The Countryside of Northern Virginia

People who live in D.C. and Northern Virginia love to take a weekend ride to the countryside of northern Virginia which would be Loudoun County, western Prince William County and Fauquier County. Here the landscape is dotted with fences. There are black fences and stone fences. The stone fences are very, very old and built without any mortar. The black fences are newer and are replacing the white fences that used to be the trademark of horse farms. While horses are the more typical animals found on these farms beef cattle, sheep, goats, llamas and ostriches are making inroads into the area. On Saturday we noticed this herd of sheep and the remains of a stone house. But on the whole the rural way of life is fast disappearing in these three counties. At one time Loudoun County had over 400 dairy farms that supplied the greater Washington D.C. area with milk. Today there is only one dairy farm left in Loudoun County. Much of this dairy land has been turned into housing subdivisions and commercial real estate. Here are some amazing population statistics.

Fauquier County

1970 26,375 people

2006 66,170 people

Loudoun County

1970 37,150 people

2006 268,817 people

Prince William County

1970 93,240 people

2006 357,503 people

We used to live in Fairfax County which is one of the counties nearest Washington, D.C. Wow, look how the population has increased in this particular county.

Fairfax County

1970 454,275 people

2006 1,010,443 people