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l e e s b u r g t o d a y. c o m / w e s t e r n l o u d o u n • M a r g a r e t M o r t o n
Taylorstown Activists Push To Preserve Catoctin Creek Bridge Margaret Morton
mmorton@leesburgtoday.com
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embers of the Taylorstown Community Association gathered Sunday evening to hear a stirring tale of an old, and successful, neighborhood preservation battle even as they gear up for another. The meeting was hosted by Chuck McDonald, owner of Birchwood Arboretum in Taylorstown, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Catoctin Valley Defense Alliance that prevented the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from damming the creek north of Taylorstown near its mouth on the Potomac River. The corps’ intent was to create a
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“In grass roots efforts like this one, it is not possible to overreact or act too soon.” Phil Ehrenkranz Taylorstown resident
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five-mile long impoundment holding 14 billion gallons of water to be released in time of drought downriver for use by Fairfax County and Washington, DC. The new battle is to save the iron Pratt truss bridge that carries traffic over the creek between Taylorstown and Waterford on Featherbed Lane. A number of community groups— including the TCA, the Catoctin Creek Scenic River Advisory Committee and the Piedmont Environmental Council—are lining up to oppose a new Virginia Department of Transportation proposal to replace it with a two-lane concrete bridge. It was only two months ago that VDOT welcomed suggestions to name the truss bridge in memory of the late John G. Lewis, one of Loudoun’s earliest historians to seek out and identify the county’s historic resources. Lewis also connects the two fights, as he was instrumental in getting the north fork of Catoctin Creek incorporated to the State Scenic River system and in establishing the Taylorstown Historic District and placing it on the national and state Registers of Historic Places as part of the 1974 action.
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a number of cracks in the supporting I-beams previously, but nine new ones have been detected. Higgins said he urged retention of the bridge—the last truss bridge left in the county—at which VDOT representatives first told him they would hold a stakeholders meeting to discuss options, then said the decision had been made to replace it. When Higgins protested he had heard nothing of that decision, he was told that was a premature announcement by “someone who was not in the know,” and a notice for a stakeholders meeting would be sent out. The Catoctin District supervisor said he supports a weight limit, which VDOT reportedly has said will occur, lowered to 3 tons, along with the installation of beams to keep large trucks off the bridge. David Nelson, who is spearheading the fight to preserve the bridge, has sought the assistance of local and state politicians, established webpages and written to VDOT protesting its decision, as have a number of other organizations. The Catoctin Preservation Fund has been set up to gather donations for creek
Pratt iron truss bridge across Catoctin Creek off Loyalty Road on Featherbed Lane. The structure, which VDOT says has a number of cracks, is under threat of being torn down and replaced with a modern concrete bridge.
corridor projects. Reviewing the history of the bridge, Nelson noted there was a village at that location on Featherbed Lane in the mid-18th century called “Loyalty,” after which the present road is named. Calling the bridge “very rare,” Nelson noted it was one of eight to be manufactured by the Variety Iron Works Company and is “the only truss bridge in the county,” as well as the longest trestle bridge in Virginia, at 160 feet. The bridge was built to carry Rt. 7
traffic over Goose Creek, but was moved to its current location in the 1930s. Phil Ehrenkranz, a leader of the dam fight, Sunday offered this advice to those pressing to preserve the bridge: “In grass roots efforts like this one, it is not possible to overreact or act too soon.” “Regular people have the power, needing only the will and determination to exercise it,” he added. n
1974 Dam Opponent Finds Similarities In Today’s Fight
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The association hopes to be as successful in saving the bridge as it was in blocking the dam 40 years ago. Sunday, members heard an update on the status of the bridge from Supervisor Geary Higgins (R-Catoctin), whose office helped to get the bridge named in Lewis’ honor. Following VDOT’s agreement on that issue, Higgins said he got word the agency wanted to meet with him. “Oh, and by the way, the bridge is not safe. There are a number of cracks,” he was told. Earlier repairs involving the use of galvanized steel have deteriorated and VDOT is faced with trying to stabilize the span or build a new one and destroy the old bridge—the latter an option Higgins said he opposes. Higgins said he was told there had been
he two-year 1974 “David and Goliath” fight against the U.S. and Army Corps and the Fairfax County Water Authority to prevent the dam was waged by a number of canny Taylorstown activists, led by lawyers Phil Ehrenkranz and the late Anna Hedrick. Sunday night, Ehrenkranz gave an overview of how that battle of 40 years ago was won and lessons that can be applied to the present bridge situation. Ehrenkranz ticked off a number of crucial points: garnering support through public opinion; fundraising, a horse show, a house tour and a 10-mile kids’ anti-dam Walk-a-
Thon; obtaining allies, in and out of government—including the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments that passed a resolution opposing the dam—the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce and environmental and preservation groups, including the nearby Waterford Foundation, where that village also was threatened. Both the Loudoun business community’s support and that of MWCOG were huge, Ehrankranz said. At a meeting of the Taylorstown Community Association Sunday night, several of “the kids” of yesterday were on hand to celebrate their march of 40 years ago, cheerfully toting signs saying “don’t dam Loudoun.”
“King” of fundraising Ray Cheronis and his wife Ruth Cheronis were also on hand, reliving the memories of 1974. That support helped the group achieve three goals, Ehrenkranz said: get Catoctin Creek admitted into the Virginia Scenic River System—a task aided by then-State Sen. Charles L. Waddell; establish a historic district and get it listed on the state and national registers; and, most importantly, change the eminent domain law in Virginia, so that the Fairfax County Water Authority’s power of eminent domain was not absolute in the state and the U.S. Army Corps was “put on notice to tread lightly.”
The icing on the cake came in the early 1980s when Dan Scheer of the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin published a study stating Washington, DC, could have a reliable water supply by interconnecting existing reservoirs. “Game over,” Ehrenkranz said. In 1983, the Army Corps “waved the white flag,” evidently glad to no longer be pestered by the Catoctin Valley Defense Alliance, which the Army Corps reportedly privately called “the buzz saw in Taylorstown,” a role that looks likely to be relished as much today as in 1974. n