What a great report, Bob. I have no plans to settle in that part of the country, since I live in the southwest, but if I were going to, I would certainly look into either Fauquier or Loudoun counties. Thanks for the report. Ilene Jones ----- Original Message ----- From: <BobKamman@aol.com> To: <VAFAUQUI-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2004 12:03 AM Subject: [VAFAUQUI] 4/22/04 Washington Post Profile of Fauquier County > A Pronounced Identity > > By Ian Shapira > Washington Post Staff Writer > Thursday, April 22, 2004; Page LZ03 > The first thing you need to know about Fauquier County is how to pronounce > it. The county was named after Francis Fauquier, Virginia's acting royal > governor from 1758 to 1768, but saying it incorrectly can have some distinctly > unregal consequences. > Old-timers say it with a hardened, southern accent: Fawkeer. Never employ the > patois of a backwater town by saying Fohkear. And no French accent, either. > You must achieve the right balance between sounding too twangy and too haughty. > Therein lies Fauquier's predicament. The county of 60,000 people, assorted > cattle farms and technology companies is not exactly part of metropolitan > Washington, but it is not exactly in the hinterlands, either. It lies on the edge of > Northern Virginia, about 40 miles from the District. For people who want a > quiet and comparatively inexpensive place to live and do not mind an hour-long > commute to jobs in Fairfax County or Washington, Fauquier is the perfect > habitat. > It is a place where you can drink beer at a British pub owned by a former > high-tech power player. Or you can head to Great Meadow in The Plains on summer > Friday nights, tailgate with a candelabra and bottle of locally produced wine > and watch rousing "twilight polo" matches. > Fauquier is a place where animals are taken seriously and support people's > livelihoods. In a region where farming has become largely unaffordable, Fauquier > is an agricultural stronghold, and weather is monitored as closely for signs > of when to start harvesting the hay or corn as for school closings. > Silos stand tall in the southern end of the county, near Remington and > Bealeton, where dairy farmers still make a living feeding chopped corn to Holstein > cows that produce milk for grocery stores. Cattlemen remain aplenty, raising > Angus beef that lands on dinner plates in upscale restaurants in New York. Every > Tuesday, cowhands duke it out at the Fauquier Livestock Exchange in Marshall > for cheap prices on steers or heifers. > Horses are also a lucrative business in Fauquier, with the second-highest > number of horses in Virginia behind neighboring Loudoun County. This was the home > of the late philanthropist Paul Mellon, whose Sea Hero won the 1993 Kentucky > Derby. Breeders continue to thrive here and ship their mares each spring to > stallions in Kentucky to produce foals that race at tracks near Charles Town, > W.Va., Baltimore and Richmond. > Northern Fauquier also boasts a mother lode of horse farms, many enclosed by > mortarless stone walls and weathered fences. Near the town of Middleburg in > Loudoun, many Fauquier residents enter horses in weekend steeplechase races or > fox-hunt in one another's backyards. > It is no surprise then that such an expensive industry has lured celebrities > and the wealthy to retreat or start a new career in the area. > Actor Robert Duvall lives in The Plains, used to own the popular Rail Stop > Restaurant there and auctions tango lessons for local charities. Linda Tripp, > who helped bring about Bill Clinton's impeachment, opened a Christmas store in > Middleburg. Sheila C. Johnson, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, is > building an upscale inn near Middleburg that has provoked some of the biggest > controversy here since Walt Disney Co. proposed an amusement park nearby in > Prince William County in the 1990s. > Fauquier residents vigilantly guard two closely intertwined elements: low > taxes and land conservation. People here expect Fauquier to grow, but at a > glacial pace. The property tax rate is 99 cents per $100 of assessed value, and most > of the county's 420,000 acres are under some form of permanent or temporary > protection from commercial or residential development. > The county has only three incorporated towns -- Remington in the south, > Warrenton, the county seat, in the center, and The Plains in the north -- all of > which contain a Main Street that seems to projects a world from old > black-and-white television shows. (Check out the Remington Community Variety Building, > where you can still get your Beta videocassette player repaired.) Worried about a > huge subdivision going up next to your home? The zoning laws in rural parts > of Fauquier are some of the toughest in the state: Developers can build about > one home per 35 acres on average. > Fauquier residents are eyeing the vinyl siding of Loudoun with wariness -- > and glee. They worry that rampant growth there could lead to a hot real estate > market in their county. At the same time, county officials think that > developers could leave Fauquier alone, now that Loudoun's new Republican-majority Board > of Supervisors is loosening the county's building regulations. > The one thing both sides of the growth debate in Fauquier and Loudoun agree > on? Grapes. Wineries and vineyards are booming in these parts, particularly > because the tourism revenue makes them a viable form of using the land. And, they > do not add new people and require new schools or higher taxes. > Just be careful about finding your way around the Oasis Winery in Hume. > Locals pulling their gooseneck trailers often fuss about navigating the twisty > roads in these parts because of a most unusual occurrence: the winery's stretch > limousines carrying tourists. > © 2004 The Washington Post Company > > > ==== VAFAUQUI Mailing List ==== > Search this list's archived messages! > http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl >