Arcola is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

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 ...

, United States. The population as of the

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...

was 233.

Geography

Arcola is in southeastern Loudoun County, on the north side of

U.S. Route 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlanti ...

, which leads east to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and northwest to

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

. Leesburg, the Loudoun

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

, is north of Arcola, and the southwest runway of

Washington Dulles International Airport Washington Dulles International Airport , typically referred to as Dulles International Airport, Dulles Airport, Washington Dulles, or simply Dulles ( ), is an international airport in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Eastern United States, loc ...

is less than to the east. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the Arcola CDP has a total area of , of which , or 0.97%, are water. Arcola village is in the northern part of the CDP, along the South Fork of Broad Run, a north-flowing tributary of the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...

History

The genesis of Arcola was a small

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...

next to a

gum tree Gum tree is a common name for smooth-barked trees and shrubs in several genera: *Eucalypteae, particularly: **''Eucalyptus'', which includes the majority of species of gum trees. **''Corymbia'', which includes the ghost gums and spotted gums. **''A ...

that fed into the south fork of Broad Run, suitably called "Gum Springs". During the colonial era a

distillery Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heati ...

kiln A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made from clay int ...

and small

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

were established at the spring. When

Cameron Parish Cameron Parish (french: Paroisse de Cameron) is a parish in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,617. The parish seat is Cameron. Although it is the largest parish by area in Louisia ...

was established from

Truro Parish Truro Parish was the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Religion in early Virginia#Anglican parishes, Anglican church in colonial Virginia with jurisdiction originally over all of Fairfax County, Virginia, Fairfax County. The parish had its central ...

, its

glebe Glebe (; also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s))McGurk 1970, p. 17 is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved ...

, the area reserved to support the parish priest, was established just northwest of the spring. The glebelands were sold off in 1802 when the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 161 ...

divested all

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

glebes. In 1801 the

United States Post Office The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U. ...

established a branch at the village, naming it "Springfield". The branch closed in 1819. Thirteen years later the Post Office once again saw fit to locate a branch in the vicinity, but the success of the

Little River Turnpike State Route 236 (SR 236) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. The state highway runs from U.S. Route 29 and US 50 in Fairfax east to SR 400 in Alexandria. SR 236 is a major suburban arterial highway that connects the inde ...

(present day

) dictated that it would be located on that road south of the village and known on local maps as simply "Arcola P.O." (situated near the present-day intersection of US 50 and Hwy 616/Fleetwood Rd). The branch was named "Arcola" in honor of the Arcola Farm on which it was built. That branch stayed open until 1868, when the office was located back within the confines of the village. The village itself, however, remained identified on local maps as "Gum Spring" during most of the 19th century. In the 1850s Arcola had a brush with the big time when the construction of the

Loudoun Branch of the Manassas Gap Railroad Loudoun ( gd, Lughdan) is a parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland and lies between five and ten miles east of Kilmarnock. The parish roughly encompasses the northern half of the Upper-Irvine Valley and borders Galston Parish (which encompasses th ...

was completed on the northern border of the village. Unfortunately the

Panic of 1857 The Panic of 1857 was a financial panic in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Because of the invention of the telegraph by Samuel F. Morse in 1844, the Panic of 1857 was ...

and

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

stopped the railroad from ever being used. During the Gettysburg Campaign of June–July 1863, troops from the Union

Army of the Potomac The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confedera ...

's 11th and 1st Corps marched and camped in and around the town of "Gum Spring" according to dispatches (present-day Arcola), as they meandered north toward Leesburg and into

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. Unlike many other Loudoun villages, Arcola continued to grow well into the twentieth century. In 1876 the population was 30, in 1911 it was 90 and by 1976 it was 135. John Franklin Ryan (1848–1936), former representative in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

, is buried in the Darnes Cemetery in Arcola. The

Arcola Elementary School Arcola Elementary School is a historic elementary school building located at Arcola, Loudoun County, Virginia. It was originally built in 1939, as a six-room, one-story, Colonial Revival style school as part of the Public Works Administration build ...

, Arcola Slave Quarters, and Fleetwood Farm are listed on 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 ...

References

{{authority control Census-designated places in Loudoun County, Virginia Washington metropolitan area Census-designated places in Virginia