Hi, my name is Gerry Hyland, your Mount Vernon District Supervisor, your local legislator. Welcome to the Mount Vernon District, home of our first president, George Washington and George Mason, the father of the Bill of Rights for the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Your Mount Vernon District Supervisor's office is located at 2511 Parkers Lane, Alexandria, just off of Richmond Highway and next to the Mount Vernon Hospital. The office is open Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. I can be reached during those hours by calling 703-780-7518; by mail at the above address; or by e-mail at: mtvernon@fairfaxcounty.gov.
Laurel Hill is an area located in the Mount Vernon magisterial district making it a special place to live, recreate and work. Fairfax County has a growing population of more than 1.3 million people, of which 113,000 people live in Mount Vernon. The Laurel Hill/Lorton community has the fastest growth rate in any other sector of the county, rapidly changing the area from a rural farming community it once was to a vibrant urban area. Even though this transformation is rapidly taking place, we will always have thousands of acres of green space and parkland.
We have the Fairfax County Laurel Hill Park which has the 18-hole public golf course, the cross county trail, multi-use fields, the Lorton Arts Foundation which will sponsor artists in residents, theater performances, sculptors, a history museum; and soon a sportsplex and The Cold War Museum. Just down the road on Mason Neck you might want to visit the Mason Neck State Park, which has canoeing, hiking trails and a picnic and children's play area. The Northern Virginia Pohick Regional Park offers opportunities for tent camping, RV space and reserving a newly constructed cabin is just moments away and within its boarders there are also hiking trails, boat launches, swimming, equestrian trails and a public golf course. At the National Fish and Wildlife Refuge, bird watching is a common activity. This federal refuge has a handicap-accessible trail leading to a marshland where you can view the largest Great Blue heron rookery in the Mid-Atlantic region, egrets, otters and wetland life. This is the only national refuge dedicated to the American Bald Eagle providing a natural habitat for this threatened species and at the same time provides a "watch" area of this majestic bird in flight and see many of their nesting sites.
The South County Secondary School just finished its first year, open to Fairfax County students at Laurel Hill/Lorton in a campus-like setting where students are free to participate in many extracurricular events and where they are encouraged to tap into their creative side by offering them many state of the art courses in science and math; theater and television production; music and sports. There are four Fairfax County elementary schools also located in the Laurel Hill/Lorton community including Silverbrook, Halley, Lorton Station and Gunston where more than 100 languages are spoken. The diversity of our community is one that each and every one of us can experience and truly appreciate by attending many public events held in our schools and parks. For more information on where you live, work or play, just link onto the County's Web site at: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/. For information on the public schools, just link to: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/living/education/.
To learn more about the Mount Vernon District, please visit our homepage at http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/mountvernon/.
For information on things you might want to know more about in Fairfax County you can find all that information in the "Newcomer's Guide to Fairfax County" on the Web at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/newtofairfax.
Whether you have moved to Laurel Hill from another part of the county or the world, I believe you will find the Mount Vernon District a community of parks, historic sites, top-notch public schools and friendly people. I know you will be happy and safe in Laurel Hill/Lorton and as many have said, "it is the finest place to live, work and recreate in all of Fairfax County."
Welcome to Laurel Hill/Lorton, a Mount Vernon District community on the rise.