M6 Sunday, August 19, 2007 The Washington Post x Road Trip Start here Start here 95 495 95 495 7 1 1 1 JEFFERSON DAVIS H I G H W A Y A tall stone obelisk at the Ivy Hill Cemetery memorializes seven firefighters lost in an 1855 blaze. Three years ago, Company No. 201 acquired Boat 201, a 30-foot Metalcraft Marine vessel that is berthed at Alexandria City Marina. It’s used for water rescues as well as fighting fires on the shoreline and in the water. The 1926 Potomac Firehouse still has the original entrance to the former Town Hall. Tour the original steam engine that was delivered by Union troops to the Relief Fire Company, then adopted by her sister firehouse next door, the still-operating Company No. 201. The Friendship Firehouse Museum was the city’s first volunteer fire station — until volunteer firefighting was prohibited during the Civil War and the task was given to the Union Army. Start here Driver’s route The Firehook Bakery ovens churn out warm breads such as Tuscan grain and Russian black. Columbia Fire Company, which was named after the brand of engine it used, is being turned into a Bookbinder’s restaurant. A spoonful of the Terlingua Red Chili at Hard Times Cafe will cause an inferno in your mouth. The Relief Fire Company building was constructed in 1853 and sold to an architect in the 1980s, who turned it into a home but kept the firehouse’s name on the balcony. Constructed in 1893, the Reliance Firehouse has been remodeled and now houses offices. A plaque of a fire engine on the Hydraulion Company’s exterior is the only sign that this now- residence was once the city’s first multi-bay firehouse (built in 1856). Burning to know more about Alexandria’s firehouses? Then stop by the Lyceum museum. Michael Miller is a whiz of a research historian. BRADDOCK ROAD KING STREET KING STREET CAMERON ST. QUEEN ST. PENDLETON STREET WEST STREET HENRY STREET PATRICK STREET ALFRED STREET WASHINGTON STREET ST. ASAPH STREET ROYAL STREET FAIRFAX ST. UNION STREET MONROE AVENUE MOUNT VERNON AVENUE WINDSOR AVENUE 1ST STREET DUKE STREET PRINCE STREET ALEXANDRIA Ivy Hill Cemetery Founders Park DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA VIRGINIA Potomac River KINGS CLOISTER CIRCLE JANNEYS LANE 1 S T STREET 0 MILE 1/2 WHERE: Alexandria. WHY: Historic firehouses, firefighter dress-up and the little steam engine that did. HOW FAR: About eight miles from start to finish, accessible by car or bike. A ugust feels like a furnace. And while you can’t call the fire department for a cool hosing off, you can explore Alexandria’s centuries-old brick firehouses. The city, home to eight working firehouses, has quite the firefighting pedigree. Old Town’s Friendship Firehouse Museum, for example, once housed the Friendship Firehouse Company, which was established in 1774 as a crew of volunteer firefighters. The corps counted the father of our country as one of its own; George Washington even bought the company its first fire engine. In 1855, Alexandria was hit with two big blazes. The first, in August, burned down the Friendship Firehouse. The community rallied, rebuilding on the site in time to reopen two months later. Then in November, a fire on the 100 block of King Street devastated the city and killed seven volunteer firefighters, who are buried at the Ivy Hill Cem- etery. Not long after, paid firefighters were hired to protect Alexandria. The sirens are now silent at the Friendship Firehouse, but alarms still ring at Alexandria’s oldest operating fire- house, Company No. 201. The 1915 structure still bears the tracks that horses used to pull the steam engine, the pre- cursor to the shiny red truck the company now employs. Over in the Del Ray neighborhood, the building of Company No. 2, known locally as the Potomac Firehouse, once held Town Hall, its jail and, oddly, its vault. Young visitors are treated to plastic fire hats, and the crew will suit up to demonstrate the pole slide. Of course, when duty calls, everybody gets out of the way; it’s time to let the company go beat the real heat. — Karen Hart Road Trip maps are available at www.washingtonpost.com/roadtrip, as are addresses and hours of operation (be sure to check before you go). Have an idea for a trip? E-mail roadtrip@washpost. com. WEDNESDAY IN STYLE Escapes tries its luck at a racetrack and casino outside Philadelphia. MAP BY JEROME COOKSON FOR THE WASHINGTON POST; PHOTOS BY KAREN HART FOR THE WASHINGTON POST Firehouse History in Alexandria