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October 15, 2015
NUMBER 15
Educa t io n
VOLUME 9
Belmont Ridge Interchange Project Breaks Ground t’s considered one of the most dangerous intersections in Loudoun County, and one of the region’s worst traffic bottlenecks. But drivers who travel through the Rt. 7/Belmont Ridge Road crossing soon will get some relief. Elected representatives who gathered for a
groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday morning were visibly excited to scoop up a shovel of dirt and formally kick off the construction of an interchange at the junction of Rt. 7 and Belmont Ridge Road. “This is so badly needed,” Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring said. “I never thought we’d see this day,” Loudoun Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Ralph M. Buona (R-Ashburn) added. County Chairman Scott K. York (R-At Large)
summed up his feelings in just three words: “It’s about time.” The $48.3 million project—funded through federal, state and local dollars—is expected to wrap up in the fall of 2018. The result will be a diamond interchange that will remove one of Rt. 7’s congestion-causing traffic lights by having Belmont Ridge Road pass over the highway. The project also includes widening 1.4 miles of Belmont Ridge Road between Rt. 7 and Gloucester
Parkway from two to four lanes. Crews from Shirley Contracting started work on the project earlier this month. Herring, a Loudoun County native, said when he was first elected to the state Senate in 2006 he made a list of the most-needed road improvements in his district. The list included building the last of the interchanges on Rt. 28, widening Rt. 50, constructing the Sycolin Road Continued on Page 54
Forgotten No More: Slave Burial Ground Dedicated Norman K. Styer
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Pastor Michelle C. Thomas, left, and Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce President Tony Howard perform a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Belmont Slave Cemetery on Sunday afternoon.
lanted in rows more than a century ago, the pointytopped fieldstones protruding from the ground in the woods along Belmont Ridge Road have attracted little—if any—notice in modern Loudoun County. That changed Sunday. The graveyard that holds the remains of slaves was reclaimed as sacred ground during a dedication ceremony organized by the Loudoun Freedom Center, which formed this year to tell the stories of the county’s historically black communities. Center founder Pastor Michelle C. Thomas, of Holy & Whole Life Changing Ministries, learned of the graveyard while conducting research in the Loudoun Circuit Court archives and Leesburg’s Thomas Balch Library. Digging through deeds and tax records, Thomas learned that the land, at the southeast quadrant
of the Rt. 7/Belmont Ridge Road intersection, was the largest slave cemetery in Loudoun. In recent weeks, she led talks with Belmont developer Toll Brothers to have the land turned over to a private foundation that would restore and maintain the cemetery, a deal expected to be finalized shortly. Sunday, Thomas led a gathering of residents and community leaders on a march to the gravesites, where an honor guard from VFW Post 1177 and the Civil Air Patrol conducted a military burial ceremony including the playing of taps, a rifle volley and a flag presentation. During a brief ceremony, several speakers reflected on the importance of protecting the graveyard. Leesburg Mayor Kristen Umstattd said she looked forward to bringing the cemetery back from disrepair and county Chairman Scott K. York (R-At Large) said he hoped it would become a sacred
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‘It’s About Time’
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