Curious about Ashburn... (Leesburg: houses, live, store)

[arielmina]

I have been through Ashburn many times and I know it's recently developed. I have been driving on Belmont Ridge seemingly weekly lately and have seen several old houses in states of disrepair (something that fascinates me about NOVA), some of these houses are obviously from the last 50 yrs or so. It leaves me wondering what Ashburn looked like before all this development. Anyone have any pictures or first hand experiences?

And as an aside, what is it with these houses...why haven't they been torn down?

[cdmurphy]

Where on Belmont Ridge? Some of them are probably slated for teardown, but their developments haven't gotten to that phase yet.

Here's a little history of Ashburn from AshburnWeb.

There was a good series in the Loudoun Independent that has some photos:

Ashburn's Early Years
Ashburn: 'The Calm Before the Storm'
Ashburn, Part III: Growth Comes to Ashburn

[arielmina]

cool thanks!

all along Belmont Ridge, but probably in the portion closer to (or maybe even in) Leesburg..

[Caladium]

If they're all along Belmont Ridge I think they're scheduled for teardown. I think the fire department uses them to practice (since they're going to be torn down anyway), so don't be alarmed if later in the year you see one of them on fire.

[5stones]

Lived out there in the 70's. (chantilly area more specific)
Ashburn was farm land, when Broadrun HS was built it was in the middle of fields!
we used to cross rt 50 on horseback to get sodas at Pangles store in Arcola.
Woods and farms.

And yes the fire dept will "burn down" houses for training. My folks had them do that to the old farm house that was on our property.

We moved from Mclean "out" to the farm in the 70's and you would have thought we dropped off the face of the earth! I can remember as a kid driving from Mclean (then the horrid new suburbs!!) out to Leesburg and it was all farms land, esp after Sterling that last out post! Going to Leesburg was a day tip for pumpkins and corn!

[arielmina]

wow, that's unbelievable 5stones and very cool. I am personally not a big Ashburn-today fan as i love history and I don't see it there, so I was curious as to what used to be there and where it went Is your old house still there or torn down?