Which side of the Potomac River offers the finest living? You decide.

By Neal Learner

One hundred and forty five years ago, residents of the Washington, D.C., area squared off across the Potomac River. Marylanders remained loyal to the Union. Virginians led the rebel Confederacy. The region witnessed some of the first shots of the Civil War, with ferocious battles taking place in the rolling fields and woods of nearby Manassas, Va.

Fast-forward to 2007, and the only battles in the Washington suburbs are against the notoriously congested traffic, and the boom of the real estate market has replaced the booming of cannons.

The Washington, D.C., region—on both sides of the river—boasts some of the wealthiest and fastest growing jurisdictions in the country, including Fairfax, Arlington and Alexandria on the Virginia side, and Bethesda, Rockville and Calvert County on the Maryland side. The average price for a home in Bethesda last year was more than $615,000, while the median sales price of a not-so-humble abode in Fairfax County’s McLean came in at $875,000.

But prosperity hasn’t entirely wiped out old attitudes. Many Virginians and Marylanders readily admit it would take Gen. Sherman’s advancing troops to make them move across the river.

“Most Marylanders will not even set foot in Virginia,” says Matthew Jones, who was raised in D.C. and now lives in Alexandria. “And if they do, they’ll say that they had to go for some sort of reason. There is a kind of highfalutin’ Maryland thing going on.”

Indeed, put two natives from opposite banks of the Potomac in a room together and fireworks may fly.

Debating pros and cons is more than a casual past time. The well-respected Washingtonian magazine recently ran a cover feature on the “best places to live” in the region, pitting comparable communities such as Howard County, Md., versus Loudoun County, Va.; Bethesda versus McLean; and Silver Spring versus Clarendon/Ballston.

Maryland native Michael McGreevy, who runs the Silver Spring branch of Long & Foster Realtors, acknowledges the debate can sometimes devolve into the silly. “When I speak to my friends and they ask, ‘Why don’t you move to Virginia?’ I say, ‘It’s not even a state. It’s a commonwealth!’”

Indeed, to an outsider, there are few noticeable differences between the Maryland and Virginia ’burbs, as rows of town houses, trendy condos, elegant mansions and cozy Cape Cods fill up leafy communities on both sides of the river. Anyone considering a move to the area will meet with a wealth of possibilities.

On the Maryland side, Silver Spring is a popular destination. The downtown core is being revitalized with new restaurants and shopping opportunities, as well as the American Film Institute Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, where film buffs can see the latest indie movie.

Nearby Bethesda has long been a well-respected place for business, as well as a well-heeled address. “Not to mention, you have hundreds of restaurants,” McGreevy says. “If you want some really good specific ethnic food, go to Bethesda.”

Slightly further out is Rockville, which is in the midst of developing a mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly town center. Takoma Park, meanwhile, has never had to worry about its sense of identity. The community of beautiful Victorian homes with wraparound porches has long had a reputation as a haven for creative types who have made Takoma Park an organic and environmentally friendly community, McGreevy says.

In Virginia, the suburbs are dominated by Fairfax County, Arlington County and the City of Alexandria. The high-tech Fairfax communities of Tyson’s Corner and Reston have brought thousands of new residents and jobs to the areas around Washington Dulles International Airport, which is 25 miles from downtown D.C.

“When the airport was built 40 years ago, people thought they were crazy building it so far out,” says Merv Forney, a Virginia-based realtor and author of the Northern Virginia Real Estate Guide blog. “But it’s really turned into an international hub.”

Loudoun County—even further past Dulles airport—continues to be one of America’s fastest growing and wealthiest counties. Meanwhile, directly across the river from D.C., the Arlington County-based communities of Rosslyn, Clarendon and Ballston are going through a major building boom, which has brought a cosmopolitan vibe to the once-sleepy communities of federal employees. Down the Potomac River a few miles, historic Alexandria’s 200-year-old homes and cobblestone streets make it one of the most charming and livable communities on the East Coast.

Maryland’s McGreevy feels the same way about his side of the river. “Hands down, Maryland,” he says when asked where he would recommend newcomers to settle. For one thing, it’s easier to navigate the roads in and out of D.C. True, the bridges that Virginians take across the Potomac are notorious traffic chokepoints. McGreevy also points out that Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, among others, set aside generous amounts of parkland for Maryland residents to unwind in natural settings.

Wherever you choose to settle, the beauty of both Virginia and Maryland excites and fulfills, so visit both just as soon as you can.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Arlington County
www.arlingtonva.us

Fairfax County
www.fairfaxcounty.gov

City of Alexandria
www.alexandriava.gov

Loudoun County
www.co.loudoun.va.us

Montgomery County
montva.com

Prince George’s County
www.goprincegeorgescounty.com

Montgomery, Md.
www.montgomerycountymd.gov

Sliver Spring, Md.
www.silverspringcenter.com

WELCOME TO THE EXURBS

Moving to the Washington, D.C., region? Want to find a pad with a little elbow room at a less-than-astronomical price? Don’t mind a one-way, 90-minute commute? Then you might want to consider one of the region’s booming “exurbs,” which are expanding the D.C. metropolitan area.

“A lot of folks who move out there are commuting back into the core of the region, which would include D.C.,” says Alan Berube, a fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program.

In Maryland, exurbs include far northern Montgomery, Frederick, Calvert and Charles counties. On the Virginia side, Loudoun County has been one of the fastest growing counties in the nation for a couple of decades now. “But the most recent fast growth is now jumping out to Warren County, Va., the next rung out,” Berube says.

Motivations for settling in these far-flung communities include the love of land and shrinking budgets. “That is the motivation for a lot of middle-income families who wind up ‘driving to qualify’ for the sort of home they want,” Berube says.

The Washington region’s red-hot growth may be eyed with envy from some northern neighbors, such as Baltimore and Philadelphia, which have seen a slowdown in their population growth in recent years. But the building boom also has a down side. “We have terrible traffic problems,” Berube says. “And we’re using open space at an alarming rate. Folks who moved to this region 10 to 20 years ago for the quaint lifestyle find their towns looking like subdivisions these days.”