Rebuilding the Community: Historic Aldie Wall Is Celebrated After Years of Restoration

Written by William Anderson | Photos by Kaitlin Hill

A surviving section of a brick wall built in 1809 by Aldie’s founder, Charles Fenton Mercer, was commemorated as part of the Aldie Mill Historic District on May 16, when the Aldie Heritage Association (AHA) held a dedication ceremony to celebrate its restoration of the wall. The event culminated several years of research, fundraising, and restorative work by AHA and Aldie villagers. 

The wall’s significance extends beyond just its age. Mercer built the wall at the same time as his residence, which overlooks the village. The wall originally stretched nearly 1,000 feet along Little River Turnpike, from Aldie’s original post office, “Narrowgate,” to Tail Race Road. The surviving section of 65 feet fronts Mercer’s Home as a direct connection to Mercer, who is a significant figure in early 19th-century Virginia history. Among his accomplishments, he served in Congress, vocally opposed the slave trade, and advocated for free public education.

As the decades passed, the wall deteriorated due to a lack of maintenance. There was an ownership dispute between the Virginia Department of Transportation and the adjacent property owners. “Basically it fell into disrepair,” explains Gene Gulland, AHA’s president, “because nobody wanted to take responsibility for it for years.” As visitors drove into Aldie, they were greeted by this dilapidated once-stately wall.

The preservation efforts were not as simple as stacking a few bricks. AHA member Neil Conley first began researching the wall in 2017, and the entire process required years of work. Once Conley’s research proved the ownership and provenance of the wall, AHA volunteer members stepped up to save it. Gulland vividly remembers gathering loose bricks in 100-degree weather. To fund the project, including professional restoration by a historic preservation mason, AHA won a $2,500 grant for seed money from the Loudoun Preservation Society and raised the remaining necessary funds, including collecting donations from Aldie residents, who showed “real enthusiasm” for the restoration, Gulland says.

One of the final steps of the restoration was finding the appropriate capstones, which help protect the wall from rainwater damage, since the surviving capstones were too few in number and too deteriorated for reuse. The capstones had to match the original profile of the wall. The project’s historic preservation mason, Allen Cochran, ordered custom replicas and completed the wall in June 2025.

In September 2025, AHA’s efforts were recognized with an award from the Joint Architectural Review Board (JARB) of Loudoun County “in recognition of [its] dedication to preserving the character of the District with [its] extensive efforts to restore the Mercer Wall,” as stated by the JARB award notification letter.

Gulland remembers moving to Aldie in the early 1980s. “Aldie was pretty neglected. There were a lot of houses that needed paint jobs. Some were in disrepair,” he recalls. Over the years, he’s watched Aldie make a comeback. “The wall is part of that process,” he adds.

The end result was more than just a repaired wall; it was the manifestation of years of persistence from Aldie volunteers committed to preserving one of the village’s oldest surviving landmarks. ML

Published in the June 2026 issue of Middleburg Life.