A county official gave an “anachronistic” view of rapidly growing Loudoun through the eyes of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who were integral in developing the nation.
Sixty-one percent or 517 million square miles of the county is rural, fitting for the interests of Washington, a surveyor and landholder who inherited the Mount Vernon family estate, and Jefferson, a landholder born into a farming family in Albemarle County and owner of the Monticello estate.
“They would recognize the beauty of the land. Land meant a lot to them,” said Larry Rosenstrauch, director of the Department of Economic Development and one of three speakers at a symposium on Feb. 21 focused on historical and present-day development. The Loudoun Museum and the George Washington University Virginia Campus hosted the 2nd annual symposium, called “George Washington and Thomas Jefferson: Two Leaders, Two Visions for Developing a Nation,” to honor Washington’s birthday.
Rosenstrauch gave a slide presentation with aerial pictures of Loudoun to connect what occurred during the nation’s development to present-day Loudoun. Loudoun’s western end has several farms and clustered populations in six towns and 13 villages, while development increases toward the eastern end of the county starting with the Town of Leesburg.
A county survey shows that Loudoun’s attraction is found in its rural landscapes, open space and small towns, yet the majority of respondents said they are concerned about the impact of growth. The county faces several challenges, Rosenstrauch said, including growth, paying for growth, maintaining what is valued and increasing the county’s potentials.
WASHINGTON and Jefferson were alike in that they were both large landowners and Revolutionary leaders, but they differed in how they viewed land and development, said Mark Summers, moderator and director of education at the Loudoun Museum. Summers introduced speakers Dennis Pogue, associate director of preservation at the Mount Vernon Estate, and Gaye Wilson, research historian of Monticello.
“Both of these folks were interested in building a nation. … The question is in the details,” said Pogue, who was given 20 minutes to speak.
Washington, who became the nation’s first president in 1789, envisioned a strong united nation with “unity at home and independence abroad,” Pogue said. The eight-year commander and president of five years avoided being enmeshed in the affairs of foreign nations. He instead sought the unity of the individual states, maintained with a strong central government able to survive any threats, Pogue said.
Washington aimed for the nation to become a continental empire, achieved through Western expansion that without economic ties, such as in farming and manufacturing, would be fruitless. “If a nation was to be built, how was that to be accomplished,” Pogue said.
Like Washington, Jefferson favored expanding the nation’s size, so during his term in office from 1800-1807, he called for the Lewis and Clark Expedition and in 1803 the Louisiana Purchase. He considered an agrarian society to best suit a Republic and encouraged the idea of the yeoman farmer, though he realized that government had to provide the infrastructure to get produce out to market. “A tie to the land would also impart a tie to the country,” Gay said.
In the early years of the Republic, Jefferson did not see a future in manufacturing and preferred keeping the workshops in Europe. “Jefferson was suspicious of cities. … Manufacturing and cities went together,” Gay said. “Yet Jefferson was involved in building cities” and helped relocate the Capitol to Richmond. He wanted cities to be built in a checkerboard pattern with squares of development alternated with squares of open space. “The open squares became too tempting, and the plan didn’t last long,” she said.
Likewise, the county’s Revised Comprehensive Plan aims to preserve open space in western Loudoun, though nearly 200 lawsuits have been filed against its adoption.