Leesylvania, formerly known as Neabsco, is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), 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 counte ...

in Prince William County in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

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 ...

History

Leesylvania plantation is located nearby in

Leesylvania State Park Leesylvania State Park is located in the southeastern part of Prince William County, Virginia, Prince William County, Virginia. The land was donated in 1978 by businessman Daniel K. Ludwig, and the park was dedicated in 1985 and opened full-time ...

. During the 18th century, Henry Lee II, grandfather of

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...

, lived in the plantation house with his family and enslaved Africans, growing

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

on the property. Due to road construction in the 1950s, little of the house's foundation remains. The CDP was formed as Neabsco (named for

Neabsco Creek Neabsco Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 tributary of the lower tidal segment of the Potomac River in eastern Prince William County, Virginia. ...

) in 2000 in an area which was formerly the southern area of Woodbridge. In 2020, the CDP was renamed Leesylvania, after the nearby state park and plantation.

Demographics

The community was first listed as a

census designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), 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 counte ...

under the name Neabsco in the 2010 U.S. Census formed from part of Woodbridge CDP and additional area. In the 2010 Census, Leesylvania, then named Neabsco, had a population of 12,068.Virginia Trend Report 2: State and Complete Places (Sub-state 2010 Census Data).
Missouri Census Data Center. Accessed 2011-06-08. As of the 2020 Census, it had a population of 21,193.

Geography

Leesylvania is in southeastern Prince William County and is bordered to the northeast by Woodbridge, to the northwest by Dale City, to the west by Montclair, to the south by

Cherry Hill Cherry Hill often refers to: * Cherry Hill, New Jersey, a township in Camden County, New Jersey * Cherry Hill, Prince William County, Virginia, a census-designated place Cherry Hill may also refer to: Places Canada * Cherry Hill, Nova Scotia, a ...

, and to the east by Leesylvania State Park. The CDP lies at an elevation of above sea level. The CDP is bisected by

with Powells Creek passing through at the southern area, both of which flow west—east into the

Potomac River The Potomac River () is in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography D ...

near the state park.

Transportation

The central area of Leesylvania lies at the crossroads of U.S. Route 1 (Richmond Highway) and SR 610 (Cardinal Drive/Neabsco Road). The CDP is also served by SR 638 (Neabsco Mills Road/Blackburn Road), SR 784 (Dale Boulevard), and VA 394 (College Drive).

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the ...

forms the western boundary of the CDP.

Virginia Railway Express Virginia Railway Express (VRE) is a commuter rail service that connects outlying small cities of Northern Virginia to Washington Union Station in Washington, D.C. It operates two lines which run during weekday rush hour only: the Fredericksbur ...

service is provided at the nearby Rippon station, and the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission provides OmniRide bus service in Leesylvania.

Education

Freedom High School and

Northern Virginia Community College Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC and, informally, NOVA) is a public community college with six campuses and four centers in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. It is the third-largest multi-campus community college in t ...

's Woodbridge campus are located in the CDP of Leesylvania.

References

Census-designated places in Prince William County, Virginia Washington metropolitan area Census-designated places in Virginia {{PrinceWilliamCountyVA-geo-stub