Rather than visit a specific neighborhood for my next outing to horse and hunt country, I decided to take in some of the area north of Upperville. We will go along Trappe Road up to Trappe, take Trappe Road eastward, then Green Garden Road southward, and back to Upperville. To the west lies the Blue Ridge mountains and Ashby's Gap. This constitutes part of the southwest corner of Loudoun County.
Had never hit the road north of Upperville, so this was a rewarding look see. Tourism in horse and hunt country is mostly in and around Middleburg. We're looking beyond to get a look at some stories made behind the fences and learn a bit more about the equine industry.
The network of rural roads is certainly part of the ecosystem. Going slowly along them recalls the days of a pleasant “Sunday Drive.” Speeding and rude and reckless driving in the DMV seems to get worse every day, so these quiet roads and the natural landscape having a calming way about them.
Our planning was helped by Eugene Scheel’s map of Loudoun County, his books, NRHP forms, and other sources we will thank along the way. Many thanks to Alexa Lowe for passing along a History of Windsor Farm and sharing some of her great story. Common Grounds in Middleburg provided good coffee and a pastry, and a place where I could pretend I was a member of the smart set.
Horse and hunt country is a place blessed with a number of attributes and one of them is the preserved landscapes. I appreciate it every time I come out here. These wonderful lands comfort me and nourish my soul.
We will roll this out in a series of six parts. This first will look at what lies just north of Upperville.
The others are:
Part Two: Ayrshire
Part Three: Llangollen
Part Four: Windsor Farm
Part Five: Cleremont
Part Six: Trappe
We start out by taking the familiar Route 50 to Middleburg and then make that stop at Common Grounds. Then it’s just three miles to Upperville, with a pass by the iconic Upperville Colt and Horse Show Grounds. The Blue Ridge Mountains, forty miles from Washington, loom large ahead.
Driving through Upperville, I feel a tinge of sadness for not adding in some time for this lovely little town affectionally described as “a mile long and an inch wide.” John Updike liked it so much he penned an ode -- "Upon Learning That A Town Exists In Virginia Called Upperville."
Roberta and I have been here several times before, but it was just whistle stops to eat lunch at Hunter’s Head Tavern and once to see the enchanting French-inspired church the Mellons funded and built. I make a promise for a return visit.
Making the right on to Trappe Road, I feel my body begin to relax. Highway 50 is hardly the Beltway, but on those stretches of the solid white line, you do get impatient drivers on your butt. On some of these thinner side roads with no shoulders, traffic drops off to next to nothing. Here in particular on Trappe Road, being close to the sloping blue ridges adds something enjoyable.
Moss Meeting House Cemetery
First up is the Moss Meeting House Cemetery. The Meeting House itself is long gone, but the Find a Grave website tells us:
“Nathaniel Moss (1730-1807) served as a chaplain in the Revolutionary War era and established the Moss Meeting House and cemetery. The meeting house is gone, but the cemetery still remains. The site has many toppled headstones and illegible markers.”
Moss is not listed, but families interred there include Rust, Carr and Smith. Upperville was first known as Carrtown, named after Joseph Carr who opened a mill and store in 1790.
Elizabeth Rust (1756-1850) lies there with a standout obelisk stone. Her husband was Lt. George Rust, who served in the Continental Army. Their son, General George Rust, Jr. (1788-1857), served in the War of 1812. As I will learn, the Rust family comes up when looking at Cleremont, located a couple of miles to the north.
There is not much else on this cemetery, but the nomination form for the Unison Battlefield Historic District turns on a light. It tells us it contains 32 grave sites with the earliest dating to 1840.
Kirkby Farm
Back in the car, I cross over the Llangollen Branch, which starts near the mountains and feeds Pantherskin Creek, which feeds Goose Creek, arguably the most recognizable stream in these parts.
To my right I can see a five-bay house (22172 Trappe Road, to the left in the photo). I can also see a smaller house to the right (22178 Trappe Road) of the main one. These two are not on Scheel's map or book and there’s no fancy farm sign or other clues that could hint at stories made here.
I learn this is Kirkby Farm. Our mining for gold reveals some nuggets, a nomination form we didn’t expect to turn up for these parts and the amazing work that produced the Virginia Slave Quarter Catalogue (published in 2021 in the African Diaspora Archaeology Network newsletter). A nearby historical marker will also help us, as well as a book by Robert O’Neill.
The newsletter tells us the smaller house (22178 Trappe Road) beside the main one (22172 Trappe Road) is what they call the Mary W. Brown House (c 1810), a slave Quarters/kitchen. The historical marker we will see just up the road (Battle of Upperville) touches briefly on the fighting that took place here on both sides of the road on June 21, 1863.
