snakeroot (also called Virginia snakeroot), many varieties of mint,
liverwort, red-root, May apple, butterfly-weed, milk weed,
thorough-stem, trumpet-weed, Indian-physic, _lobelia inflata_, and
_lobelia cardinalis_, golden-rod, skunk-cabbage, frost-weed,
hoar-hound, and catnip.
The injurious plants with which the careful farmer must contend are
the wild garlic, tribby weed, dog fennel, two varieties of the common
daisy, oxeye daisy, St. John's wort, blue thistle, common thistle,
pigeon-weed, burdock, broad and narrow-leaved dock, poke-weed,
clot-bur, three-thorned bur, supposed to have been introduced from
Spain by the Merino sheep, Jamestown or "jimson" weed, sorrel, and, in
favorable seasons, a heavy growth of lambs quarter and rag-weed.
Of introduced grasses, Loudoun has red clover, timothy, herd's-grass,
orchard-grass, and Lucerne to which last little attention is now
given. Native grasses are the white clover, spear grass, blue grass,
fox-tail and crab grass, the two last-named being summer or annual
grasses. Several varieties of swamp or marsh grass flourish under
certain conditions, but soon disappear with proper drainage and
tillage.
Although some of the wild flowers of Loudoun merit the attention of
the florist, as a whole they have no commercial value or significance
and, for this reason, an enumeration of the many varieties has not
been thought expedient.
FAUNA.--Wild ducks, geese, and turkeys, pheasants (English
and Mongolian), partridges and woodcock are among the game fowls of
Loudoun, and eagles, crows, buzzards, owls, and hawks among the
predatory. The usual list of songbirds frequent this region in great
numbers and receive some protection under the stringent fish and game
laws in force here.
Red and gray foxes, raccoons, opossums, woodchucks, squirrels, hares
and smaller animals are quite general.
In pioneer days the county abounded in the larger species of game
common to the forests of North America. Among these were the beaver
and otter, buffalo, deer, wolf, wild-cat, panther, bear, fox, and elk
or wapiti (_Cervus canadensis_), noble herds of which ranged the
mountain sides and valleys of this section.
TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES.[13]
Good roads, always of immeasurable importance to the farmer, were
early made necessary by the tremendous crops of marketable products
harvested from Loudoun lands. Though this need, in time, became
imperative the roads were never hastily and imperfectly constructed;
they were built with an eye single to permanence and with due
allowance for generations of unintermittent and augmentative traffic.
These roads yielded their promoters modest dividends, but with the
completion in 1832 of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, bordering the
county just across the Potomac, transportation to and from Washington
(Georgetown) and Alexandria was materially cheapened and the earnings
of the turnpike companies suffered a corresponding decrease, the
income, in many cases, being barely sufficient to defray the expense
of maintenance. Tolls are now collected at only two points, in the
County.
[Footnote 13: No apology is offered for the omission of vital
statistics that might and would have been included in this department
had earnest appeals addressed to State officers and the State
Corporation Commission met with more courteous and, I might add,
dutiful consideration. Not the least assistance was vouchsafed by any
of them.--THE AUTHOR.]
The turnpike craze spread to Loudoun not long after the War of
Independence and culminated about forty years later. It wrought a
revolution in public travel, relatively nearly as great as that
brought about by the railway craze in more recent years. The corporate
names of some of the roads constructed through Loudoun before its
subsidence were, the Goose Creek and Little River Turnpike, Loudoun
and Berlin (now Brunswick, Md.) Turnpike, Ashby's Gap Turnpike,
Leesburg Turnpike, Leesburg and Snicker's Gap Turnpike, Little River
Turnpike and Snicker's Gap Turnpike. Their combined authorized capital
stock was $637,325, of which amount more than two-thirds was
subscribed by individuals, the State assuming the balance.
The system did not originate solely in a local want or demand along
the lines contemplated. Other causes were also at the bottom of the
movement. The settlement of the County was necessarily by progressive
though, at times, apparently simultaneous steps. First came the
settlement and location of one or two towns, and the opening of
communication between them; then the advent of the trapper, hunter,
and scout into the unsettled portion; then came the land grants and
the settlement in isolated localities; then the blazed trail to the
parent towns and to the cabin of the pioneer or the outposts; then the
drift-ways, cart-ways, and the local roads winding from cabin to
cabin; then the town-ways and county roads, with here and there the
"provincial" highways.
