Step into the Past with Hunt Country’s Historic Walking Tours
Written by Heidi Baumstark
Northern Virginia has a long and rich past, reaching back to the nation’s earliest days. With walking tours offered in several local historic downtowns, participants leave with a handful of fun facts and new insights into the old structures and cobblestone streets they might pass every day. Leesburg, Middleburg, and Warrenton each offer their own walking tour, helping residents and visitors step into the past and learn something new.
Leesburg
Loudoun County was formed in 1757, branching off from western Fairfax County, with Leesburg serving continuously as its county seat. But before that, Nicholas Minor Jr. acquired land around the downtown’s major intersection of Carolina Road (U.S. Route 15, King St.), running north to south, and the east-west oriented Potomac Ridge Road (VA Route 7, Market St.). There, he established a tavern, then called an ordinary. In 1757, it was Minor who dubbed the small collection of buildings around his tavern “George Town” in honor of King George II, the reigning British monarch. But that name was short-lived.
In 1758, England-born Francis Fauquier approved the name change from George Town to Leesburg to honor Thomas Lee, a planter and politician. Leesburg, located approximately in the middle of Loudoun, was created on Minor’s 60 acres, which included the county courthouse at the crossroads, an office for the county clerk, jail, gallows, and stocks. Town trustees included Minor and two of Thomas Lee’s sons: Philip Ludwell Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee.
Leesburg resident Carla Mueller, founder of Historic Leesburg Walking Tours, has been leading tours since 2010. Her tours begin at Leesburg Town Hall with stops at over a dozen historic sites, including Loudoun County Courthouse (featuring the American Revolutionary War monument on-site), Lightfoot Restaurant, Glenfiddich House, Loudoun Museum’s Log Cabin, Tally Ho Theater, St. James Episcopal Church, Philip Noland House, John Janney House, Old Stone House, Norris House, Old Leesburg Baptist Church, and recently added stops at Shoe’s Cup & Cork and Laurel Brigade Inn (formerly Peers Tavern).
The original courthouse at the intersection of King and Market streets dates to 1758. On August 12, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read from its doorway; one of its signers was Francis Lightfoot Lee. A second, larger courthouse was constructed in 1811 with four large stone pillars. The current courthouse is the third iteration, built in 1894.
Across the street from the courthouse is Lightfoot Restaurant, built in 1885 as the People’s National Bank. According to Mueller, another favorite stop is the privately owned Glenfiddich House (formerly Harrison Hall), the first section of which dates to 1780.
Lastly, the Loudoun Museum is a rare diamond-notched log cabin, which serves as an example of rustic frontier architecture from the late 1700s, built in the early 1760s. The museum operates a second structure on the property dating to the 19th century, which houses artifacts, interpretive panels, and is a venue for hosting events and lectures.
Middleburg
Originally known as Chinn’s Crossroads, Middleburg dates back to the 1700s, when it was a small hamlet. In more recent history, it was home to former President John and First Lady Jackie Kennedy, who made Middleburg their country getaway in the early 1960s.
The Middleburg Museum is housed in a tiny, 19th-century brick structure known as The Pink Box. A plaque inside the museum states that in 1763, Joseph Chinn (first cousin of George Washington) sold 500 acres to Manassas-born Leven Powell, who was a colonel in the Continental Army. Chinn’s Crossroads had four buildings centered around Chinn’s Ordinary — one of them being a stone tavern that is today’s popular Red Fox Inn. A placard on the stone inn says the ordinary was established circa 1728 and is thought to be one of the oldest continuously operated inns in Virginia.
After Powell’s service in the Revolutionary War, he returned home to his family. The plaque states, “On November 2, 1787, pursuant to an act of the [Virginia General] Assembly, Powell subdivided 50 acres into 70 one-half acre lots for the development of a town.” He adopted a rectangular grid plan for the town streets, nearly all of which were named for prominent friends of the Constitution such as Washington and Madison, the town’s two main streets.
Powell refused to have the town named for him, so it was called “Middleburgh” because of its location midway on a major trade route between Winchester in the Shenandoah Valley and the port of Alexandria. This route was known as John Mosby Highway, named for Confederate John S. Mosby’s raids up and down this road during the battles of Aldie (June 17, 1863), Middleburg (June 19, 1863), and Upperville (June 21, 1863) in the Civil War. In September 2023, this stretch of U.S. 50 was renamed Little River Turnpike.
