Nauck, Virginia

Nauck is a neighborhood in the southern part of Arlington County, Virginia, known locally as Green Valley. It is bordered by Four Mile Run and Shirlington to the south, Douglas Park to the west, I-395 to the east, and Columbia Heights and the Army-Navy Country Club to the north. The southeastern corner of the neighborhood borders the City of Alexandria.[1]

The neighborhood acquired the name of "Nauck" when John D. Nauck, a former Confederate Army soldier who was serving the county as a Justice of the Peace and in other positions, purchased, subdivided and sold 46 acres of farmland from 1874 to 1900 in its area, thus laying the foundation for the neighborhood's development.[2] In 2019, the Nauck Civic Association voted to change its name to the "Green Valley Civic Association" to remove the name of a Confederate from that of an organization which by that time represented what had become a historically black neighborhood. The association next asked the Arlington County Civic Federation to approve its proposed name change, which the Federation did later that year. Although the County government will change its relevant databases and maps to reflect the association's new name, the County Board has not voted to alter the name of the neighborhood itself.[3][4]

  1. ^ GIS Mapping Center. "Arlington County, Virginia, Civic Associations" (map). Arlington County, Virginia, government. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 26, 2018. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
  2. ^ Liebertz, John (2016). "John D. Nauck". A Guide to the African American Heritage of Arlington County (PDF). p. 25. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 7, 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2016.
  3. ^ Koma, Alex (February 19, 2019). "Nauck Leaders to Mull Renaming Neighborhood, Pointing to Namesake's Confederate Ties". ArlNow. Archived from the original on February 20, 2019. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  4. ^ (1) "Civic Federation Approves Nauck Name Change". ARLnow.com – Arlington, Va. Local News. May 9, 2019. Archived from the original on June 4, 2019. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
    (2) Kelly, John (June 3, 2019). "What's in a name? In Arlington, 'Nauck' becomes 'Green Valley.' Again". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 26, 2020. Retrieved June 3, 2019.