AROUND Town

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Historic Walking Tour

Offered Saturday

Historian and educator Richard Treat Gillespie will lead a historic walking tour of Leesburg on Saturday, March 25, beginning at 10 a.m. The two-hour tour will begin in the lower-level meeting room of Thomas Balch Library and will examine the surviving Civil War townscape and see how the war developed and engulfed the county seat of Loudoun. In a circuit of the historic district, emphasis will be on what the 1,500 residents of the town would have seen at various places and what they would have experienced during 1861 to 1865. Pre-registration is required for this event. Limited spots are available. Call 703-7377195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov, or register online. n

“extraordinary cooperation” between the school division, which will pay the cost of the project, the town and community organizations to bring the mural to fruition. He said the renovated Douglass High School Campus will be a jewel for the town.

The Douglass School was constructed in 1941 on land that was purchased by the Black community and transferred to the School Board to provide secondary education to their children. It was the only high school for Black students in

Loudoun County until the end of segregation in 1968. The building is listed in the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places.

Prior to the renovation, the building was used as the school division’s alternative education program and a community center. The campus will house the English Language Welcome Center, the STEP and Child Find programs and provide office space for community organizations and continue to offer county Parks and Recreation Services. n