Today, the public roads and turnpikes of Loudoun are unquestionably
better than those of most counties and, in obedience to a popular
demand, are kept in a fair state of repair. One or two of the
main-traveled thoroughfares would compare favorably with the best
rural roads in the country.
Long before the Civil War, Little River was rendered navigable from
its mouth to Aldie by means of a lock and dam system, this and more
far-reaching improvements having been undertaken by the "Goose Creek
and Little River Navigation Company" capitalized at $100,000. The dams
were destroyed by Federal invaders and never reconstructed.
Loudoun is traversed by the Washington and Ohio Division of the
Southern Railway, which penetrates the County centrally from east to
west and furnishes an outlet for her immense shipments of cattle,
grain and miscellaneous products. No less than twelve stopping points
are recognized within her limits, at all but three of which commodious
stations have been erected.
The original purpose of the promoters was to extend this road to the
coal-fields of Hampshire County, West Virginia (then in Virginia). The
name under which it was incorporated was the "Alexandria, Loudoun and
Hampshire Railroad." During the Civil War its bridges and tracks were
destroyed by order of General Lee and for some years afterward Loudoun
was without adequate railway communication with the outside world.
The cost of construction between Alexandria and Leesburg, the first
division of the work, was $1,538,744. The line, many years afterward,
was extended to Round Hill and still later to Bluemont, at present the
Westernmost terminal. Stages, affording communication with Winchester
and intermediate towns of the Shenandoah Valley, are operated from
this point and between Leesburg and Middleburg and Point of Rocks.
Liveries are conducted in all the important towns.
The northern edge of the County is in easy communication with the main
line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Chesapeake and Ohio
canal just across the Potomac.
Large steel bridges, spanning the Potomac at Harpers Ferry, Brunswick
and Point of Rocks, afford convenient ingress into West Virginia,
Maryland and the not far-distant state of Pennsylvania.
Further communication with the north is made possible by a ferry
(White's) in constant operation between Loudoun and the Maryland
shore.
TOWNS AND VILLAGES.
_Leesburg._
Leesburg, a fine old town, the county-seat of Loudoun, lies at the
eastern base of Catoctin Mountain, 2-1/2 miles from the Potomac River
at Balls Bluff, and 3-7/8 miles west of Goose Creek. It is in the
northern part of the County, 40 miles northwest of Washington, 153
miles in a like direction from Richmond, the State capital, within a
few miles of the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains and the celebrated
Valley of Virginia, 12 miles from Point of Rocks, Md., and about 22
miles from historic Harpers Ferry, W. Va. It occupies a high and
healthy plain, the environs of which are waving and well cultivated
and delightfully variegated by hill and dale.
The town derives its name from the Lees, who were among the early
settlers of the County, and was established by act of the General
Assembly, in September, 1758, in the thirty-second year of the reign
of George II. Nicholas Minor, who owned sixty acres of land about the
court-house, had subdivided this tract and some of the lots had been
built upon prior to the passage of the act. This instrument
constituted "the Hon. Philip Ludwell Lee, Esq., Thomas Mason, Esq.,
Francis Lightfoot Lee (father of 'Light Horse Harry' of subsequent
Revolutionary fame), James Hamilton, Nicholas Minor, Josias Clapham,
Æneas Campbell, John Hugh, Francis Hague, and William West,
gentlemen," trustees for the newly established town. Prior to its
establishment it had borne the name Georgetown, bestowed in honor of
the then reigning English monarch.
[14]"In its birth and infancy the town was destined to win renown, for
it was first founded as a fort or outpost of the then struggling
colony of Virginia, as its narrow streets and close, little red brick
houses still testify, and for many years was the most westerly post of
the colony. At one time the entire town was enclosed by stockades...."
"Following its establishment the little fort became the principal
outfitting post for the British and colonial forces in the French and
Indian war. Tradition still fondly points to the stone house, famous
as the headquarters of General Braddock, who, it is claimed, passed
through the place on his last fatal march to the wilderness; but in
the light of thorough investigation this claim is found to be
unsubstantiated. While a division of his army, under command of the
eccentric old Sir Peter Halkett, did undoubtedly spend the night at
the plantation of Nicholas Minor, the principal founder of the town,
General Braddock is found to have gone in another direction."
[Footnote 14: Mrs. A. H. Throckmorton in the Richmond _Times_.]
