociable and don’t interact. There are many people in the Heights that don’t interact with others and don’t get involved in the community. It’s a mixed bag just like in the far out suburbs.

Well planned suburbs have incorporated community centers that go a long way in fostering relationships with neighbors not much different than community activities that occur in the Heights and in the Washington Ave area.

And you are far from unique in that regards. Many of the old bungalows and cottages are quite salvageable.

Who would have though a spec house from 1910 would be considered historic? At the time it was just a pre-packaged house. Now it’s a treasure….