Waterford

Drive the freeway fast into the past. The way back to now is bumpy.

My Tomtom whisked me to Waterford today on freeways that did not exist when we lived here. New suburbs, business centres and shopping malls now cover the fields wher the main crop was hay. Leesburg has a busy airport! But, thanks to the Waterford Foundation, I suspect, the village of Waterford has not changed. No new McMansions are allowed. 

Wee cottage

I spent a happy hour revisiting all the buildings where the Waterford Weavers have set up shop during the Fair and was inspired with ideas for Ewan's quilt for our "Off the Beaten Track" show.

Quilted barn

Waterford itself was literally off the track. It was settled in the 1700s by, mainly, Quaker folk and was very prosperous. Along came the Civil War and the Quakers sided with the North much to the disgust of the Virginians. (The West Virginians fought with the unionists too.) So, after the war, the locals remembered and routed the railway through Leesburg, not through Waterford and Waterford faded into obscurity until the expansionist 1970's when Northern Virginia became a service economy hub of wealthy commuters who wanted a house in the country. 

The school where the WWG was born