Leesburg is governed by a mayor and common council and had at the time
of the last government census (1900) a population of 1,513. An unusual
percentage of its people are well educated, and all proverbially
hospitable.
The houses, many of which are of brick and stone construction, are
built in a compact and substantial manner. In the town and its
environs are many of the most palatial residences to be seen in
Virginia. There are several well-kept public roads leading from the
town to the surrounding country seats and stock farms, nearly all of
which are modernized reminders of the old plantation days.
With an elevation less than most points in the County, Leesburg,
nevertheless, shares with them the distinction of being unsurpassed
for healthfulness and picturesqueness of surroundings.
Crossing at right angles, its streets are regular and spacious and
lighted by electricity. Many of its dwellings and business houses are
also equipped with electric lighting facilities, power for which is
generated at a plant located near Belmont, on Goose Creek, and
controlled by Leesburg capitalists. In almost every quarter of the
town are brick and granolithic sidewalks, fringed with the usual
varieties of shade trees.
Some of the municipal advantages not already enumerated are a sewerage
system, a fire department, a public library, police protection and a
thoroughly modern system of water-works of a capacity sufficient to
supply the entire corporation with absolutely pure water from a noted
spring issuing near the base of Catoctin Mountain.
Some of the public buildings are a town hall, one of the largest brick
edifices in Northern Virginia; a comparatively new court-house and a
clerk's office,[15] both venerable structures with imposing façades
lending them an exquisite air of Colonialism, the two liberally
disposed over a fenced area with sloping lawns and umbrageous shade; a
brick jail (County) containing eight steel cells, commodious
residential quarters for the jailer and his family and having, as an
humanitarian feature, a sunny court with towering walls; a remodelled
brick academy and a colored school, both comprising primary,
intermediate, and high school divisions, and provided with ample
educational facilities and extensive playgrounds.
[Footnote 15: Prior to 1873, the Leesburg Academy.]
The town has 7 churches representing all the leading denominations, a
Young Men's Christian Association branch, 5 fraternal orders and a
weekly newspaper. Eight trains arrive at and depart from Leesburg
daily.
Among the local enterprises are two handsome banking houses (the
"Loudoun National Bank" and "Peoples National Bank"), 2 large hotels
affording accommodations for 130 guests, several boarding houses,
stores handling every class and grade of merchandise, an artificial
ice plant with a daily capacity of 5 tons, a large race course on the
outskirts of the town where are held annually a horse show, races and
other like events, a confectionery and bakery, an ice cream factory, a
pop factory, two harness factories, a lumber and planing mill, 2
private schools, 3 cobblers' establishments, 2 livery stables, 3
blacksmith shops, 2 furniture houses, 2 undertaking establishments, 2
grain elevators, a lime quarry, 3 wheelwright shops, 2 tinning
establishments, a concrete construction plant, monument works, wood
and coal yard, Standard Oil Company's branch and packing house.
Leesburg probably has more than the usual number of resident
physicians, lawyers, and mechanics to be found in towns of a
corresponding size.
_Round Hill._
Round Hill, a thriving railway town in the western part of the County,
lies 3 miles east of Bluemont, 3 miles west of Purcellville, and 53
miles from the city of Washington. It is the second largest town in
Loudoun, has an elevation of about 600 feet above mean tide and is in
the midst of a rich farming region abounding with streams of pure
water from mountain water-courses. The town's name is derived from a
conical hill projecting from the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, 2
miles away. It has a population of 450, 20 of which number are
merchants and mechanics, and a newly established bank.
_Waterford._
Waterford, a thriving Quaker settlement, is situated on Catoctin Creek
in the northern part of the County, 6 miles south of Taylorstown, 7
miles northwest of Leesburg, 47 miles in a like direction from
Washington and 159 miles north of Richmond. It was named after the
town of Waterford, in Ireland, where some of its founders had formerly
resided. The first house within the town limits was built by one Asa
Moore, and remains standing at the present day. In common with the
other towns and villages of the famous Loudoun Valley, Waterford is
noted for its numerous and inexhaustible wells of the purest and best
water, bracing air and low mortality rate. It has 383 inhabitants, 14
of whom are merchants and mechanics.
_Hamilton._
Hamilton, one of the prettiest towns in the County, is spread over a
considerable area and occupies one of the highest points in the
beautiful Loudoun Valley. It is about 46 miles by rail from
Washington, 3 miles from Purcellville and only a few miles from both
the Catoctin and Blue Ridge mountains, walling the valley to the east
and west, and is the center of a group of seven towns and villages
within a radius of 5 miles. It has 364 inhabitants, of which number 18
are merchants and mechanics.
