Blood & Biohazard Cleanup Near Pohick Lorton, VA

Lorton is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Washington metropolitan area, with ZIP codes 22079 and 22199.

Lorton had a population of 20,072 in the 2020 census, up from 18,610 in 2010.

Census Bureau survey figures for 2020-2024 put Lorton at about 6,595 households, averaging a comparatively large 3.17 persons per household.

Lorton is named for a town in England's Lake District in Cumbria, the hometown of Joseph Plaskett, who settled in the area, ran a general store, and opened the Lorton Valley post office.

Lorton's most famous landmark began in 1910 as the Occoquan Workhouse, a District of Columbia prison farm built for offenders serving short sentences, which later grew into the Lorton Reformatory and Lorton Correctional Complex.

In 1917, dozens of women's suffragists were imprisoned at the Occoquan Workhouse after picketing the White House, and guards brutalized the prisoners on November 14, 1917, in what became known as the 'Night of Terror.'

The Lorton prison complex operated for 92 years before its last prisoners were transferred out in November 2001, and the historic district was later listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In September 2008 the former prison reopened as the Workhouse Arts Center, with artist studios and galleries, and its Lucy Burns Museum interprets the suffragist story.

Lorton is the northern terminus of Amtrak's Auto Train, which carries passengers and their vehicles nonstop to central Florida, and it is also served by a Virginia Railway Express commuter station.

Local students attend Fairfax County Public Schools, including South County High School, home of the Stallions, which opened in September 2005.