oun ’ s most iconic features . Once the scourge of local farmers , fieldstones had to be removed from meadows to make fields arable . These stones were dry-stacked , as cement was hard to come by . The walls are built of two tiers of stone that lean into each other for stability , capped by a large stone at the top . Therefore , the bottom of the wall is slightly wider that its top . Stonemasonry was a skill handed down from generation to generation . Each locality has its own distinct design — for example , Loudoun ’ s stone walls are very different than those of neighboring Clarke County .
Jane Covington is a local preservationist and serves on the Board of the Willisville Preservation Foundation . Emily Houston , a lifelong equestrian , works on rural road preservation efforts in Loudoun and serves on the boards of the Loudoun County Equine Alliance , the Waterford Foundation , and Save Rural Loudoun .
Why Does This Unique Network of Unpaved Roads Exist ?
T he early settlers of Loudoun staked out this rich land with a purpose … trade . Water-born transportation was experimented with here — a brief flirting with canals by George Washington and others made some use of the Potomac . Railroads were given a go in the 1850s through the 1870s . But roads on land were the inevitable winner , connecting prosperous , ambitious Loudoun farmers with easy ways to reach the growing ports of Alexandria , Georgetown and Baltimore .
On the verge of the Civil War , Loudoun was Virginia ’ s richest county , but the war played out on this land with a heavy hand . Wealthy Loudouners suffered serious financial losses , having invested in Confederate bonds , had their barns and mills burned by the Union cavalry near the end of the war , and seen their huge investment in slaves turned to naught by the Emancipation .
Additionally , taxes increased to pay for the new public school system established in Virginia after the war . There was little money for public or private investment in road infrastructure well into the third decade of the 20th century . The existing roads , patched and repaired from time to time , would just have to do . In this sense , they were preserved — or at the very least , not modernized or replaced .
Horses , or more specifically , the “ equestrian lifestyle ,” helped preserve Loudoun ’ s unpaved roads too . Beginning in the 1890s , the financial / industrial elite discovered Loudoun as ideal fox hunting territory , and
By Richard Gillespie Historian Emeritus , Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area Association
purchasing farms in the northern Piedmont of Virginia became all the rage . Dirt roads were ideal for riding and crossing in chase of the fox without rapidly moving , modern automobile traffic to interfere .
Some good old-fashioned political rivalry also lent a hand in preserving Loudoun ’ s rural roads . Loudoun ’ s best-known politician of the highway-building era of the early 20th century was Westmoreland Davis , known today for his magnificent estate at Morven Park . Elected Governor of Virginia in 1917 , Davis was often at loggerheads with the conservative Democratic machine led by Thomas Staples Martin , Hal Flood and later , Harry Flood Byrd . Davis owned the county ’ s largest and most influential newspaper , The Loudoun Times Mirror , and it often railed against what came to be known as “ the Byrd Machine .”
When Byrd got his turn as Governor beginning in 1926 , he instituted a “ pay-as-you-go ” approach to road funding — no bonds would be sold to fund road construction and improvement , which would only occur once enough taxes and fees were collected to pay for it . In 1932 , the Byrd Act was passed , putting responsibility and control over most county roads into the hands of the state government . Due to the beef between Davis and Byrd , Loudoun did not fare well as highway funds were allotted !
Many of Loudoun ’ s unpaved roads remain uncannily as they were 150 years ago , a thing of rare beauty and value … a national treasure .
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