A friend speculated (jokingly) that Backlick Road got its name when someone saw a cat licking its back.

Backlick Road: Got its name over 200 years ago from the salt licks along the road that attracted deer to the area. These deer were hunted by the Powhatan Indians who were early inhabitants of the area.

I always assumed that Gallows Road, less than a mile from where I live, got its name from someone named ‘Gallows.’ 

Gallows Road: This road led to the Fairfax County gallows which were located in the Freedom Hill area near Tyson’s Corner. Offenders were tried in Alexandria and then transported on Little River Turnpike and then on Gallows Road to the gallows themselves.

Freedom Hill got its name because its concentration of freed slaves.  Tyson’s is now an up-market shopping area.

I’ve always been curious about the Cabin John bridge.  It’s high, enough to send an acrophobiac like me into overdrive, and the only single-lane (so, alternative one way, then t’other) bridge I know of in this area.  It turns out that it’s just pavement over part of the Washington Aqueduct, built in the mid-1800’s, and still the major water supply to DC.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Aqueduct

It’s scarier than it looks, about 100 feet above what’s below.

-R