2021 Explore Loudoun Visitors Guide

Loudoun is a time machine. Step into the past in a historic town or village; leap into the future in dynamic, tech-driven hubs and fast-growing suburbs.

Loudoun’s county seat is a fashionable burg with a historic downtown buzzing with craft breweries, cocktail bars, artisanal coffee shops, farm-to-fork restaurants and chic boutiques and home décor stores. Stay in a luxe Potomac River resort and dine on oysters, tacos, wine and cheese plates on King Street, Leesburg’s “restaurant row”. Soak up the storied ambiance of a town that’s been home to icons such as General George C. Marshall of Marshall Plan fame, and is now residence to artists, designers, musicians and tech entrepreneurs.

Founded in 1758 at the crossroads of two Native American trails near the Potomac, Leesburg is bookended by the grand mansions and landscaped grounds of Morven Park to the north and Oatlands Historic House & Gardens to the south. Cyclists, joggers and equestrians are drawn to the scenic Washington & Old Dominion Trail that perfectly bisects the town, while lifestyle and residential precinct The Village at Leesburg attracts visitors for sidewalk dining, big screen movies and retail therapy. It’s that historic downtown though – handsome 18th and 19th century buildings repurposed as bars, breweries, restaurants, galleries and boutiques – that epitomizes Leesburg’s current cool.

Nestled in lush Blue Ridge foothills this gorgeous Piedmont town dates back to 1728 when a fieldstone tavern – today’s boutique Red Fox Inn – was established by a cousin of George Washington. Its picture-perfect downtown is lined with countrychic boutiques, cafés, restaurants and galleries, while the surrounding land is a dreamscape of mansions, elegant wineries, craft breweries and horse farms. Equestrian-themed Salamander Resort & Spa hosts the star-studded Middleburg Film Festival each year, a major stop on the Oscar trail. See for yourself why Jackie Kennedy and Liz Taylor frequently visited the town.

Farmland until the early 1980s, Ashburn is now a major commercial, residential and nightlife hub. It’s home to chic lifestyle, dining and entertainment destinations such as One Loudoun; sports complexes TopGolf and Ashburn Ice House and the tech servers of Data Center Alley, through which 70% of the world’s internet traffic flows. There’s a thriving craft beer culture, many superb ethnic and family-run local restaurants and a hopping late-night bar scene.

Loudoun’s eastern-most region is a bustling tech-centered urban area of leafy residential communities, upscale shopping and lively entertainment complexes – ropes courses, go-karting tracks, axe throwing bars and the like. Some “Old Loudoun” remains, notably the scenic Washington & Old Dominion Trail, Claude Moore Park with its farm museum, and Algonkian Regional Park on the Potomac River, the rustic riverfront cabins available for rent.

Bluemont is a peaceful retreat popular for its Blue Ridge Mountain craft breweries, scenic wineries, family-friendly farm tours and stunning hiking trails with Shenandoah Valley views. Don’t miss the annual Bluemont Fair each fall in the 19th century downtown, or a weekend at a historic farm B&B.

With beautiful homes on tranquil, tree-lined streets, Hamilton is quintessential smalltown America. Pick fruit on surrounding farms, bike (or ride horses) on the nearby Washington & Old Dominion Trail and enjoy good food, drink and company at the local crab shack, gastropub and surrounding wineries.

This town is the ultimate country escape. Families frequent the local diner and well-stocked general store; hikers are drawn to the swooping Appalachian Trail in the Blue Ridge just west of town. Nearby wineries and a music-forward farm brewery draw the crowds. Come winter, enjoy warm cider while picking out a spruce at a Christmas tree farm, as featured in Martha Stewart Living. It really is a wonderful life.

First settled in 1764, this bustling, family-friendly town has a wholesome Norman Rockwell feel. The low-slung buildings of downtown, including a renovated grain mill turned restaurant and a 1940s car dealership turned whiskey distillery, are reminiscent of a film set, while kids and teens love the mom and pop diners, ice cream parlors, thrift stores, roller rink and baseball park. Magic.

Nestled in the far north-west corner of the county in a gap in the Short Hill Mountains close to the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, Hillsboro (Est. 1802) is a thriving agricultural settlement with a slate of superb farm breweries, wineries and boutique B&Bs, hiking and river rafting on its doorstep. The village, historic fieldstone homes hugging the road, has an almost European look.

Rustic log cabins, stone churches, handsome Colonial, Federal and Greek Revival homes… this tiny town founded by Quakers in 1733 is like a live-in museum. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it’s celebrated for its annual colonial-style fall fair, scenic walking trails, surrounding wineries and historic one-room African American schoolhouse, now part of a “living history” program for grade school visitors.

What’s not to love about Lovettsville? Founded by Maryland Germans in the 1730s and known as the German Settlement, Lovettsville hosts an Oktoberfest each fall – all beer, bratwurst and hay bales – and in recent years has become a hip culinary and craft drinks destination, with world-class restaurants, wineries and breweries opening in the town and on the surrounding farms and hillsides. Prost!

A charming old curiosity shop of a village with a single traffic light, Lucketts is renowned for its rustic roadside stores selling rare antiques, furniture and vintage clothing. Around it, from the Potomac River in the east to tumbling hills in the west, are grain fields, vineyards, wineries, breweries and roadside stores stocked with bountiful fresh produce.

Secluded hamlets and hidden villages pop up in Loudoun like museums to a lost age. Explore our dirt roads or country lanes and discover places like Morrisonville, comprised of several 1790s log and stone cabins in farm fields south of Lovettsville; postcard-worthy Unison, its single unpaved street lined with 18th and 19th century homes fronted by horse farms; ortiny Taylorstown, circa 1734, a forgotten Quaker mill town on the banks of the Catoctin Creek near Waterford.

2021 Explore Loudoun Visitors Guide - 2021 Explore Loudoun Visitors Guide

Towns & Villages

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