Airmont is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in the

Loudoun Valley The Loudoun Valley is a small, but historically significant valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains located in Loudoun County in Northern Virginia in the United States. Geography The lush and fertile valley lies between Catoctin Mountain and the Bu ...

Loudoun County Loudoun County () is in the northern part of the Virginia, 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. The county seat is Leesburg, Virgi ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, United States. It is located at the crossroads of Snickersville Pike (Virginia Secondary Route 734) and Airmont Road (Virginia Secondary Route 719) approximately south of the town of Round Hill and east of the village of Bluemont.

History

Though the crossroads location of Airmont had hosted a collection of dwellings and a general store since not long after the opening of the

Snickersville Turnpike The ‘’‘Snickersville Turnpike’’’ (formerly known as the ‘’‘Snicker’s Gap Turnpike’’’) is a historic road in the northern part of the U.S. state of Virginia. While part of the original route is now maintained as State Ro ...

, it was not considered a village nor called Airmont until 1897 when the

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

established a branch there. As was tradition, the first post-master of the office was allowed to name it. In this case, the honor went to Lucien Powell, a renowned landscape painter who gave the village its name for its scenic westward views and in deference to the village of Philomont, named by an unknown Italian painter. Powell, himself, could be considered a native of Airmont, having been born a few miles southeast. The post office at Airmont did not last long, falling victim to

Rural Free Delivery Rural Free Delivery (RFD), since 1906 officially rural delivery, is a program of the United States Post Office Department to deliver mail directly to rural destinations. The program began in the late 19th century. Before that, people living in ru ...

in 1912. In its short life the post office greatly helped the small village grow, reaching a population of 25 by 1908, prompting the establishment of a school the following year. Like most small villages in western Loudoun, Airmont began a slow decline during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. The school closed in 1931 and many of its historic buildings were destroyed by fire or torn down through the years. The general store alone has survived, albeit through several intermittent incarnations.

References

* Scheel, Eugene. ''Loudoun Discovered - Communities, Corners & Crossroads. A series of five volumes.'' Friends of the Thomas Balch Library. Leesburg, Virginia. 2002. {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Loudoun County, Virginia Washington metropolitan area Unincorporated communities in Virginia