Further communication with the north is made possible by a ferry (White’s) in constant operation between Loudoun and the Maryland shore.

TOWNS AND VILLAGES.

Leesburg.

Leesburg, a fine old town, the county-seat of Loudoun, lies at the eastern base of Catoctin Mountain, 2-1/2 miles from the Potomac River at Balls Bluff, and 3-7/8 miles west of Goose Creek.  It is in the northern part of the County, 40 miles northwest of Washington, 153 miles in a like direction from Richmond, the State capital, within a few miles of the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains and the celebrated Valley of Virginia, 12 miles from Point of Rocks, Md., and about 22 miles from historic Harpers Ferry, W. Va.  It occupies a high and healthy plain, the environs of which are waving and well cultivated and delightfully variegated by hill and dale.

The town derives its name from the Lees, who were among the early settlers of the County, and was established by act of the General Assembly, in September, 1758, in the thirty-second year of the reign of George II.  Nicholas Minor, who owned sixty acres of land about the court-house, had subdivided this tract and some of the lots had been built upon prior to the passage of the act.  This instrument constituted “the Hon. Philip Ludwell Lee, Esq., Thomas Mason, Esq., Francis Lightfoot Lee (father of ‘Light Horse Harry’ of subsequent Revolutionary fame), James Hamilton, Nicholas Minor, Josias Clapham, AEneas Campbell, John Hugh, Francis Hague, and William West, gentlemen,” trustees for the newly established town.  Prior to its establishment it had borne the name Georgetown, bestowed in honor of the then reigning English monarch.

[14]"In its birth and infancy the town was destined to win renown, for it was first founded as a fort or outpost of the then struggling colony of Virginia, as its narrow streets and close, little red brick houses still testify, and for many years was the most westerly post of the colony.  At one time the entire town was enclosed by stockades....”

“Following its establishment the little fort became the principal outfitting post for the British and colonial forces in the French and Indian war.  Tradition still fondly points to the stone house, famous as the headquarters of General Braddock, who, it is claimed, passed through the place on his last fatal march to the wilderness; but in the light of thorough investigation this claim is found to be unsubstantiated.  While a division of his army, under command of the eccentric old Sir Peter Halkett, did undoubtedly spend the night at the plantation of Nicholas Minor, the principal founder of the town, General Braddock is found to have gone in another direction.”

[Footnote 14:  Mrs. A. H. Throckmorton in the Richmond Times.]

Leesburg is governed by a mayor and common council and had at the time of the last government census (1900) a population of 1,513.  An unusual percentage of its people are well educated, and all proverbially hospitable.