Fort Belvoir home to many historic sites

The Lieber stained glass window in the Belvoir Chapel was dedicated in memory of Major General Albert Carl Lieber (1895-1954). The military and Corps of Engineers are represented as well as the figure of Melchizedek, who represents a Supreme Being.

Local and national history abounds on Fort Belvoir, as seen by several items peppered throughout the post, including elaborate, stained-glass windows; artillery made in the Netherlands and placed on Belvoir after World War II; and sandstone columns which were part of the U.S. Treasury Building.
Abbot Hall was built in 1935 and served as headquarters until 1941 and again since 1978. The two cannons displayed outside the building's entrance were cast at a foundry in Middleburg, the Netherlands, in 1626 and 1628 by Michael Burgerhuys. They were given to Japan in the late 17th Century as Japan was a trading partner with the Dutch and the East Indies. The Japanese installed them in a coastal battery and the cannons bear Japanese characters indicating they were guns number 13 and 15 of the Sky or Heaven battery. The U.S. Army acquired possession of the cannons after World War II. They were transported to the States and installed outside Abbot Hall in 1978.
Victor E. DeMeers designed Belvoir Chapel. Work began in October 1955 and completed Dec. 12, 1956, at a cost of $539,000. It contains 14,610 square feet and was dedicated Jan. 25, 1957. General Order No. 61 officially named the Belvoir Chapel on March 19, 1968.
The George Washington stained glass window behind the altar cost $3,000 and was executed at the Russell Church Studios in Winston-Salem, N.C. It was dedicated March 29, 1957, and depicts George Washington praying in the snow at Valley Forge. It was executed after a description by Issac Potts, a local Quaker, who observed Washington in prayer.