Willisville is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in southwestern

Loudoun County Loudoun County () is in the northern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. In 2020, the census returned a population of 420,959, making it Virginia's third-most populous county. Loudoun County's seat is Leesburg. Loudoun C ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, about sixteen miles from the county seat, Leesburg. Willisville is located at the crossroads of Willisville, Millville, and Welbourne Roads. It is named after freed slave Heuson Willis, who bought a cabin and three acres of land shortly after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. The tight-knit predominantly

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

community of about a dozen houses and church became one of the last communities in wealthy Loudoun County without running water. The

Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area Association The Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area Association (VPHA) is a nonprofit preservation and historic organization in Middleburg, Virginia. Founded in 1995 as the Mosby Heritage Area Association (MHAA), its mission is to educate about, and advocate for ...

campaigned to have Willisville designated an historic site. Historic Preservationist Jane Covington finalized the nomination application for the historic village to be listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, and has submitted it to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (VDHR) for review at their September 2019 quarterly meeting. Willisville was added to the National Register in 2019.''A Community Update on Willisville'', https://mosbyheritagearea.org/ newsletter, 23aug19

References

Unincorporated communities in Loudoun County, Virginia Washington metropolitan area Unincorporated communities in Virginia {{LoudounCountyVA-geo-stub