Paeonian Springs 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 ...

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 intersection of the Charles Town Pike ( State Route 9) and the Harry Byrd Highway ( State Route 7). Paeonian Springs was established in 1890 and is currently served by a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

. The town is named after Paean, the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

physician of the gods. The Paeonian Springs Historic District was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2006.

History

Developers began construction of the town in 1871 and the town was established in 1890. It was originally developed as a resort town for citizens of Washington, D.C. trying to escape the city in the summer. When developers advertised the town upon its completion they said it had "excellent water, mountain air and magnificent scenery". The Washington & Ohio railroad (later renamed Washington & Old Dominion) played an integral role in the town's development for its first 50 years, making eight stops in the town every day. By 1901 the town had three hotels, a downtown area, and a

village green A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...

. By 1912, it also had a boardwalk, a church, and two private schools, among numerous other new shops. Beginning in 1920 though the town started to decline. This happened for a number of reasons including: the loss of the boardwalk, mill, and church; the Pure Food and Drug Act's passage; and the discovery of antibiotics. The Washington & Old Dominion railroad ended service in 1968. Twenty years later in 1988, the Washington and Old Dominion Trail, built on the old railroad's right-of-way, was extended through Paeonian Springs to

Purcellville, Virginia Purcellville is a town in Loudoun County, Virginia, Loudoun County, Virginia. The population was 8,929 according to the 2020 census. Purcellville is the major population center for Western Loudoun and the Loudoun Valley. Many of the older struct ...

References

External links

History of Paeonian Springs
Unincorporated communities in Loudoun County, Virginia Washington metropolitan area Unincorporated communities in Virginia Populated places established in 1890 1890 establishments in Virginia {{LoudounCountyVA-geo-stub