A Taste of the Past: Ice Cream History Tour Reveals Old Town Alexandria’s Hidden Gems
ALEXANDRIA, VA – They came for the ice cream. They stayed for the history.
On a sublime blue-skied Sunday afternoon on Memorial Day weekend, a cool breeze kicking up from the river, a group gathered at Kilwins on King Street in the heart of Old Town to embark on an ice cream history tour.
Alexandria Food Tours’ Hope Nelson and Michael Lee Pope whipped up an eight-stop tour of hidden history treasures tucked away in the less-traveled corners of historic Old Town. The walking tour was bookended by two ice cream shops, beginning at Kilwins, ending at Goodies, with lots of what Pope calls “quirky history” in between. Attendees brought their sweet tooth and sneakers to learn some of the best-kept secrets about Old Town Alexandria.
“First of all, who doesn’t love an ice cream tour? I mean, that’s what pulls people in,” Hope Nelson laughed. Since they are a food tour company, she explained to Zebra, “We want to anchor all of our tours in food.”
Nelson is the author of Classic Restaurants of Alexandria and writes the Appetite column for the Alexandria Gazette Packet. She handles the food end of the tour. Her husband, Michael Pope, who has penned five history books and holds a graduate degree in American studies, does the history.
The tour began at Kilwins where participants picked up the first of their two frozen delights.
“You can only have so much ice cream in one sitting, right? And so we couldn’t take these people to three or four ice cream shops in a row the way we do with our coffee,” Nelson elaborated. “So what better way to enjoy a summer day than to start your afternoon with a cup of ice cream, learn some things about Alexandria history, walk off some of that ice cream, and then refuel with more ice cream?”
As the group began walking towards the first stop on the tour, it passed two ice cream shops on lower King Street, The Creamery on the south side and Pop’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream on the north. Nelson calls that block the Cold War.
“Both have been there for decades and I always like to stop our tours there just for a minute to point out that there’s a bit of a cold war going on,” Nelson joked. “On any summer day, you can look and see lines streaming out the door of both shops. So there is no loser in this Cold War.”
Sunday’s history tour covered eight stops “off the beaten path,” as Pope described it. Participants learned that Martha Washington had shopped at the Apothecary, were taken to the house that was once the governor’s mansion, and saw the Friendship Firehouse Museum, which many passersby assume is a working fire station. Attendees also heard about the origins of Seaport Inn, now the iconic Starbucks at the corner of Union and King, Landini Brothers, The Warehouse, and an Alexandria DC downspout. The tour leaders pick out-of-the-way places to explore.
“There are lots of tours that do the standard history of Alexandria, which is great,” Pope said in a conversation with Zebra. “But the stuff that we talk about is, you know, intentionally a little offbeat or quirky or untold. The untold story of Alexandria .”
As the afternoon sun beat down, participants enjoyed a frozen confection outdoors at Goodies. Nelson said she loves this part of the jaunt, sitting down with attendees and getting to know them after the walk.
Nelson talked to Zebra about starting the tour on the open streets of lower King Street, closed to vehicular traffic.
“I often say that one of the only good things about the pandemic was the increase in outdoor dining space along King Street. And I absolutely love the closure of the 100 and 200 blocks of King! I really hope the city continues to keep the 200-block closed, once the feedback period is over. It’s a great space for pedestrians, and selfishly, it makes our tour stops easier — we have so much more space!”
Missed this tour? Summer ice cream history walks are June 22, July 20, and August 24. For more information and to get tickets, visit Alexandria Food Tours.
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