The highest point in Arlington County, 459 feet, on a hill that straddles the Fairfax County line and holds mostly 1950s and 1960s Colonials and ramblers.
Minor Hill is the high ground of Arlington - 459 feet, the highest point in the county - and the hill itself straddles the boundary with Fairfax County. The name comes from George Minor Sr., who acquired the property in 1770; the family estate later ran past 500 acres, and the historical form of the name is Minor's Hill. The house that anchored that history stood until 2016. What sells here now is postwar: mostly Colonials and ramblers from the 1950s and 1960s, in the 22207 and 22213 ZIP codes.
This is the practical fact that no listing photograph will tell you. Because the hill sits on the Arlington-Fairfax boundary, addresses on either side belong to different local governments, and that determines the tax bill, the zoning ordinance that applies to your addition, the permitting office you deal with, and the school division - Arlington Public Schools on the Arlington side, Fairfax County Public Schools on the Fairfax side. Two houses within sight of each other can be governed by entirely different rule sets. Confirm the jurisdiction of a specific parcel before you evaluate anything else about it.
The Minor family record here starts in 1770. In August 1814, Dolley Madison sheltered on this property for two nights while fleeing the burning of Washington. In 1861 the hill served as a Confederate outpost and then as a Federal signal station, chosen for the same elevation that defines it today, and General McClellan was photographed there in March 1862. That the hill was militarily valuable for its sight lines and is now residential is the whole story of north Arlington in one location.
The prevailing stock is 1950s and 1960s Colonials and ramblers. You will see a home count for the neighborhood quoted around three hundred; that figure comes from brokerage sources rather than a county record, so treat it as an approximation rather than a fact to underwrite. What is reliable is the terrain: elevation this pronounced means grade, and grade means driveway pitch, retaining walls, walkout levels and drainage patterns are all worth close attention, particularly on any house where the rear yard falls away.
There is no local historic district here, so no Certificate of Appropriateness is required and the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board is not in the path. On the Arlington side, the constraints are the zoning district's coverage and setback limits, the tree preservation ordinance and stormwater rules, plus Arlington's Expanded Housing Options rules, which reach R-5 through R-20 lots and remained in force as of August 2026 with the case pending at the Supreme Court of Virginia. On the Fairfax side, a different ordinance applies entirely. School assignment follows the jurisdiction and then the address, and both divisions redraw boundaries over time, so verify with the correct school system for that parcel.
Minor Hill sits within Arlington — that guide covers the zoning, permitting and site constraints that apply across the wider area.
Artur can confirm what applies to a specific address here — lot, zoning, association documents and school assignment — before you write an offer.
