Projects and Issues Supported and Sponsored by the Mosby Heritage Area Association, 2004-2006

• April 2006: On occasion, the Board of the Mosby Heritage Area Association is asked to lend letters of support for issues concerning neighborhoods in the Mosby Heritage Area.  One such request came from citizens in Fauquier County for the Chattin Run development near Marshall.  A letter was sent to the Board of Supervisors in Fauquier County asking the Board to take into consideration the scenic and historical significance of this area when making land-use decisions for this development.

Chattin Run Development

• January 2006: The Board of Directors of the MHAA passed two resolutions supporting the efforts of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground to designate U.S. Route 15 a National Scenic Highway and to establish a National Historic District along the Route 15 corridor from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to Charlottesville, Virginia.

Click here to read these resolutions

Click here to learn more about the Journey Through Hallowed Ground

• Late 2005 – Early 2006: The MHAA Board of Directors sent a letter to the Board of Supervisors of Loudoun County to reconsider a development variance purposed along St. Louis Road.  This area was a significant part of General George McClellan’s trek across Loudoun County following the Battle of Antietam.  This troop movement, as well as the tensions between President Lincoln and General McClellan, led to McClellan’s dismissal as Commanding Officer of the Army of the Potomac.

Click here to learn more about Unison.

Click here to purchase MHAA’s audio tour of McClellan’s Retreat “In the Wake of Antietam

• October 2005: A letter of support was provided to Turn the Mill Around, Inc. for its TEA-21 application.  Funding from this grant will be used to continue the restoration of this historic mill, which was destroyed by an arsonist.  The group received the grant to help in its second phase of restoration.  The photograph below shows the mill before the fire.

Click here to learn more about Turn the Mill Around.

Chapmans Mill Before the Fire

• September 2005: A group of citizens from the George’s Mill area of Loudoun County approached the Mosby Heritage Area Association for support of its opposition to the paving by VDOT of the country road into their neighborhood.  The MHAA sent a letter to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors outlining the damage that would occur to the historic and natural resources of the neighborhood and the economic burden paving this road would place on Loudoun County.  This support was used by the citizens group at a hearing before the Transportation and Land Use Committee of Loudoun County. 

George's Mill Road 3

• Early 2005: The Board of Directors of the MHAA supported the efforts of a citizens’ group led by an MHAA member against cluster development zoning in the town of Round Hill in western Loudoun County.  As a result of this issue, the MHAA developed materials for citizens of the Mosby Heritage Area that teach them how to become involved in preservation issues that confront our area.  The MHAA will sponsor a Preservation Forum in 2007 to encourage citizens to become involved with the preservation of this area.
  
  
• February 2005: The MHAA Board of Directors wrote a letter in support for the designation of the piedmont corridor of Route 15 from Charlottesville, Virginia, to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, as one of the Eleven Most Endangered Places in the United States by the National Trust for Historic Places.

Check here to read MHAA’s letter to the National Trust.

• February 2005:  The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation proposed the reduction or elimination of tax deductions given to property owners who have put easements on their property as a way to increase tax revenues.  This followed media-hyped exposures of abuses of the tax deductions received by a few landowners through the placing of land in easement. The Board of Directors of the MHAA alerted its members in a mailing that suggested they contact their Congressional representatives and members of the Senate Committee on Finance and the House Ways and Means Committee. 

Click here to read the letter sent to MHAA members.

Proposed Easement of Skye Farm, Taylorstown, Loudoun County

• May, 2005: The MHAA sponsored a screening of Richard Squires’ film “Crazy Like a Fox.” This very entertaining film shows what one landowner does to save his ancestral home from developers.  Special advance copies of the DVD have been produced for Delphi Film, and are available for sale exclusively through its website.  The cost is $16 per DVD with a $2 charge for shipping.

Click here to purchase a DVD copy of this film

• August 2004: A letter in opposition to the proposed location of a Wal-Mart store in a scenic viewshed of the town of Front Royal was sent to the editors of two Front Royal newspapers.  Wal-Mart has since removed its application, and the store is being built in a more appropriate location.

Click here to learn more about the plans of the Save Our Gateway

• September 2004: A letter of support was sent for Loudoun County’s application for TEA-21 funds for a Loudoun County Wayfinding System.  As a result of the county’s proposal, the program will become a pilot for similar signage throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.

• February 2004:  Working with neighbors and writing letters in opposition to a proposed cell tower within the core battle area of the Battle of Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville, the MHAA was instrumental in getting the proposed cell tower moved to a more appropriate location—atop the Middleburg water tower.

• February 2004: The MHAA endorsed the nomination of the Crooked Run Valley as a Rural Historic District in Fauquier County.  It was placed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places in September 2004.  The Crooked Run Valley Rural Historic District encompasses the village of Paris, Virginia, and more than 18,000 acres.

Click here to get a free brochure on the Crooked Run Valley "Historic Route 17"

Crooked Run Valley