Minor's Hill

Minor’s Hill is a geographic eminence located in the western tip of Arlington County, Virginia. Its summit rises to 459 feet (139 meters) above sea level.

Minor’s Hill straddles the border of Arlington County and Fairfax County, Virginia. While generally conical in shape, the hill is broad and sprawling, and its summit is relatively flat and broad. Its highest point occurs in Arlington.

A local stream called Four Mile Run defines the hill’s southern and southwestern extent. Mount Daniel (472 feet) is to its west, Mackey’s Hill (171 feet) is to its north, and Upton’s Hill (410 feet) is to its east. Its location overlooks the City of Falls Church on the opposite side of Four Mile Run, 1.4 miles to its south.

The hill is occasionally identified as Minor Hill and Minors’ Hill, and during the American Civil War often appeared in newspaper accounts and soldiers’ letters as “Miner’s Hill”.

Prehistoric and Colonial Eras

Minor’s Hill was well known to local Native Americans in Northern Virginia prior to European colonization. The Indians used an important trail linking the Little Falls of the Potomac River with what is now the city center of Falls Church, where it entered the village as Little Falls Street. The trail wound around the northern and eastern sides of Minor’s Hill.

English colonists founded Falls Church in 1732, choosing as its location a place that was approximately one day’s horseback ride from the Potomac River. The hill was afterward settled by the Minor family, who established an estate and built a fine home. Prior to this the hill did not have a formal name.

War of 1812

In 1814, during the War of 1812, a British fleet ascended the Potomac River to Washington, and a British army invaded the city from the east. Colonel Minor of Minor’s Hill and his 700-man Virginia Militia 60th Regiment were summoned on August 23, 1814 from Falls Church to Washington, which they were assigned to defend. However, due to bureaucratic bungling among War Department officials they were not sent to help defend the approaches to Washington at Bladensburg, Maryland nor did many of them come armed.

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