Robert F. O'Neill describes it in full detail in his deeply researched book, "Small but Important Riots, The Calvary Battles of Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville." He mentions the Thomas House and labels it on a map. This appears to be the main house at 22172 Trappe Road. Nathaniel Thomas owned it.
Llangollen Road is on a map in O'Neill's book labeled as Mountain Road. The Union forces pushed Confederate forces westward towards the mountains. Confederate fire came from what is now the backyard of a fieldstone house we will discuss in a minute on Llangollen Road, next to Moss's Mill. This was towards the end of the battle, with the rebels retreating westward to Paris, Ashby’s Gap and beyond.
I was somewhat surprised to see the main house show up on the nomination form for the Battle of Unison (October 31-November 3, 1862). Unison is four miles to the north and east. The form points out in the final hours of that fighting, Confederates made a retreat southward on Trappe Road.
The nomination form describes the Kirkby Farm house as “a well preserved early 19c Federal style dwelling (c. 1810) with a good collection of period outbuildings, including a c. 1810) slave quarters. That there were enslaved here and all across these hills is indeed sad. There was good news in 2023 when these 190 acres were put into a conservation easement.
Stone House, Mill, Silo, and Barn
Next up is another stone mansion (32398 Llangollen Drive) and what I hope is Moss’s Mill. Scheel has it marked on his map along Llangollen Road. This is a bit confusing to some, in that Llangollen is two miles to the north. Of course, many of these tracts were once larger, and a reference point in those days could be something nearby or in the vicinity.
As I approach the turnoff to the road, I hold my breath as I worry the road will be marked as private. This is one of the biggest challenges when visiting horse and hunt country. Some roads that appear on maps to be public are marked as private. On previous trips I’ve twice seen a sign that said something like - GPS is wrong. Private Road.
This time, however, there are no such signs, nor a fancy farm sign to suggest it is private. The road goes gravel, a sound that is nostalgic in some ways, at least in these small doses for the traveler who is not in a hurry. I can recall back in the 60's when Mom and Dad took my sister and me to see his mother and family in North Carolina. The last leg of the trip was a long dirt road to their house. Of course, back then, I'm sure I was feeling mostly annoyance and surprise.
The stone house is five bays wide and boasts a small portico. I also see something that seems rare. Attached to the rear of the house (32398 Llangollen) is a second fieldstone structure of about the same size, built at a 45-degree angle.
A short distance from the stone house is a silo, a barn, and what looks like the mill. This is another thing I love about horse and hunt country. Yes, one can be intimidated by the big money and knee-high boots, but the overall feel of the landscape is balanced by the dotting of places like this one that have not been kept up as much as others.
In this case, however, the barn is getting close to reaching Abandoned status and the mail box is missing two numbers and has seen better days. Bunny Mellon, who once quipped, "Nothing should be noticed," would be disappointed, but I lay odds the folks who live here would be fun to talk to.
Northern Virginia once had scores of mills, an economic lifeblood. With an abundance of streams, this part of Loudoun County had its fair share. Standouts include the ones at Aldie and Waterford.
A google search for Moss’s Mill has nothing on it, but this structure is located right where Scheel has the mill marked. Either way, it is a true survivor and stands like a sentinel to the days when the mills helped the area prosper, at least in the good times. And who knows? If it was a mill, maybe some of the flour made it to Alexandria when the seaport was a citadel of flour shipping.
Historical Marker
We’re back on Trappe Road. Just a short distance away is the marker we mentioned for this part of the Battle of Upperville. It says in part:
"Two Northern and Southern cavalry brigades totaling about 6,000 men, with horse artillery supporting both sides, clashed all around you here across the Ayrshire and Kirkby farms on the afternoon of June 21, 1863. This was part of the Battle of Upperville, which took place as Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry division blocked the Federal horsemen as they attempted to locate Gen. Robert E. Lee's army, then marching into the Shenandoah Valley."
The American Battlefield Trust has preserved the land towards the mountains. The unspoiled view shed seems almost the same as the soldiers and the enslaved saw it. Off to the left lies Ashby’s Gap and Highway 50 running through it. Scheel has marked the highest point in Loudoun County as almost due west.
As I take all this clear space in, with nary a sound breaking the golden silence, I think off all the people who have gone through that pass to and from the Shenandoah Valley and beyond and in the other direction arriving in northern Virginia.
Going back almost three hundred years, the seaport of Alexandria was often the destination. The carts not only unloaded their agricultural yields, they also sometimes brought back imported items. For long distance travelers and commuters today, the gap is a reminder they are closer to home or are leaving it behind. Indigenous peoples surely dropped tears when they went through for the last time.
That's it for Part One. We will see you soon with Part Two. Thanks to all our sources and keepers of these places.
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