Middleburg's name reflects its location, roughly halfway between Alexandria and Winchester
Source: Library of Congress, A map of the state of Virginia : reduced from the nine sheet map of the state in conformity to law (by Herman Boye, 1827)
Middleburg's name reflects its location, roughly halfway between Alexandria and Winchester
Source: Library of Congress, A map of the state of Virginia : reduced from the nine sheet map of the state in conformity to law (by Herman Boye, 1827)
In 1787, Leven Powell purchased 50 acres in Loudoun County from Joseph Chinn. It included Chinn's Ordinary, which had been constructed in 1728. The ordinary at Chinn's Crossroads srerved travelers using the road between Ashby Gap-Potomac River. Chinn's Ordinary was renamed the Beveridge House in 1812, the Middleburg Inn in 1887, and given its current name of the Red Fox Inn in 1937.
After Powell's purchase, the area was initially called Powell's Town, but he did not wish the town to be named after him. He chose to call it "Middleburgh," because it was approximately halfway between Alexandria and Winchester on what became the Little River Turnpike and is now US 50. The "h" has disappeared from Middleburg's name.1
Leven Powell was a Federalist, a supporter of a strong national government. In the 1796 election, he was chosen by the voters in District 21 (Loudoun and Fauquier counties) to be one of Virginia's 21 members of the Electoral College for choosing the President and Vice-President of the United States. Powell was the one Virginian in the Electoral College to vote for John Adams rather than Thomas Jefferson. Only one other Electoral College member in a southern state did the same, but those two votes gave Adams the winning margin in the election.2
The streets in Middleburg reflect Powell's political preference. The initial roads were named after other Federalists - Washington, Pinkney, Marshall, Jay, and Hamilton, together with Liberty and Federalist. Curiously, no street is named after Adams.
the first roads in Middleburg were named for Federalists
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
Sally Mill, grinding Loudoun County wheat using waterpower from the Little River, was named after Leven Powell's wife. Sally Mill House Road is still in use today.3
Sally Mill Road is named after Leven Powell's wife
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online