_Purcellville._
Purcellville, in the western part of the County with an approximate
elevation of 500 feet, is about 50 miles from Washington, 3 miles
from both Round Hill and Hamilton, and 2-1/2 miles from Lincoln. It is
delightfully situated in the center of one of the finest agricultural
districts in the Loudoun Valley and has a population of 300, 17
merchants and mechanics and a national bank.
_Middleburg._
Middleburg, situated on Goose Creek in the southwestern part of
Loudoun, is 12 miles from the summit of the Blue Ridge at Ashby's Gap,
5 miles west of Aldie, 1/4 of a mile from the Fauquier line, and 16
miles by stage from Leesburg, the seat of government. It is a growing
and prosperous community, elevated and airy and overlooking a broad
expanse of rich territory. Fourteen of its 296 inhabitants are
merchants and mechanics.
_Ashburn._
Ashburn, a railway town in lower Loudoun, formerly known as
_Farmwell_, is 34 miles from Washington, 31 miles from Alexandria, 4
miles northwest of Sterling, and 6 miles from Leesburg. It is in the
heart of one of the richest and most extensive dairying sections of
the State, and has become somewhat famous as a resort for anglers, the
bass fishing in Goose Creek, near by, being eminently satisfying and
attracting many devotees of the sport from Washington and other more
distant points.
_Bluemont._
Bluemont, formerly known as _Snickersville_, is an attractive village,
snugly and advantageously situated at the southeastern base of the
Blue Ridge Mountains, about 3 miles from Round Hill, 54 miles by rail
from Washington, and 165 miles from Richmond. It is on the western
edge of the most densely populated section of Loudoun, and boasts
modern hotels and boarding houses, two liveries, a grain elevator, and
many handsome dwellings. Two turnpikes, leading from Washington and
Alexandria to Winchester, intersect at this point. Bluemont is a
popular summer resort, and lies within a very short distance of both
the "Bears' Den" and "Raven Rocks," jutting points on the western
slope of the Blue Ridge, from which magnificent views may be had of
the Shenandoah valley and river and the Alleghany and North mountains.
The town has a population of 200, 14 of which number are merchants and
mechanics.
_Smaller Towns._
Other towns, post villages and settlements in the County are:
_Airmont_, 2-1/2 miles from Bluemont, population 25; _Aldie_, on
Little River, 5 miles from both Middleburg and Oatlands and 12 miles
from Leesburg, the County seat, population 155, 7 merchants and
mechanics; _Arcola_, 6 miles from Sterling and 12 miles from Leesburg,
population 100, 4 merchants and mechanics; _Belmont Park_, a small
railway station on the east bank of Goose Creek about 4 miles east of
Leesburg, formerly a picturesque resort and popular excursion point
managed by the old Richmond and Danville Railroad Company, attracting,
during the few years of its operation, many thousands of visitors;
_Bloomfield_, 7 miles from Round Hill, population 50; _Britain_, 8
miles from Purcellville, population 15; _Clarkes Gap_, one of the
highest and healthiest points in the County and an important shipping
point, draining a large extent of fertile country, 4 miles west of
Leesburg, population 25; _Conklin_, 10 miles from Sterling, population
10; _Daysville_, 2 miles from Sterling, population 20; _Elvan_, 1 mile
from Lovettsville, population 18; _Evergreen Mills_, 7 miles from
Leesburg, population 10; _Georges Mill_, in the extreme northwestern
part of the County; _Hillsboro_, 5 miles by stage from Purcellville,
population 131, 9 merchants and mechanics; _Hughesville_, 7 miles from
Leesburg, population 12; _Irene_, on the Southern Railway one mile
from Hamilton and the railroad station for that town, population 20;
_Leithton_, 8 miles from Purcellville and Round Hill, population 25;
_Lenah_, 3 miles west of Arcola, population 25; _Levy_, on Bull Run,
3 miles south of Aldie; _Lincoln_, 2-1/2 miles southeast of
Purcellville, in the heart of the "Quaker Settlement," population 200,
3 merchants and mechanics; _Lovettsville_, 2-1/2 or 3 miles south of
Brunswick, Md., and 7 miles from both Waterford and Harpers Ferry, W.
