PHOToS : WIB MIDDLETON
A Farmer ’ s Case to Preserve Rural Loudoun
Using the planning tools we have while there ’ s still time
By John adams
“ Oh Beautiful Loudoun County — God ’ s Country ”— those were the words of a gentlemen who was born in Loudoun and who waited on me behind the counter of Southern States Cooperative in Gaithersburg , Maryland in the summer of 1972 . That left quite an impression , since Mary Lee and I were contemplating a move to the country . So we looked into Loudoun and we soon decided it was a beautiful county only God could have created !
That initial impression was also reinforced in the spring of 1973 when I drove from Leesburg to Point of Rocks with Jim Smathers , a fieldman at the time for the Maryland and Virginia Milk Cooperative . We drove the entire 10 miles and only passed one car !
My , how we have witnessed tremendous changes in Loudoun County since that time when in August of 1973 we moved onto a 20-acre parcel just north of Lucketts . It was a parcel of land that was broken off of Kensely Hill Farm , owned by Captain Ken Jefferies , and farmed by Kenneth Litton who was running an extensive Angus cow-calf operation .
So , we took up residence in a brick rancher previously built in 1957 by Richard Jenkins of Lucketts for Mr . Van Kruchmeyer , a retired Agriculture Attaché for the Dutch Embassy in D . C . There was nothing unusual about the home , except that it contained only large armoires in place of closets !
However , the property had some of the most beautiful large outcroppings of Potomac Breccia , and with cattle grazing around the rocks on beautiful pasture , we decided this was the place in the country we would keep to raise our twin boys , John and Andrew .
4 wander I fall • winter 2022