Farm Fresh & Much More At Gilberts Corner

Bulldozers and workers with chainsaws have been moving dirt and clearing land around the old gas station site at Gilberts Corner in recent months. The activity is the result of a complicated 12-year process (so far) thats led to the consolidation of a 400-acre swath of land, parts of which will be used as a public park, open spaces for agricultural use and what could be one of the areas premier farmers markets.

Over the past dozen years, Middleburgs Scott Kasprowicz, the Piedmont Environmental Council and others under the banner of Green Project LLC and Roundabout Partners LLC have quietly been purchasing property that now extends from Gilberts Corner, at the intersection of Rt. 15 and Rt. 50, going east all the way to the historic Mt. Zion Church.

The land has since been given either to the Northern Virginia Regional Parks Authority or the Piedmont Environmental Council, to preserve it in its current pristine state, while also keeping it out of the hands of developers or other commercial interests.

What makes this area so uniqueis that [travelers] breathe a sigh of relief when they see that scenic and historic landscape around Gilberts Corner open up before them, Mike Kane, PECs Land Conservation Officer for Loudoun County, said. Our goal is to conserve that landscape and preserve that experience.

Bottom line: no fast food arches or big-box retail store will ever blight one of the areas most well-traveled crossroads, and the surrounding land will be preserved for future generations.

Its really good news for the community, Kasprowicz, a former telecommunications executive who moved to Middleburg in 2000, said. Ever since, hes been an active participant in local preservation and conservation organizations, serving as past vice chairman for the PEC board. And the Gilberts Corner project clearly has been his great passion, pride and joy.

Ive had a lifelong belief in land conservation and the preservation of local agriculture, he said. There should be a balance between development and retaining open land for farming. This effort is helping to achieve that balance. Its private citizens, creating public parkland and preserving farmland in a multi-year collaborative effort.

It began in 2002 when Kasprowicz, a native of upstate New York and a Forestry and Environmental Science graduate of Syracuse University, took a call from Brad Bradshaw on behalf of the historic Mt. Zion Church off Rt. 50. Bradshaw said hed heard about a plan to develop nearby land and wondered if anything could be done to preserve the land. Kasprowicz, with the support of the PEC, spearheaded the effort to help Mt. Zion Church acquire the land, which is now known as the Gilberts Corner Regional Park.

It will include walking and nature trails, open space, farmland and picnic areas. To keep the property in its natural state, there will be no soccer or baseball fields or tennis courts. The PEC believes the now-protected land will restore agricultural vitality, enhance wildlife habitat and protect streams and water resources.

Also, the boarded-up building right at Gilberts Corner that housed a gas station from 1927 through the mid-70s, owned originally by the corners namesake, William A. Gilbert, has been stabilized. Kasprowicz said that the station would be renovated as funding permits, perhaps for a regional visitors center. It also will be the focal point for what Kasprowicz envisions as a thriving farmers market that will allow local farmers to sell their products directly to the public.

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Farm Fresh & Much More At Gilberts Corner