Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area

Waterford is a unique place of historic significance. The entire village and surrounding countryside is a National Historic Landmark District, noted for its well-preserved 18th and 19th-century character. It is an unincorporated village and census-designated place (CDP) in the Catoctin Valley of Loudoun County, Virginia, located along Catoctin Creek. Waterford is 47 miles (76 km) northwest of Washington, D.C., and 7 miles (11 km) northwest of Leesburg. In the 1810 United States Census, the population center of the United States was recorded as being just northwest of the village.

Catoctin County is the name of a proposed new county in Northern Virginia that would be formed from the western portions of Loudoun County. The movement to form the new county began in 2005 with a letter to The Washington Post.Under the proposal, the area of Loudoun County west of the Catoctin Mountain watershed, known as the Loudoun Valley would be separated from the portion of the county east of that watershed. The eastern portion of Loudoun would retain its name and county government. Purcellville would become the seat of the new county's government. Its name is derived from the Catoctin Mountain whose watershed would make its eastern border and Catoctin Creek which flows through its proposed boundary.The idea of Catoctin County began as a movement to combat the rapid development of the historically rural western region of Loudoun County, one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States in the 1990s. In general though, the heaviest development has been to the east of Catoctin Mountain in eastern Loudoun. Support for the movement waned, though it resurfaced in 2012 with the proposed extension of the Metro Silver Line, resulting in increased taxation on Loudoun residents.

Paeonian Springs is an unincorporated community in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States. It is located at the intersection of the Charles Town Pike (State Route 9) and the Harry Byrd Highway (State Route 7). Paeonian Springs was established in 1890 and is currently served by a post office. The town is named after Paean, the Ancient Greek physician of the gods.The Paeonian Springs Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

Purcellville Historic District is a national historic district located at Purcellville, Loudoun County, Virginia. It encompasses 490 contributing buildings and 8 contributing structures in the central business district and surrounding residential areas in the town of Purcellville. The buildings represents a range of architectural styles popular during the 19th and 20th centuries in rural Virginia. Notable buildings include the former Purcellville School, Purcell House and Store, Bethany United Methodist Church, St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church, Purcellville National Bank (1915), Town Hall (1908), and Asa Moore Janney House (late 1840s). The Bush Meeting Tabernacle is located in the district and separately listed. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

Paeonian Springs Historic District is a national historic district located at Paeonian Springs, Loudoun County, Virginia. It encompasses 58 contributing buildings, 1 contributing site, and 1 contributing structure in the village of Paeonian Springs. It is primarily residential, but also includes several former commercial buildings, two former boardinghouses, a former school and private academy, the former water bottling plant, as well as the former public springhouse and spring site. The majority of the dwellings range in date from about 1880 to 1910. Notable buildings include Chanbourne, Buckhill III, Vanderventer Inn, Shiflett House, and the former Spinks Mercantile (c. 1905).It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

Clarke's Gap, also known as Clarks Gap, is a pass through Catoctin Mountain west of Leesburg, Virginia. The gap has an elevation of 643 feet (196 m). The gap is not a true wind gap, but rather a man-made railroad cut through a local saddle point between two ridges to the southeast and northwest created by the drainage of Dry Mill Branch of Tuscarora Creek to the east and an unnamed tributary of Catoctin Creek to the west. The original road between Alexandria and Winchester, known as Vestal's Gap or Braddock's Road passed through the gap beginning in the middle 18th century. Later, in the 1860s the Alexandria, Loudoun and Hampshire Railroad, predecessor of the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad was routed through the gap. The railroad christened the gap when it established a station there, naming it after a nearby landowner, Addison H. Clarke. Today, Dry Mill Road (Virginia State Route 699 (VA Route 699)) and the Washington and Old Dominion Trail still pass through the gap. VA Route 7 and VA Route 9 pass just to the north of the gap, through a man-made highway cut, which the Virginia Department of Transportation has mistakenly signed as "Clarks Gap".

The Catoctin Creek Bridge crosses over Catoctin Creek in Loudoun County, Virginia. It currently carries Virginia Route 673, also known as Featherbed Lane. Originally located at a crossing of nearby Goose Creek, carrying the Leesburg Turnpike, it was later Virginia State Route 7, but was relocated in 1932 to its present location. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 24, 1974.

The Spring Hill Farm is a historic farm in Hamilton, Virginia. Dating back to 1830, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. The listing included five contributing buildings.The main building has a telescope plan design and is built with Flemish bond brickwork.

William Virts House, also known as the Uriah Beans House, is a historic home located near Waterford, Loudoun County, Virginia. It is a 2+1⁄2-story, three-bay, Federal-style stone dwelling that took this form about 1813. It has a side gable roof and sits on a banked basement built about 1798. Also on the property are the contributing 1+1⁄2-story vernacular stone spring house built about 1813 and frame shed built about 1840.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

Ellwood, also known as Leeland and the Lawrence Lee House, is a historic home located near Leesburg, Loudoun County, Virginia. It was designed by architect Waddy Butler Wood (1869–1944) and built in 1911–1912. It is a 2+1⁄2-story, Colonial Revival style mansion with a five-part symmetrical plan consisting of a main block with a hipped slate roof connected by hyphens to one- story wings with hipped slate roofs. The house sits on a rise just above the American Civil War fort, Fort Johnston, which at one time was part of the estate. The house was designed for Lawrence Rust Lee, who was related to the prominent Rust and Lee families of Leesburg. Also on the property are the contributing garage and wood / meat house. In the 1980s it was home to Lyndon LaRouche, who named it "Ibykus Farm" after a work by Friedrich Schiller.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

Morven Park is a 1,000-acre historic estate and horse park in Leesburg, Virginia, United States. Located on the grounds are the Morven Park Mansion, the Winmill Carriage Museum, formal boxwood gardens, miles of hiking and riding trails, and athletic fields. The park is also home to the Museum of Hounds and Hunting of North America with displays of art, artifacts and memorabilia about the sport of foxhunting. The Mansion, once the home of Thomas Swann, Jr., governor of Maryland after the Civil War and Westmoreland Davis, governor of Virginia during World War I, is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a Virginia Historic Landmark. The Westmoreland Davis Memorial Foundation operates Morven Park, which is a 501c3 nonprofit organization supported by contributions from donors. The world-renowned Morven Park International Equestrian Center hosts Olympic equestrians and top-level riders from around the world who come to compete in Horse Trials, Dressage, Hunter/Jumper shows, Pony Club and Carriage Driving events. From 1980 until 2010, Morven Park was the site of the Morven Park Steeplechase Races, one of the most popular race meets in the country.

William Smith House, also known as Jonas Smith House and Boidock House, is a historic home located at Hamilton, Loudoun County, Virginia. It was built about 1813–1820, and is a two-story, three-bay, Federal style brick dwelling. It has a recessed right-side dining and kitchen wing, also in brick, originally 1+1⁄2 stories, now two stories. Also on the property are the contributing brick barn with diamond-patterned ventilation holes (ca 1813), two-story springhouse (c. 1813), a wide loafing shed, a large corncrib, and two-car garage (c. 1948).It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.