The Phillips Farm

History

The rolling vistas of farmland surrounding Waterford have been part of the village’s visual history for hundreds of years. Walking in the village today, you see rural field patterns that would be very familiar to villagers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

In 2003, the Phillips Farm, 144 acres of farmland southwest of the village, was slated to be subdivided into multiple lots. Had that development occurred, destroying the pastoral viewshed beyond the South Fork of the Catoctin Creek, Waterford’s National Historic Landmark status would have been seriously jeopardized.

The Waterford Foundation and its many supporters secured nearly $4 million to purchase the Phillips Farm. It is now preserved as open space in agricultural use forever, through a conservation easement held by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation. A copy of the easement is available upon request from the Foundation office.

Education and Management

The opportunities on the Farm to further our understanding of this region’s agrarian past are numerous and fascinating. Protection of the site’s natural resources and agricultural use of the Farm are requirements of the conservation easement. Much of the Farm is leased to a local farmer for haymaking.
In 2008 the Waterford Foundation released a Management and Land Use Plan carefully developed over a two-year period to ensure responsible stewardship of the Farm in accordance with the requirements of the conservation easement. Protection of the site’s natural resources and support of agricultural uses of the Farm, key requirements of the easement, are highlighted. So is its historic significance to the area. The plan also contains directions to the Farm, an Access Policy, and Rules of the Trail for visitors. A copy of the complete plan is available upon request from the Foundation office.

One educational goal for the Farm is the promotion of habitat restoration and water quality. In collaboration with the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy, a demonstration project on the South Fork of the Catoctin Creek began in spring 2008, and volunteers continue to return to the Farm several times each year. The project consists of planting a riparian buffer to protect the environmentally fragile Catoctin Creek watershed, as well as an effort to control invasive plant species on the Farm (such as multiflora rose and tree of heaven). Water quality monitoring is another part of the effort. Bird and butterfly counts and guided nature walks have added to the property’s public outreach programs.
Check the calendar on the foundation home page to learn about upcoming educational events on the Farm.

Interpretive Trail

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Visitors can walk the new interpretive (shown in red) along the south fork of Catoctin Creek., west of the village.

In September 2009 an interpretive trail officially opened. Trail markers and a brochure detail the natural and cultural history on the property, with numbered posts corresponding to points of interest. This trail project was funded by a generous grant from the Peter M. Howard Memorial Fund through the Piedmont Community Foundation and the volunteer efforts of Rob Hale, John Souders, and Committee Chair Mimi Westervelt.

We welcome visitors and ask their help in preserving this special place. You may download a Self-Guided Trail Walking Tour brochure (or pick up one at the trailhead behind Waterford’s Old Mill) to learn about the cultural and natural history of the Farm. As you hike the trail, you will understand the relationship of the Farm to the growth of the village, and why this property is so important to Waterford’s status as one of America’s National Historic Landmarks.

Pull-off area planned for Phillips Farm

Visitors to the 144-acre Phillips Farm soon will have a dedicated interpretive pull-off area at the edge of the farm for parking and enjoying the landscape of the Waterford National Historic Landmark.

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The educational interpretive area will be situated on four acres of the farm along Old Wheatland Road (Route 698), near its intersection with Milltown Road. Construction of the area is funded by a grant from the Virginia Department of Transportation, which was secured when the Foundation purchased the property in 2003. The remaining 140 acres were placed under a conservation easement in 2005.

Great care has gone into planning the pull-off area, with materials and landscaping chosen to blend with the existing landscape, reflecting the historic and rural character of the farm and Landmark.

The the pull-off area (which will accommodate a limited number of cars) will be surfaced with gravel reflecting the colors and look of the Farm’s naturally occurring rock. Visitors can park and walk to an area of low-profile signs overlooking the rural landscape, which will detail the agricultural activities and the transportation links that characterize the history of this Farm and the rural area around it. Visitors then can walk along Old Wheatland Road toward the village, across Catoctin Creek, and walk the mile-long interpretive trail that begins at the Old Mill on the east side of the creek.

During construction of the 125-foot-long area, a portion of the existing hedgerow must be disturbed, but native shrubs and trees will be used to restore that landscape. Woven wire fencing along that new hedgerow will provide a natural border between the working farmland of the Phillips Farm and the interpretive area. Grading will be kept to a minimum.

Construction is expected to begin in early 2011.

Project Facts:
Project Funding – Transportation Equity Act; VDOT
Project Sponsor – Loudoun County
Project Engineers and Landscape Architects – Timmons Group
Pull-Off Area Dimensions – 60 X 125 feet
Disturbed Area – 0.6 acres
Interpretive Signage – Waterford Foundation, Inc., Phillips Farm Committee

To see existing plans or to obtain more information on the interpretive pull-off area, please contact the Foundation Office at 540-882-3018, ext. 111.

Open the pull off area design plan and the planting list [This is a large PDF file].