The Middleburg Museum offers a free walking tour booklet titled “Destination Middleburg” that features 52 stops and a street map, so visitors can leisurely walk through the town and read about each stop. Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Eric Buckland leads historic walking tours for Salamander Resort. Following his own military career, he became interested in Mosby’s Rangers in 2005, has authored several books, started giving walking tours in 2015, and is now a guest speaker at history-related events.
Participants on Buckland’s tours learn about the founding of this quaint village, the history of foxhunting, the Kennedys, anecdotes about Mosby’s Rangers, and how the area played a key role in the Civil War. Buckland’s usual stops include the Middleburg Museum, blacksmith shop, Mosby’s Tavern, The Red Fox Inn & Tavern, Jacqueline Kennedy Pavilion, Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Sharon Cemetery, Middleburg Baptist Church, the old “Esso” service station, the original Middleburg National Bank, and Noble Beveridge House.
“Jackie Kennedy rode horses on grounds on what is now Salamander,” Buckland says. “And supposedly, George Washington stayed at Red Fox Inn during his surveying days before the Revolutionary War.” During the Civil War, the building — as well as area churches and homes — was used as a hospital.
Reservations for Buckland’s tours can be made through Salamander.
Warrenton
Twenty-three miles southwest of Middleburg is Warrenton. The town was named after General Joseph Warren of Massachusetts, a prominent figure in the early days of the revolution. He was killed at the June 17, 1775, Battle of Bunker Hill and is considered a Revolutionary War hero. Before receiving its current name, however, the town was established as Red Store, a trading post built before the 1760s at the junction of the Falmouth-Winchester (U.S. Route 17) and Alexandria-Culpeper (part of U.S. Route 15 and U.S. Route 29) roads. Fauquier County, established in May 1759, was named for Francis Fauquier, lieutenant governor of Virginia at the time.
The Red Store settlement grew into a courthouse community on 71 acres of land donated by Richard Henry Lee. There have been seven courthouses in Warrenton, and since 1795, four have stood on the same site on Main Street as the existing 1890-built Fauquier Courthouse, which still houses the General District Court. This current courthouse stands at the top of a hill as a notable, historic icon. Earlier structures were destroyed by fire; the original courthouse, from around 1759, was near Warrenton Cemetery. The town of Warrenton was incorporated and became the county seat in 1810.
One-hour walking tours of downtown Warrenton are offered by the Fauquier History Museum at the Old Jail, with different routes that focus on Main Street, Winchester Street, and John S. Mosby. Upcoming tour dates are July 19, August 9, September 20, and October 11. Coming soon will be a Trades Area Guided Walking Tour.
The tours are led by rotating guides, one of whom is Zoltan Farago, who will lead the July 19 John S. Mosby tour. The planned stops include John Singleton Mosby Monument, California House (home of William “Extra Billy” Smith), the barber shop, Beckham House, Warrenton Courthouse, the Old Jail, plus a stop by a building with a bullet in the wall and how it fit into Mosby’s Confederacy. Mosby himself is buried in the Warrenton Cemetery, along with his wife and children. Farago ends at the Fauquier History Museum at the Old Jail to discuss how the jail was used during the Civil War and point out related displays.
Also on the tour is the Warren Green Hotel, built in 1819 and then rebuilt in 1876 after a fire. The original structure hosted notable figures, including the French General Marquis de Lafayette in August 1825. Celebrated as a hero in the U.S. and France, Lafayette was one of the only surviving commanders from the Revolutionary War and was invited to tour 24 states from 1824 to 1825. His stay in Warrenton was highly anticipated and met with great enthusiasm. A large stone sits near the courthouse and Old Jail, which he is said to have stood on while addressing the large crowds at what was then Norris Tavern.
For information on Leesburg walking tours, visit historicleesburgwalkingtours.com. More information on Middleburg walking tours can be found at middleburgmuseum.org or salamanderresort.com. For Warrenton walking tours info and tickets, visit fauquierhistory.org. ML
Featured photo by Sherri Holdridge.
Published in the July 2025 issue of Middleburg Life.