Recollections of Pimmit Hills in the 1950's by former residents Russ and Evy Dowling. The house is right near the 7/11 and the gas station.
After we were married and Russ was finishing collect at The College of William and Mary in the summer of 1950, we saw the ad in the Evening Star newspaper that news homes in Pimmit hills were priced at $10,000. We knew right away that this would be a good "first home" for us and we purchased it for $10,000.
We picked out our house at 1916 Patterson Road. from Pimmit Drive, we turned left on Patterson Road and our house was at the top of the hill, next to the corner house. Across the street from us was a small trailer that housed a convenience store. There was a water tower across the street. There was a peach orchard just next to Pimmit Hills along Route 7. The parquet floors in our new home were beautiful. I remember we waxed those floors and buffed them to a shine. Russ planted a cherry tree out back and we eventually had grass to cut. We also planted a hedge of Rose of Sharon in the backyard. Our telephone number was JE (for Jefferson)-2-???
Russ, along with a few of our neighbors in Pimmit Hills worked at NSA at Arlington Hall on Route 50. Some of us Moms formed a bridge club and we played bridge in the evenings a couple of times a month. When NSA became huge and had to move out to Ft. Meade, MD, we had no choice but to find another home and move to Maryland. Russ did not want to commute such a long way to work. Consequently, we had just a few years of living in Pimmit Hills. Both of us having grown up in Arlington, and loving Virginia so much, we had a huge adjustment in moving to Maryland. Our Pimmit Hills home sold in 1954 for around $13,000.
