Unincorporated community in Virginia, United States
Unincorporated community in Virginia, United States
Delaplane
is a small unincorporated village in northern
Fauquier County, Virginia
, approximately 50 miles (80 km) due west of
Washington, D.C.
Delaplane is situated along
U.S. Route 17
,
U.S. Route 50
, and
Interstate 66
; bordering
Upperville, Virginia
to the north,
Hume, Virginia
to the south,
Paris, Virginia
to the west, and
Rectortown, Virginia
to the east. Delaplane, Virginia has a
ZIP Code
of 20144.
History
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]
Located in the heart of Virginia's famous Piedmont Hunt Country,
Delaplane
was originally known as
Piedmont Station
, a small village formed around a stop on the Manassas Gap Railroad. In 1874 it was renamed in honor of W. E. Delaplane,
[1]
a prominent businessman who generously restored operations at the local general store which had faltered in the aftermath of the
American Civil War
.
In 1861 General
Stonewall Jackson
marched his troops from
Winchester
to the
Piedmont Station
train depot, where they loaded onto rail cars headed for the
First Battle of Manassas
. This marked the first time a railroad had been used to move troops into battle.
Delaplane encompasses some of North America's oldest
fox hunting
territory, and from 1932 to 1945 Delaplane's Cobbler Mountain range hosted many of
General George S. Patton's
fabled escapades with his
Cobbler Fox Hounds
club. Patton was
Master of fox hounds
until his military transfer to Hawaii in 1935, and the club was disbanded ten years later upon receiving news of his untimely death in Heidelberg, Germany. Today
Piedmont Fox Hounds
based in
The Plains
, the oldest fox hunting club in the United States, still hunts Delaplane's rustic, stone wall lined terrain; as do
Orange County Hunt
based in
Middleburg
and Old Dominion Hounds.
In 1975 local resident and philanthropist
Paul Mellon
donated a 1,132-acre (4,580,000 m
2
; 458 ha) tract of land in Delaplane to the Commonwealth of Virginia creating
Sky Meadows State Park
which hosts the Delaplane Strawberry Festival every Memorial Day. The tract's previous owner, the late Sir Robert Hadow, was a Consul General from Great Britain and originally named the parcel
Skye
Farm after the island in Scotland which the area reminded him of. In 1991 Paul Mellon presented an additional 462-acre adjoining tract as a gift to the park. This tract, renamed the Lost Mountain Bridle Trail Area, was originally surveyed by
George Washington
and purchased by Washington from his client
Lord Fairfax
. More recently, in his memoirs
Virginia Senator John Warner
fondly recalls childhood summers spent working at Hill Crest Farm in Delaplane, while on break from
St. Albans School
in nearby Washington, D.C.
Points of interest
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Today the village of Delaplane remains home to Emmanuel Episcopal Church, an antique shop, and a working post office; with nearby towns of
Upperville
,
Middleburg
, and
Marshall
providing commercial services to Delaplane's widely spaced residents.
Delaplane's proximity to Washington, D.C., as well as a remarkably well preserved 19th century agricultural heritage, gave rise to numerous and expansive country estates; many of which are individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places such as
Mount Bleak House
,
Moreland
,
Oak Hill
, an early home of
John Marshall
,
Chief Justice of the United States
,
[2]
Ashleigh
,
Belle Grove
, and
Woodside
.
Although Delaplane's agricultural community is historically associated with champion Black Angus cattle, Delaplane today comprises almost two-thirds of the Middleburg American Viticultural Area,
[1]
with the Delaplane, U.S. zip code encompassing more working vineyards than any other outside of Sonoma Valley, CA.
Along with
Sky Meadows State Park
, Delaplane is home to the
G. Richard Thompson Wildlife Management Area
, the Crooked Run Valley Rural Historic District, and
Goose Creek
, a designated Virginia State Scenic River.
Delaplane Historic District
was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
in February 2004. The state-funded
Virginia Outdoors Foundation
along with private conservation groups such as the
Piedmont Environmental Council
have helped place the vast predominance of Delaplane's privately held land into perpetual
conservation easement
. These efforts, coupled with Delaplane's ensconcement within northern Fauquier County's most restrictive "RC" (Rural Conservation) zoning district, have imposed strict limits on development, and fostered the growth of local, family oriented
farm-to-table
efforts such as Hollin Farms and Valley View Farm that participate in the
Piedmont Environmental Council's
Buy Fresh Buy Local program.
Notes
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External links
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Wineries and vineyards
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Footnotes
| ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties
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