Upperville is a small unincorporated village in Fauquier County,

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, along

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 Atlantic ...

fifty miles from downtown

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

and near the

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 ...

line. Founded in the 1790s along Pantherskin Creek, it was originally named Carrstown by first settler Josephus Carr. Through an 1819 act passed by 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, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...

, the name was changed to Upperville.

John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth Tar ...

wrote of Upperville in his sardonic 1961 poem "Upon Learning That a Town Exists Called Upperville".

History

Upperville has been designated as the Upperville Historic District and is a Virginia Historic Landmark that is listed in 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 ...

. Also listed are Blue Ridge Farm, Oakley, and Rose Hill Farm. Situated eight miles to the west of Middleburg and part of Virginia's famous Piedmont horse country, the Upperville/Middleburg area is home to a number of prominent

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

horse breeding Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given Horse breed, breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired chara ...

farms and country estates. The Upperville Colt & Horse Show, conceived by Colonel Richard Henry Dulany and first held in 1853, remains the oldest such event in America. A Dulany family member owned Oakley Farm. It was the site of two battles during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Near Upperville,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

n Henry T. Oxnard built a

operation in 1903 that he named Blue Ridge Farm. It was bought by

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

Cary Travers Grayson in 1928, and members of the Grayson family still own the property, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Over the years, others who came to live in the area included heiress Isabel Dodge Sloane, who built the highly successful Brookmeade Stud, Llangollen estate where Liz Whitney Tippett lived for nearly six decades, Bertram and Diana Firestone'sbr>Newstead Farm
Sandy Lerner's, and the very prestigious Rokeby Farm of

Paul Mellon Paul Mellon (June 11, 1907 – February 2, 1999) was an American philanthropist and a horse breeding, breeder of thoroughbred horse racing, racehorses. He is one of only five people ever designated an "Exemplar of Racing" by the National Muse ...

. It was Mellon who donated the money to build Trinity Episcopal Church in the 1950s, which is at the center of the small community's social activities. For two days each year more than ten horse farms and centers in Upperville and Middleburg open their gates to visitors. Since 1960, the Hunt Country Stable Tour has raised money for the outreach programs of Trinity Episcopal Church.

Demographics

Upperville first appeared 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 ...

in the 2020 U.S. Census.

Notable people

Sandy Lerner Sandy Lerner (born 1955) is an American businesswoman and philanthropist. She co-founded Cisco Systems, and used the money from its sale to pursue interests in animal welfare and women's writing. One of her main projects, Chawton House, is in En ...

, co-founder of Cisco Systems, lives in Upperville, owning and operating a farm there. * Jill Holtzman Vogel, Virginia State Senator who with her husband owns a mansion in Upperville.A $7.25 million fixer-upper: Turning Bunny Mellon’s private art museum into a home
/ref> * Rachel "Bunny" (née Lambert) Mellon, horticulturist who designed the White House Rose Garden and established a botanical library at Oak Spring Farms.

References

External links

Upperville.com

Story and Photos of Upperville by William T. Semple
(PDF) {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Fauquier County, Virginia Former municipalities in Virginia Unincorporated communities in Virginia

History

Demographics

Notable people

See also

References

External links