Loudoun’s Heritage Preservation Efforts Continue

The section of the Loudoun County Government Web site dealing with “Cultural Resources” points out that Loudoun has a long history of heritage preservation, going back to the 1930s, when the county addressed the proliferation of billboards along the highways that “obscured scenic views.”

The Leesburg Garden Club and Vinton Pickens of Janelia Farm, Loudoun’s first Planning Commission chairman, took on the issue and pushed through the county’s first sign ordinance in 1942.

Thirty years later, Loudoun County established Historic Area Districts; the first to be created was the Goose Creek District.

In July 2001, the county’s Revised General Plan was adopted, which considered heritage resources part of the Green Infrastructure– the “interconnecting network of natural and cultural features throughout the county.” The following year, the first Historic Roadways District–the Beaverdam Creek Historic Roadways District–was designated in the far southwestern section of the county.

Also in 2002, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors appointed a Citizens Advisory Committee to draft a new Heritage Preservation Plan, which “Provides an overview of the heritage resources and preservation challenges unique to the county and provides policy guidance and implementation to citizens, landowners developers and county staff to achieve rewarding and appropriate resource preservation.”

Noting that the majority of Loudoun’s heritage resources are on private property, the plan “…focuses plan implementation on programmatic, incentive-based and education and education-orientated strategies,” where it is considered a tool to assist property owners protect heritage resources on their properties.

Other aspects of the plan provide for the creation of a Heritage Commission to coordinate public and private preservation interests, and lead community education and heritage tourism efforts.

Mount Zion Church, near Gilbert's Corner

In recent years, Loudoun County has acquired several historic properties, the majority of which have been take over by the Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Service. But funding for some projects–including the old Route 7 trestle bridge over Goose Creek, east of Leesburg–have been put on hold due to financial constraints. Qualified for matching federal funds through an ICE-T grant, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors has not approved the matching funds due to more pressing needs.

In cases like these, “adoption” of a property or project by a private association or “friends of” group can make things happen, according to Loudoun County Chief Park Planner Mark Novak. He points to the recent restoration of the historic Mt. Zion Church near Gilbert’s Corner as an example of this type of arrangement.

The involvement of the private sector in preservation efforts cannot be over-emphasized. Unique properties in a development can sometimes be taken over by a neighborhood or homeowner’s association and reused, as in the case of the Potomac Club at Lansdowne, which has its indoor swimming pool inside one of the county’s larger former dairy barns.

Practical Measures

From a practical standpoint, Loudoun County already requires developers to identify and report any archeological or historic sites or assets on their properties to the County Archeologist and Historic Preservation Planner. This information is then mapped and inventoried in a growing database, which is used to predict where other prehistoric or historic sites may be located.

In some cases, “Proffers associated with legislative development applications is on of the strongest tools for preservation,” according to the county Web site, “Developers have offered protection, and in some cases, restoration of historic buildings. What cannot be preserved in situ can at least be fully documented with photographs, drawings and background research to ensure that the ‘story’ is not lost with demolition.”

Without proffers it is likely that some properties would never be preserved, due to lack of funding, notes Chief Planner Novak.

In spite of the recent efforts, the county report gives the county a score of “D” in heritage preservation, noting, “The level of study required by county regulation is a reconnaissance level survey that may or may not identify all of the resources, and does not ensure their avoidance or protection.”

While some good tools are in place, the report notes, “Rapid development, unsympathetic to existing resources, threatens the county’s heritage sites and will ultimately contribute to the diminution of the county’s heritage.”

Meeting Repeated Challenges

In addition to Mt. Zion Church, other properties in Eastern Loudoun managed by the Loudoun County Department of Parks, Recreation and Public Service range from active resources like the Loudoun Farm Heritage Museum and Lanesville Historic Area at Claude Moore Park near Sterling to the Settle-Dean Cabin on South Riding, and the Arcola Slave Quarters off Evergreen Mills Road which have been (or are in the process of being) preserved, but do not have inside access.

Other heritage sites await their fate.

The c. 1820 toll house at the site of the old Stone Bridge at Broad Run lies quietly deteriorating in the shadow of the Route 7 bridge, while the Lunette House in Kirkpatrick Farms has been raised from its foundation, separated in two and had its roof removed–but has nowhere to go.

An indoor pool was installed in this old barn on Lansdowne.

Three years ago, it looked like the old log house in the Community Village II project at the southeast corner of Route 7 and Potomac View Road would be lost. In the way of development and later damaged by fire, an agreement was reached with the applicant to carefully disassemble, store and later reconstruct the house. When ready, the house would be “…rehabilitated, integrated into the development and adaptively reused,” with the historic character of the exterior of the house maintained.

But there must be community support for such plans to succeed.

In a recent e-mail to Loudoun County Supervisors Chairman Scott York, Sterling District Planning Commissioner Helena S. Syska suggested that, “Perhaps disassembly and storage might be an option you consider for the Lunette House? As I recall, the log cabin on the Community Village II property was in very bad shape also due to a fire and being open to the elements, but there was a desire from the community to save it.”