Va., in an industrious and progressive German neighborhood, population
97, 16 merchants and mechanics; _Luckets_, 5 miles from Point of
Rocks, Maryland, and 7 miles from Leesburg, population 50, 8 merchants
and mechanics; _Lunette_, 4 miles south of Arcola, population 10;
_Mahala_, 2 miles from Ashburn, population 15; _Mechanicsville_;
_Mountain Gap_, 4-1/2 miles by stage from Leesburg, population 25;
_Mount Gilead_, a centrally and charmingly situated village on
Catoctin Mountain about 8 miles respectively from the towns of
Leesburg, Middleburg and Aldie, population 50; _Mountville_, a small
settlement in a neighborhood abounding with best quality lime and
other minerals, 2-1/2 miles southeast of Philomont and about 1-1/2
miles from both the waters of Goose Creek and Beaver Dam, population
25; _Morrisonville_, 6 miles by stage from Brunswick, Maryland, and 4
miles from Lovettsville, population 20; _Neersville_, 5 miles by stage
from Harpers Ferry, W. Va., population 25; _North Fork_, 6 miles from
Purcellville, population 26; _Oatlands_, bordering on Catoctin
Mountain 7 miles southwest of Leesburg and 5 miles north of Aldie,
population 20; _Pæonian Springs_, 1 mile northwest of Clarke's Gap,
population 112, 6 merchants and mechanics; _Paxson_, an exceptionally
healthy community 2 miles east of Bluemont, population 15;
_Philomont_, a Quaker settlement lying 3 miles southeast of Silcott
Springs in a fertile and wealthy wheat-growing neighborhood,
population 161; _Royville_, 2 miles north of Arcola; _Ryan_, 2 miles
south of Ashburn, population 50; _Silcott Springs_, a one-time noted
resort 3-1/2 miles southwest of Purcellville, population 25; Sycoline,
between 4 and 5 miles south of Leesburg; _Stumptown_, 2 miles from
Luckets, population 20; _Taylorstown_, 3 miles southwest of Point of
Rocks, Md., population 50; _Trapp_, 5 miles from Bluemont, population
36; _Unison_, 6 miles from Bluemont and 9 miles from Purcellville,
population 100, 3 merchants and mechanics; _Watson_, 9 miles from
Leesburg, population 10; _Waxpool_, 2-1/2 miles north of Royville and
8 miles from Leesburg, population 25; _Welbourne_, about 5 miles
northeast of Upperville, in Fauquier county; _Wheatland_, 5 miles from
both Hamilton and Purcellville, population 25; _Willard_, 5 miles
southwest of Herndon, in Fairfax county, and _Woodburn_, 3 miles from
Leesburg, population 15. [Blank Page]
Statistical.
AREA AND FARMING TABULATIONS.
The area of Loudoun County is variously reckoned at 460, 468, 495,
504, 510, 519, 520, and 525 square miles. The approximate accuracy of
any single estimate in this confused assortment can not easily be
determined, none, so far as is known, having been officially
confirmed. Yardley Taylor, who, in 1853, made a most careful survey of
the County, fixed its area at 525 square miles. By far the most
trustworthy authority in this and certain other connections, his
findings have been adopted with little uncertainty or hesitation.
Of this number, 207 square miles lie east of Catoctin Mountain and are
of the upper secondary formation, while the remaining 318 square miles
to the westward are of primitive formation.
The longest line across the County is 35 miles, and extends from the
lower end of Lowe's Island at the old mouth of Sugarland Run, to the
summit of the Blue Ridge at Ashby's Gap; the second longest, 34 miles,
extends from the corner of Jefferson County, West Virginia, at the
margin of the Potomac River below Harpers Ferry, to the corner of
Fairfax County on Bull Run, within half a mile of Sudley Springs in
Prince William County.
Within the limits of Loudoun are included 313,902[16] acres of the
finest farm land to be found in any county of the State. The farms
number 1,948, the average size being 162 acres. They are smallest in
the northwestern portion of the county and of moderate size in the
central portions, the largest occurring in the southern and eastern
portions. In 1900, 1,754, or 90 per cent, were operated by white
farmers, and 194, or 10 per cent, operated by colored farmers.
[Footnote 16: It will be understood that the total land in farms by no
means equals the total area of the County.]
TABLE I.--_Summary by Decades of the Improved and Unimproved
Land in Farms, with per cent of Increase and Decrease._