Vale School Setting.

The Vale School-Community House sits at the top of a hill, facing Fox Mill Road. The large photo here, circa 1945, captures the rural character of Fairfax County, much of it then dairy farmland, poised at the edge of greater-metropolitan D.C. for suburban growth. Surrounded today (inset 2009 photo) on three sides by low-density housing, the site still evokes its former rural setting, with woodlands along the property perimeter. (Photos: Courtesy Fox Family; inset: P. Strat)