Join The Piedmont Environmental Council and Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area for a History Hike at the Piedmont Memorial Overlook on Saturday, September 13! As we walk along the trails at overlook, Travis Shaw and Ian MacDougall from VPHA will share a variety of stories on the history surrounding Ashby’s Gap. The stories will range from a brief overview of the landscape, to Native American uses of the mountain gap, to Ashby’s Gap in the context of the American Revolution and the Civil War.

The land encompassing the Piedmont Memorial Overlook was historically part of a territory occupied by Siouan-speaking people that spanned more than half of the present-day state of Virginia. The rolling green hills of field and forest, dotted by historic towns and villages, and crisscrossed by gravel roads have earned the area a well-deserved reputation for its scenic beauty and historic significance, from pre-colonial times to European settlement, through the Civil War and development of modern agriculture. A verdant agricultural landscape stretches 17 miles between the Bull Run Mountains to the east and the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west. To the south lies the Crooked Run Valley, extending toward Delaplane. To the north lies Clarke and Loudoun counties.

PEC's Plantings for the Piedmont Program Coordinator Linnea Sherman and Wildlife Habitat Program Manager October Greenfield will share information about the native plants, birds and other wildlife we see during the walk, as well as more background on the PMO.

This event is free, but participants must register.