Joseph Plaskett of the Cumbrian village settled in southern Fairfax County, running a general store and opening the Lorton Valley Post Office on November 11, 1875.

From the early 20th century until November 2001, Lorton was the site of a District of Columbia correctional facility called the Lorton Reformatory which, among other things, detained approximately 168 women from the women's suffrage movement from the Washington, D.C. area from June to December 1917.

[5] Lorton is one of the two stations that serve Amtrak's Auto Train which carries passengers and their vehicles non-stop to Sanford, Florida, in the Orlando area.

Historic landmarks in the surrounding area include Gunston Hall, George Mason's home; Belvoir, which was William Fairfax's home; the Market; and now the Fort Belvoir Army Corps of Engineers base and Cranford Church.

Woodlawn Plantation and Mount Vernon, the latter being George Washington's home on the Potomac River, lie farther to the east.

[6] It is bordered to the west by Laurel Hill, to the north by Newington, to the east by Fort Belvoir, to the southeast by Mason Neck, and to the southwest by Woodbridge in Prince William County.

[3] The elevation ranges from sea level at the Prince William County line (the Occoquan River) to slightly over 200 feet (61 m) along Furnace Road at the CDP's western edge.

[10][11] In November 2020, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved an interim agreement for a proposal to build one of the largest indoor ski facilities in the world in Lorton.

The Noman Cole facility is the largest advanced waste water treatment plant in the Commonwealth of Virginia.