Imagine a community ringed by an impenetrable perimeter, a compact neighborhood patrolled vigorously around the clock by highly-trained armed guards, motivated by mission and granted the full authority to challenge intruders with lethal force if necessary. The privacy afforded by this level of security could only be the exclusive domain of the ultra-rich and privileged, correct? Actually, no. The 295 households that receive this service are decidedly middle class. More so, they don’t pay a cent for these perks. Uncle Sam foots the bill.
This happens in Quantico, Virginia. Most people think of Quantico as a Marine Corps Base, one of the largest on the planet. However, this actually refers to Quantico, the little town along the Potomac River surrounded on every other side by the Marines. The only way to get to Q-Town (as residents affectionately call it) by road involves passing through the gates of the Marine Corps base. Q-Town covers but 0.1 square miles within the 100 square mile military facility. Nonetheless, all land within town remains privately owned and controlled.
Isolation
It didn’t start out this way. Quantico began as just any other little spot along the river at the turn of the last century. It catered to a weekend crowd of Washingtonians seeking amusement and relaxation like so many similar places.
Then a shipyard rose nearby in the years preceding the First World War. It grew quickly in importance and profitability as the conflict unfurled. Thus, Quantico’s military importance soon eclipsed its tourism appeal. It became an attractive location when the Marine Corps needed a new base in the Washington, DC area to support the war effort.
It didn’t make sense to exercise eminent domain to seize Q-Town and pull it into the base. In fact it would have been counterproductive. Q-Town provided a convenient supply of nearby civilian labor for the many non-military services that Marines needed. Where else could they find civilians in a remote, rural outpost? It didn’t really matter that the base surrounded the town. Security seemed like much less of an issue than what we see today.
Q-Town developed in splendid isolation for many decades. It could never grow beyond its original borders. Other towns around Washington exploded in size and stature, but not Quantico. It resulted in curious adaptations, perhaps good, or bad or both depending on how someone reflects upon it. Nonetheless it remains a small town by definition with all that this entails. It hearkens back to an earlier rural Northern Virginia with barely five hundred souls. This unique evolution separates it from the other five million inhabitants of the metropolitan area.
Living There
Real estate transactions present a unique challenge. Buyers need to appreciate small town virtues. Also they must must be willing to deal with checkpoints that can take up to an hour to traverse before driving to their homes. Likewise, available land filled out years ago. Therefore homes in Q-Town tend to be smaller, older and of lower value than comparable homes in neighborhoods ringing the base.
Perhaps because of this, most of the homes are rentals rather than owner-occupied, leading to inevitable issues of maintenance and upkeep. Some feel the town could use a fresh coat of paint and a little TLC, while others see this as part of the charm and a way to keep Yuppies from moving in and ruining everything.
Growth?
Nonetheless change might be on the way. The Department of Defense will move three thousand new jobs to Quantico as part of the base closure and realignment effort. This will provide plenty of new opportunities for Q-Town to tap into what is essentially a captive audience.
The Unofficial Town of Quantico page[1] [website no longer available] already lists a surprising number of restaurants, retail establishments and barber shops (Marines have to get their hair cut all the time, right?). Imagine the impact of another three thousand potential customers who won’t have enough time to leave the base for a quick lunch or an errand.
Transportation
Change may also be on the horizon due to transportation. Amtrak maintains a train station within the Town of Quantico’s tiny borders, and both the Carolinian and the Northeast Regional lines rumble through. Perhaps more importantly, Amtrak operates Virginia Rail Express commuter trains under contract, and those trains stop right in Q-Town too. The station had 12,422 boardings/alightings in 2004 and 21,113 in 2008.
Geographic isolation could begin to dissipate as commuters hop onto trains bound straight for Washington, DC each morning. Perhaps Quantico could turn into just another bedroom community. Ridership trends show that this is not beyond imagination. Inhabitants don’t have to be tied at the hip to the Marine Corps to make a decent living. They can hop a train to distant job centers.
Now, before you think the train might be a gaping hole in the security of the base perimeter, consider this statement from the VRE website:
… for the next few weeks a Military Police Officer will be stationed at the station and will conduct ID checks on 100% of passengers detraining at the station. Following that, random ID checks will be instituted on detraining passengers.
Nonetheless, this would certainly be less time consuming than sitting in backups, trying to get onto the base by car from Route 1.
12MC Loves Footnotes!
[1] This site includes a great disclaimer. “This webpage is maintained as an unpaid hobby: I take no responsibility for it’s [sic.] accuracy and frankly assume some things may be wrong. The majority of the input is done over Saturday morning coffee while preventing my cat from climbing on the keyboard.” If you struck the word cat and replaced it with kid, you’d have a perfect disclaimer for my website too!
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