Time Travel on Loudoun ’ s
Unpaved Roads
BY EMILY HOUSTON
Photo : Douglas Graham
“
This is a Disneyland experience !” exclaims Douglas Kemmerer * as he describes how visitors to Loudoun County respond when he takes them driving in his four-in-hand horse-drawn carriage over our unpaved roads . He tells the story of taking a former ambassador from the United Kingdom ( who had also been an ambassador to Russia ) out for a coaching drive and was told by his guest : “ We have nothing like this in England .”
“ He became like a little boy ,” remembers Kemmerer , delighting in recalling the ambassador ’ s excitement . “ And I thought , here ’ s a guy who ’ s travelled the world and he had that reaction ” to a carriage ride on Loudoun County ’ s unpaved roads . “ There is no place else in America where you have this ,” according to Kemmerer , referring to our extensive network of gravel roads and the pristine countryside they traverse .
Loudoun ’ s unique unpaved road network attracts horse driving enthusiasts to locate in the County . Flora Hillman and her husband Owen Snyder moved to Bloomfield in southern Loudoun from Chester County , Pennsylvania , 30 years ago , specifically for the gravel roads on which to drive their Welsh ponies . Chester County also has a reputation as a horse-friendly locale , but , according to Hillman , it didn ’ t compare with Loudoun . “ We grabbed a map and started looking and we were astonished at the gravel roads
* Author ’ s note : Carriage driving enthusiast and rural roads advocate Douglas Kemmerer passed away earlier this year . His passion for both will be missed . in Loudoun ,” she recalls of their search for a new home .
What do carriage drivers like so much about gravel ? Gravel is a relatively forgiving surface that provides grip for the horses ’ hooves . It preserves the horses ’ “ soundness ,” meaning the proper function of their legs and joints . And despite the well-recognized pressures of development in the County , many of its roads are still relatively lightly travelled , with cars going at slower speeds and presenting less danger to horsedrawn vehicles .
But before our unpaved roads were the hardened , gravel-covered surfaces we typically see today , what were they ? For starters , they were simply dirt .
In colonial Virginia , “ road construction ” simply meant cutting down trees and removing as many natural obstacles as possible along
28 wander I fall • winter 2022