One of the main reasons why people want to protect the Piedmont is that they love its beauty. To protect the views that people cherish, PEC leads one of the most successful private land conservation movements in America with over 325,000 acres protected in our nine counties-nearly a third of the way to the Piedmont Reserve, PEC's ambitious vision of one million acres of protected land in our region.

To ensure that the value people place on scenic beauty is taken into account as a public benefit, PEC supports grassroots efforts to designate Scenic Rivers and Scenic Roads. Such recognition helps to define priority areas for land conservation and to ensure that scenic values are respected during decisions on land use, transportation, transmission lines and other infrastructure.

A beautiful mountain view in Rappahannock Photo by Richard Lykes

New Park at Gilberts Corner Preserves Gateway to Historic Countryside

Land at Gilberts Corner in Loudoun County that PEC saved from development is now part of a new public park at a gateway to some of America's most historic countryside. PEC's Mike Kane says, "If you're driving west on Rte. 50, Gilberts Corner is the point where a sense of relief overtakes you as the pace slows and the landscape's beauty and history becomes apparent."

The new park at Gilberts Corner preserves a gateway to this historic countryside--one of the best protected landscapes in private ownership in America.
Photo by Ken Garrett.

Last year, PEC saved a key piece of land near the intersection, purchasing 68 acres at foreclosure from a developer. Earlier, PEC helped preservationists secure an adjoining 86 acres. Now, these properties are part of Gilberts Corner Regional Park-over 150 acres where people will be able to connect with local history and explore trails through woods and fields. Including the antebellum Mount Zion Church, the new park marks the site of an 1864 Civil War skirmish.

At Gilberts Corner, numerous efforts to protect the landscape come together. The new roundabout at the intersection is the fruition of a traffic calming plan that PEC advocated for 15 years as an alternative to four-laning Rte. 50 through this exceptional countryside-one of the best protected landscapes in private ownership in America.

Highlights

• The entire route of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground, from Gettysburg to Monticello, which PEC helped launch a campaign to celebrate, was designated as a National Scenic Byway in 2009.
• PEC supports efforts to designate the Hughes River in Madison, Rappahannock and Culpeper as a Scenic River-an initiative that is now backed by Culpeper County, Rappahannock County and the Virginia General Assembly.
• PEC's nine-county region now includes over 700 miles of Virginia Scenic Roads and 200 miles of Virginia Scenic Rivers.
• In Madison County, the Smith and Faulkoner families protected over 1,000 acres of contiguous land on either side of Scenic Byway Rt. 231 on the banks of the Robinson River.
• Easements donated by the Carter family on Redlands and other properties in southern Albemarle protect more than 1,000 acres on either side of Scenic Byway Rt. 20.
• A total of 148,000 acres of land along Scenic Byways in PEC's region are now protected by conservation easements.
• More than 100,000 acres of land visible from the Appalachian Trail are protected by conservation easements in PEC's region.

Read more from the 2009 PEC Annual Report >>