I'm reminded by an article in the Washington Post this morning that I have a nominee for the most beautiful county in the USA. Loudoun County, with its ancient farmsteads and rolling, board-fenced pasturelands, should be Virginia's tourist mecca (unless you have a fascination for trees, rocks, and Herefords. Then head to Bland County.)
Unfortunately for Loudoun Countians, there are two circumstances that are going to destroy its pastoral beauty. It is across the river from Washington D.C. And it has the perfect geography and demography for growth. Explosive growth. Multi-unit, family dwelling growth. Condos. Apartment complexes. Walmart.
The local residents will fight it. And they will have occasional successes. But change there, as with life itself, is inevitable. If you ever travel to Franklin, TN to walk the Civil War battlefield, you'll know what I mean. The site of the famous cotton gin house, around which horrific fighting took place on November 30, 1864, is today a Pizza Hut parking lot.
And that is, whether you accept it or not, the way it is. And should be. I would have enjoyed seeing Franklin as it existed on that fateful day. But the local residents there probably appreciate their sewer system and electricity. I understand.
So life goes on. I would suggest, if you want to see the beauty that is Loudoun County, you'd better head up there soon. I hear Pizza Hut is in expansion mode.
