One of the most historic farms in Loudoun County, the Furr/Leith Farm on Snickersville Turnpike, sold recently after having been owned by the Furr/Leith family for seven generations. Chet and Laura Lea Moore of Aldie, Va., the new owners, entertained Mary Carol Leith Leslie of Decatur, Ga., trustee for the Leith estate, with a luncheon to celebrate the occasion.

The Moores had fallen in love with the property years ago and had offered to buy the property often through the years. This year, knowing that the Moores appreciated the history of the property, Mary Carol Leslie agreed to the sale. The Moores have lived in Aldie for fifteen years and are well known as avid participates in the local equestrian activities.

The Furr Farm, registered with the Department of Historic Resources, is the site of one of the major cavalry battles of the Civil War and is known as a Prelude to Gettysburg. During the June 17, 1863, Battle of Aldie, Confederate sharpshooters from the Second and Third Virginia dismounted along the Snickersville Turnpike behind the stone wall on the Furr Farm and waited for the Union cavalry which came around the blind curve into a hail of fire. As a consequence, the First Massachusetts suffered great casualties, the severest experienced by any Union cavalry regiment on a single day in the entire Civil War. Years after the war, a monument on the Aldie Battlefield was erected in 1891 on ground donated by Dallas Furr, a veteran of Mosby's Rangers. Today, the battle site, the monument, the stone wall, and the old Furr house are still there in full view along Snickersville Turnpike.

The Moores are planning a number of activities involving the community and have begun to research the 1863 battle in preparation for a special event they will hold during the Civil War Sesquicentennial to commemorate the anniversary of the battle. They will participate in The Journey through Hallowed Ground, the national tourism program for the National Heritage Area and National Scenic Byway, which stretches one hundred and eighty miles through the Route 15 Corridor from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to Monticello near Charlottesville, Virginia. They hope to include the resources of organizations such as the Mosby Heritage Area Association and other local groups in organizing the event. They intend to make a documentary as improvements are made to the property in an effort to preserve the history of the site.

Additionally, they hope the local schools, libraries, and community services will encourage trips to the historic property. Already, the Moores have held campouts for their two sons, Russell and Preston Moore, and their friends on the property, and they hope more, especially young people, will visit the site, read the description of the battle at the monument, and appreciate the historic value of the battle which took place almost 150 years ago. Too, the Moores have other plans for the property including building a home on the ridge and possibly adding a vineyard. This is a dream come true for them to finally own the property they had wanted so long.