View articles published in our quarterly membership newsletter, The Piedmont View. To become a PEC member or renew your existing membership, visit our donations page today!
To access PDFs of prior editions, view the Piedmont View archive.
Unison Historic District Offers a Window to the Civil War
The village of Unison in western Loudoun, as if charmed in some way to keep from changing, is a quiet hamlet of well-kept old buildings, with many farmhouses, barns and churches that measure their age …
Transmission Lines: Why We Fight
This summer, an unwanted clear-cut tore through the edge of the woods at Rick and Virginia Dorkey’s cattle farm near Bealeton, in Fauquier County. Construction crews put up a line of gigantic metal towers on …
Wildlife Friendly Farms and Fields
This June, PEC led our first Wildlife Friendly Farms and Fields Tour, bringing participants out to see spots where people are actively cultivating their land for the good of native plants and wildlife …
Places29 — Ready for a Vote
The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors appears poised to adopt the Places29 plan, after making some final changes at its Nov. 10 meeting. PEC has been a longstanding advocate for Places29 — a blueprint for …
Victory at Wilderness Battlefield
In a dramatic win for historic preservation, after three years of controversy, Walmart has dropped its plans to build a Supercenter at the edge of Wilderness Battlefield in Orange County. On the first day of …
Protecting the Cedar Run Watershed
When Mike and Margrete Stevens first came to Fauquier County eighteen years ago, as the new owners of Bonny Brook Farm, near Warrenton, they made friends with their neighbors Julian and Sue Scheer and Hilary …
Federal Court Strikes Down Transmission Line Corridors
In 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy designated two National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETCs), where energy companies were granted unprecedented access to federal eminent domain authority for the fast track siting of transmission lines …
Giving Back
Jean Scott, 82, of Culpeper County placed her 118-acre tract of land on the Hazel River into a permanent conservation easement in 2010. Mrs. Scott’s donation will be an enduring legacy of conservation; a testament …
Cows, Not Condos
Bev McKay's family has been farming the land that he just protected in Clarke County for over 200 years. Mr. McKay raises dairy cattle on the property, as well as crops, such as corn and …
Walmart Picks Alternative Site for Orange Store
In late May, Walmart announced that it has chosen an alternative site for its store in Orange County — a successful outcome for preservationists who, for years, pressed Walmart to build its store at a …
