What to See in Chantilly - Top Sights and Attractions

Aviation museum with many aircraft. The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, also called the Udvar-Hazy Center, is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum 's annex at Washington Dulles International Airport in the Chantilly area of Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. It holds numerous exhibits, including the Space Shuttle Discovery, the Enola Gay, and the Gemini 7 space capsule.

The 760,000-square-foot (71,000 m2; 17-acre; 7.1 ha) facility was made possible by a $65 million donation in October 1999 to the Smithsonian Institution by Steven F. Udvar-Házy, an immigrant from Hungary and co-founder of the International Lease Finance Corporation, an aircraft leasing corporation. The main NASM building, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. had always contained more artifacts than could be displayed, and most of the collection had been stored, unavailable to visitors, at the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility in Silver Hill, Maryland. A substantial addition to the center encompassing restoration, conservation and collection-storage facilities was completed in 2010. Restoration facilities and museum archives were moved from the museum's Garber facility to the new sections of the Udvar-Hazy Center.^[1]

County park in Chantilly, Virginia. Ox Hill Battlefield Park is a site in Fairfax, Virginia, where the Battle of Ox Hill was fought during the American Civil War. It was the only major battle of the war fought in Fairfax County. The battlefield is now a public park adjacent to suburban developments and the Fairfax Towne Center shopping center, and is maintained by the Fairfax County Park Authority.

The most prominent feature is a pair of monuments to the two Union generals killed during the battle, Isaac Stevens and Philip Kearny. Stevens was fatally shot within the area of the present-day park while Kearny was killed just to the west. There are also two Virginia historical markers placed near the park entrance commemorating the battle and aftermath.

The park is located at 4134 West Ox Road, in Fair Lakes near Route 50, on the corner of West Ox Road (State Route 608) and Monument Drive (which was presumably named for the Kearny and Stevens memorial). It is only 4.8 acres (0.019 km2), about 1.5% of the roughly 300 acres (1.2 km2) where the battle was fought. The rest of the battlefield has been developed with apartments, office buildings, and similar urban construction. Nevertheless, the remaining plot does hold important portions of the battle area.^[2]

Park in Fairfax County, Virginia. Ellanor C. Lawrence Park is located in Chantilly, Virginia, just north of Centreville, on Route 28. The park preserves the cultural and natural resources of western Fairfax County and has a long and complex history lasting 8,000 years. The land was originally inhabited by Native Americans, but as Europeans settled in Virginia, the land was shaped by only three families: the Browns, Machens and Lawrences. Through these periods, the land was used as a tenant farm, family homestead, and country estate until it was deeded to Fairfax County Park Authority as a 640-acre nature park in 1971.

On the eastern side of Route 28, visitors can learn about the site’s natural and cultural history at Walney Visitor Center, where visitors can see the park’s several significant structures including Walney, an 18th-century farmhouse, and 19th century outbuildings and features, including a smokehouse, dairy, ice house and ice pond remnants. Cabell's Mill and Middlegate stand in the southeastern end of the park. Middlegate is an early 19th-century stone house associated with Cabell’s Mill, which was built in the 18th century. Cabell's Mill is a popular setting for weddings and is available for rent through the Fairfax County Park Authority. Middlegate is used for park administrative offices.

Approximately four miles of mostly earthen trails are accessible from the Visitor Center, the pond, Cabell's Mill and the park's northern terminus on Poplar Tree Road. The trails pass through the park's diverse habitats and are popular with birders, runners, dog walkers, and families. Trail maps are available at the Walney Visitor Center. Bicycles are not permitted on most park trails except the paved or gravel Big Rocky Run Stream Trail, which begins near Cabell's Mill and ends at the Fairfax County Parkway.

Fishing under state regulations and licensing is permitted in the pond and Big Rocky Run.

On the western site of Route 28, the park houses playgrounds, athletic fields (including soccer, baseball, and softball fields), and a fitness trail with stations.^[3]

Historical place in Fairfax County, Virginia. Sully Historic Site, more commonly known as Sully Plantation, is both a Virginia landmark and nationally registered historic place in Chantilly, Virginia.

The earliest recorded claim to the land was made by the Doeg. Later the Lee family of Virginia owned the land from 1725 to 1839. Richard Bland Lee did not build the main house until 1794. Following the purchase by William Swartwort in 1838, Sully was used as a home, a working farm, or both by a series of private owners. Then in 1958, Sully was acquired by the federal government as a part of the area to be used for the construction of Dulles Airport. Today the Fairfax County Park Authority operates the site with a specific focus on the Lee family.^[4]