Asked what makes this month’s featured open house so special, the listing agency, Realtor Pamela Jones from Extraordinary Transitions says, “well, obviously, it’s the land.” And for once, that’s quite an understatement.
The $2.7 million property that goes on the market March 1, is so unique and so private that the only sound you may hear is that of a bluebird singing. Yet it’s thirty-seven miles to the Washington Monument, 12 minutes to downtown Leesburg, and 26 minutes to Dulles Airport.
This custom architecturally designed home sits on a private, 62.4-acre wildlife preserve that boasts a 40-acre lake shared by just 8 other families for fishing, boating, and swimming. Nestled along the beautiful Catoctin Ridge and integrated with the remote Village of Mount Gilead, the surrounding land is incorporated as part of the original 774-acre tract which held the 18th century historic Loudoun County landmark known as the Shelburne Glebe.
For background a “glebe” is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The Glebe of Shelburne Parish was built in 1773 by the Anglican Church of Shelburne Parish, itself named for the original Earls of Shelburne. Virginia ordered the sale of all glebes in 1802, but the parish resisted and it wasn’t sold until 1840. Though the main house on the large tract wasn’t listed on the National Register of Historic Places until 1975, the land and all its now 9 contiguous properties surrounding the lake, are protected by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Loudoun County Goose Creek Historic District, and the National Register of Historic Places. Each organization now contributes to the covenants and easements that serve to uniquely protect the area from encroachment and further subdivision.
With the land equally divided between forest and meadows, the natural beauty of the place does tend to whisk you away to another place and time. Various hiking and equestrian trails beckon engagement with the surrounding wildlife. It boasts incredible views of the western Loudoun Valley and the Blue Ridge mountains, an un-broken view of the spacious sky, and a profound sense of privacy.
If all this sounds like more retreat than home, don’t worry. True, the home is custom built to last hundreds of years with a natural, original stucco and stone exterior. But as Pamela puts it, “this is a very special place where you can really get away without being far away.” There’s high-speed Verizon FiOS internet connectivity and the home was designed to suit contemporary tastes with high ceilings and a 36-inch tall stone fireplace with plenty of interior beams, lots of oak, and plenty of interior storage, all a short drive to the grocery store.
“It’s truly magnificent,” Pamela said.
For a link to the listing when it goes live, call Pamela at 703-587-7440, email her at PAMELA.JONES@longandfoster.com or visit http://www.pamsellsfinehomes.com.
