50 I SALAMANDER 2023

iddleburg , Virginia , and its close-knit community of highprofile horsemen and women might have remained out of the public eye if it weren ’ t for President John F . Kennedy . Families had lived here for generations , raising their children to ride before they could walk , compete at horse shows , and foxhunt through expansive estates . But then the charismatic young President and his wife Jackie , an avid rider , decided to lease a local farm . The press followed , and soon alerted the world to the millionaires , celebrities and ordinary folk

enjoying their rustic lifestyle a mere 50 miles from the Washington Beltway .

EQUESTRIAN LEGACY Middleburg ’ s history is inextricably tied to the horse . In the 1730s what is now the Red Fox Inn & Tavern provided lodging on the Ashby Gap Road ( Route 50 ), a day ’ s horseback ride from Alexandria to the east or Winchester to the west . By the turn of the century the inn was surrounded by large farms , and wealthy residents embraced foxhunting , a passion inherited from their British forbearers .

The Civil War was a crushing blow to that lifestyle , but after the war the area ’ s favorable foxhunting conditions drew new landowners with the wealth to rebuild . They became the “ old guard ” whose descendants now ride over the same countryside .

Long-time residents regret the passing of more recent “ good old days ,” when local icons such as Theo Randolph , revered as the “ first lady of foxhunting ,” served as master of the Piedmont Fox Hounds , the oldest hunt in the U . S .; and billionaire philanthropist Paul Mellon raised