Rural Fairfax

At Risk

brian — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 12:19:34 +0000

Woodson House, renamed after the large high school built to its immediate south, was once the seat of a rather large dairy farm on Little River Turnpike. That's about all I know for now, at least until I get a chance to get down to Fairfax City Library to pull up its old records.

Bubbler

brian — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:31:09 +0000

The disused effluence field at the old Lorton sewage treatment plant. I'd imagine that anything growing here would be well fertilized...

Doortree

brian — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:14:55 +0000

The door to the sewage treatment building stands propped open, slowly being taken over by the nature that surrounds it (and the adventurers who dare to peek inside). The facility appears to date back to the 1930's, so there's undoubtedly plenty of fairly toxic goodness contained all throughout—Gracefully returned to the possession and responsibility of Fairfax County by our environmental overlords in Washington.

Stairway to Something

brian — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:06:29 +0000

Another example of the beautiful brickwork in the Lorton Reformatory reverting to nature.

Not that all of Lorton's brickwork served lofty purposes—This wall borders the former sewage treatment plant for the prison complex, which is currently in the process of leeching some brightly-colored substance into Giles Run. (One wonders what Washington, D.C. had to do to get the EPA to turn a blind eye to leaving this facility intact in the Occoquan watershed?)

Growth

brian — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:19:58 +0000

A fledgling forest takes root, where once there was field.

In fact, none of the trees pictured are visible on the Google satellite imagery (ca. 2003).

Transition

brian — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:13:25 +0000

Farmland gives way to McMansions—This is the true story of the modern American "dream."

Grass Ladder

brian — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:55:30 +0000

I'm not exactly sure what exactly this is, but in this light, it really did look pretty cool.

Trough

brian — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 13:36:11 +0000

Food for the cows, straight from the silo.

I am always amazed to see the brickwork around the Lorton facilities. Bricks were baked on-site in a kiln that is preserved down in Occoquan Regional Park, and hauled up to the building sites using the old Lorton prison railway.

Roofline

brian — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 13:12:02 +0000

A detail view of some intersecting rooflines. The barn on the left is on the fast track to meeting the horizon, unfortunately.

Tee Up

brian — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 12:46:50 +0000

A barn and silo that were at one point used to feed the cattle raised at the Lorton Reformatory. Farming operations halted sometime in the mid 90's, and the Reformatory itself shut down in 2001. These buildings, now in a state of collapse, are located on what is now a pristine golf course.