Reston is a planned community, so it is easy to assume the street names were invented along with everything else in 1964. Most of them were. A surprising number were not.

In this episode we work through the road names locals ask about most. Temporary Road, which was never supposed to be permanent and stayed anyway. Wiehle Avenue, named for a Philadelphia doctor who retired at 41, bought 3,228 acres, and tried to build a live-work town on this exact land seventy years before Bob Simon did. Sunset Hills Road, which takes its name from the Bowman family farm rather than from any hill or sunset. Lawyers Road, which is exactly what it sounds like: the route attorneys rode to reach the old Fairfax County Courthouse near present-day Tysons. Jester Court, which got its name through a chain of logic involving four lots, the fourth month, and April Fools Day. And the cluster of equestrian names across South Reston, which traces back to the fox hunt the Bowman family founded on Sunset Hills Farm in 1928.

We also start with an 1879 map of the area so you can see what was here before any of it: the rail line that became the W&OD, Hunter Mill, Lawyers Road already in place, and no Reston at all.

Before the history, we cover the week. Kathy and Graham got into Clarity's soft opening at Reston Town Center ahead of Friday's public opening and give a full review of the crispy burrata, the pork belly, the halibut, and the short rib. We walk through the Public Art Reston Scavenger Hunt, the Fairfax County Carnival and Fair coming to Frying Pan Farm Park July 30 through August 2, and the Ken Thompson Reston Century ride on August 23.

One thread we did not expect to be so timely: the Robert Wiehle House on Old Reston Avenue took a tree through the roof in the July 5 storm. It is one of only three structures left from the Town of Wiehle, and its future is genuinely uncertain right now.

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Links referenced in this episode

Public Art Reston Scavenger Hunt:
https://publicartreston.org/scavenger_hunt_2026/

Fairfax County Carnival and Fair at Frying Pan Farm Park:
https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/frying-pan-park/fairfax-fair

Ken Thompson Reston Century:
https://restonbikeclub.org/RestonCentury

Clarity:
https://clarityvienna.com

Reston Museum:
https://www.restonmuseum.org

Reporting on the Wiehle House storm damage:
https://www.ffxnow.com/2026/07/23/owner-seeks-help-to-save-restons-historic-wiehle-house-after-storm-damage/