Aldie is an
unincorporatedIn law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality. To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city or town with its own government. Thus, an unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
village located on the John Mosby Highway (
U.S. Route 50U.S. Route 50 in Virginia extends from the border with Washington DC at a Potomac River crossing at Rosslyn in Arlington County to the West Virginia state line near Gore in Frederick County. It is a portion of U.S. Route 50, a transcontinental highway which stretches from Ocean City, Maryland to...
) between Gilbert's Corner and
MiddleburgMiddleburg is a town in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States with a population of approximately 640 people.-History:The town was established in 1787 by American Revolutionary War Lieutenant Colonel and Virginia statesman, Levin Powell. He purchased the land for Middleburg at $2.50 per acre from...
in
Loudoun CountyLoudoun County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and is part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. As of July 1, 2008, the county is estimated to be home to 289,995 people, a 71 percent increase over the 2000 figure of 169,599. That increase makes the county the fourth...
,
VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents. The geography and climate of the state are shaped by the Blue...
. It is located in a gap between the
Catoctin MountainCatoctin Mountain, along with the geologically associated Bull Run Mountains, comprises the easternmost mountain ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are in turn a part of the Appalachian Mountain Range...
and Bull Run Mountain, through which the
Little RiverLittle River is a tributary stream of Goose Creek in Fauquier and Loudoun counties in Northern Virginia.The stream rises to the east of Marshall in Fauquier and flows nothwards along the western base of the Bull Run Mountains to Aldie, where it passes between the Bull Run Mountains and Catoctin...
flows. The
zip codeThe ZIP code is the system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service . The letters ZIP, a backronym for Zone Improvement Plan, are properly written in capital letters and were chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
for Aldie, Virginia, is 20105.
Aldie is home to several historic shops, homes, and the Aldie Mill, which survives today as Virginia's only known
gristmillA gristmill or grist mill is a building in which grain is ground into flour, or the grinding mechanism itself. In many countries these are referred to as corn mills or flour mills.- Early history :...
powered by twin overshot water wheels.
Aldie is an
unincorporatedIn law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality. To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city or town with its own government. Thus, an unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
village located on the John Mosby Highway (
U.S. Route 50U.S. Route 50 in Virginia extends from the border with Washington DC at a Potomac River crossing at Rosslyn in Arlington County to the West Virginia state line near Gore in Frederick County. It is a portion of U.S. Route 50, a transcontinental highway which stretches from Ocean City, Maryland to...
) between Gilbert's Corner and
MiddleburgMiddleburg is a town in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States with a population of approximately 640 people.-History:The town was established in 1787 by American Revolutionary War Lieutenant Colonel and Virginia statesman, Levin Powell. He purchased the land for Middleburg at $2.50 per acre from...
in
Loudoun CountyLoudoun County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and is part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. As of July 1, 2008, the county is estimated to be home to 289,995 people, a 71 percent increase over the 2000 figure of 169,599. That increase makes the county the fourth...
,
VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents. The geography and climate of the state are shaped by the Blue...
. It is located in a gap between the
Catoctin MountainCatoctin Mountain, along with the geologically associated Bull Run Mountains, comprises the easternmost mountain ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are in turn a part of the Appalachian Mountain Range...
and Bull Run Mountain, through which the
Little RiverLittle River is a tributary stream of Goose Creek in Fauquier and Loudoun counties in Northern Virginia.The stream rises to the east of Marshall in Fauquier and flows nothwards along the western base of the Bull Run Mountains to Aldie, where it passes between the Bull Run Mountains and Catoctin...
flows. The
zip codeThe ZIP code is the system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service . The letters ZIP, a backronym for Zone Improvement Plan, are properly written in capital letters and were chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
for Aldie, Virginia, is 20105.
Notable facts
Aldie is home to several historic shops, homes, and the Aldie Mill, which survives today as Virginia's only known
gristmillA gristmill or grist mill is a building in which grain is ground into flour, or the grinding mechanism itself. In many countries these are referred to as corn mills or flour mills.- Early history :...
powered by twin overshot water wheels. Aldie has an annual Harvest Festival in October.
Aldie was the birthplace of
Julia Beckwith NealeJulia Beckwith Jackson was the mother of Confederate General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson.- Short and tragic life :...
, mother of
ConfederateThe Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America during its brief existence from 1861 to 1865. It was established in two phases with provisional and permanent organizations, which existed concurrently....
Lieutenant GeneralIn the United States Army, the United States Marine Corps and the United States Air Force, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general. Lieutenant general is equivalent to the rank of vice admiral...
Stonewall JacksonThomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, and probably the most well-known Confederate commander after General Robert E. Lee. His military career includes the Valley Campaign of 1862 and his service as a corps commander in the Army of Northern...
.
During the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
, the village itself and lands immediately to the west and northwest were the site of the
Battle of AldieThe Battle of Aldie took place on June 17, 1863, in Loudoun County, Virginia, as part of the Gettysburg Campaign of the American Civil War....
during the
Gettysburg CampaignThe Gettysburg Campaign was a series of battles fought in June and July 1863, during the American Civil War. After his victory in the Battle of Chancellorsville, Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia moved north for offensive operations in Maryland and Pennsylvania. The...
. In addition, the Confederate
partisanA partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation. The term can apply to the field element of resistance movements that opposed German rule in several countries during World War II .- History :As early as the...
John Singleton Mosby was active in the village, and several small skirmishes between
UnionThe Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
cavalryCavalry were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback in combat. Cavalry were historically the second oldest and most mobile of the combat arms...
and his band of rangers took place in and around Aldie.
Aldie sites listed on the
National Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
include the Aldie Mill (1807) and the Aldie Mill Historic District on US 50, the Loudoun Agricultural and Mechanical Institute on Route 650, and the Mount Zion Old School Baptist Church (1851) on US 50.
History
Aldie's beginnings were laid in 1765 when James and George Mercer established a mill at the location of the present historic edifice. The location was a natural choice, as the gap contained the intersection of the Belhaven road between
WinchesterWinchester is an independent city located in the extreme northwestern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the USA. The city's population was 23,585 according to the 2000 U.S. Census...
and
AlexandriaAlexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 128,283. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately 6 miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as...
and the Mountain road which ran northwest to
Snickers GapSnickers Gap, originally William's Gap, is a wind gap in the Blue Ridge Mountain on the border of Loudoun County and Clarke County in Virginia. The gap is traversed by Virginia State Route 7. The Appalachian trail also passes across the gap...
. By 1809 the Little River Turnpike was completed from Alexandria to the Mercer Mill, replacing the older rutted section of Belhaven Road. With the opening of the road, James Mercer's son, Charles Fenton Mercer, in a partnership with William Cooke set out to develop a village on at the turnpike's western terminus. Mercer named the village for Castle Aldie, his
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
clan's ancestral home.
By 1811 a post office had been established in the burgeoning village. Two years later, the Ashby's Gap Turnpike was completed from Aldie to Middleburg, and in 1818 the Snickersville Turnpike opened, replacing the Mountain Road, setting up Aldie for its rise to prominence. By the
censusA "census" is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population.In other words every 10 years...next one would be in 2010 The term is used mostly in connection with...
of 1820, Aldie had a population of 248 residents, making it the fourth largest town in the county. The population peaked in 1830 at 260—notably more than half, 132, were slaves. With the incorporation of Middleburg the following year, Aldie began a slow decline.
External links