OVER THE MOON
Virginia’s Good Earth The Piedmont Environmental Council builds on its success by continuing to put hundreds of thousands of acres under easement in nine Virginia counties. BY VICKY MOON
Perin and Gertraud Hechl, who spends her days as a jewelry expert for Bonhams, cochaired the ball committee, which included Mimi Abel-Smith, Gail Clark and Lena Scott Lundh. And then there was a stellar junior committee: Matilda Reuter Engle, Sloan Coles, Leatitia Stanfield Gorra, Selina McPherson, Ali Pejacsevich, Jens and Angela Scott and Nicole Wyatt. All of which means this good cause will continue thriving in younger but very capable hands. Lennart and Lena Lundh with Jens and Angela Sco at the Piedmont Environmental Council benefit. (Courtesy Photo)
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he Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) is recognized as the land conservation group that helped prevent a proposed 3,000-acre Disney theme park in Manassas back in 1994. The nearby historic Civil War battlefields would have been one-upped by “Disney America.” Virginia’s then Gov. George Allen was in favor of the project, which, in addition to the theme park, would have included a golf course, a water park, 2,000 houses and 1,000-plus hotel rooms. Opponents raged that it would clog the roads, desecrate the character of the countryside and attract thousands of ice cream-obsessed visitors and their balloon-toting toddlers, all swathed in rodent paraphernalia. What Allen and other pro-Disney supporters did not calculate was the strength of the PEC and one of its most outspoken leaders, the late Charles S. Whitehouse, a diplomat who had served as U.S. ambassador to Laos and Thailand. When the project finally failed, the New York Times said it was “the most irresponsible idea ever hatched in the Magic Kingdom.” Now, 20 years after running Mickey Mouse out of town, the PEC, which stretches over nine counties from Charlottesville to Middleburg, has perpetually safeguarded nearly 370,000 acres. A total of 100,000 of those acres in
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conservation easement are in Fauquier County, which includes Warrenton,The Plains and part of Middleburg. The 100,000-acre milestone in Fauquier was recently accomplished when the Burton family entered into an agreement to conserve their 396-acre “Wainbur Farm.” It has been owned and operated as a dairy for almost 80 years. About half of the protected acres in Fauquier are prime farmland. The rest consists of forest and 9,932 acres of Civil War battlefield. Other portions include wetlands and 395 miles of streams in the Rappahannock, Occoquan and Goose Creek watersheds, which benefit the area’s wildlife, increase water quality and help ensure clean drinking water. Jean Perin and George Ohrstrom II are the current co-chairmen of the PEC board and they recently hosted the annual Piedmont Ball, “La Noche en Habana,” at “Sweet Bay Farm,” the residence of Michael and Nadia Stanfield. A gleaming red 1959 Cadillac convertible set the tone as guests arrived and paused for photos just as the sun sank across the adjacent paddocks, hay and corn fields. A tropical décor completed the atmosphere in an outsized white tent where ladies wore inspired colorful gowns and some of the gents sported nostalgic white dinner jackets.
PRIME PROPERTY: For those who might want to join in on the rural Fauquier County lifestyle, Joe Allen of Allen Real Estate in Warrenton has “Edgeworth,” a 100-acre property once owned by descendants of Chief Justice John Marshall. The log portion dates to circa 1759 with formal additions (1830 and 1850) all in pristine condition. Where homes were once valued for the number of fireplaces, this one has seven. There are first and secondfloor bedrooms and high ceilings throughout. The eight-car garage surely would make Jay Leno happy. A stone guest house, cottage with three bedrooms (and three fireplaces) plus a heated pool, six-stall stable, barns, fenced paddocks, stocked pond, fabulous gardens, clouds of coveted boxwood, flowering trees and shrubs. The price: $2.5 million.
“Edgeworth,” a circa 1759 estate in Fauquier County. (Courtesy Photo)
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