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Renting an Apartment in Aldie
What You Should Know
Aldie is an unincorporated village located on the John Mosby Highway (U.S.
Route 50) between Gilbert's Corner and Middleburg in Loudoun County, Virginia.
It is located in a gap between the Catoctin Mountain and Bull Run Mountain,
through which the Little River flows.
Notable facts
Aldie is home to several historic shops, homes, and the Aldie Mill, which
survives today as Virginia's only known gristmill powered by twin overshot water
wheels. Aldie has an annual Harvest Festival in October.
Aldie was the birthplace of Julia Beckwith Neale, mother of Confederate
Lieutenant General Stonewall Jackson.
During the American Civil War, the village itself and lands immediately to the
west and northwest were the site of the Battle of Aldie during the Gettysburg
Campaign. In addition, the Confederate partisan John Singleton Mosby was active
in the village, and several small skirmishes between Union cavalry and his band
of rangers took place in and around Aldie.
Aldie sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places include the Aldie
Mill (1807) and the Aldie Mill Historic District on US 50, the Loudoun
Agricultural and Mechanical Institute on Route 650, and the Mount Zion Old
School Baptist Church (1851) on US 50.
History
Aldie's beginnings were laid in 1765 when James and George Mercer established a
mill at the location of the present historic edifice. The location was a natural
choice, as the gap contained the intersection of the Belhaven road between
Winchester and Alexandria and the Mountain road which ran northwest to Snickers
Gap. By 1809 the Little River Turnpike was completd from Alexandria to the
Mercer Mill, replacing the older rutted section of Belhaven Road. With the
opening of the road, James Mercer's son, Charles Fenton Mercer, in a partnership
with William Cooke set out to develop a village on 30 acres at the turnpike's
western terminus. Mercer named the village for Castle Aldie, his Scottish clan's
ancestral home.
By 1811 a post office had been established in the burgeoning village. Two years
later, the Ashby's Gap Turnpike was completed from Aldie to Middleburg, and in
1818 the Snickersville Turnpike opened, replacing the Mountain Road, setting up
Aldie for its rise to prominence. By the census of 1820, Aldie had a population
of 248 residents, making it the fourth largest town in the county. The
population peaked in 1830 at 260—notably more than half, 132, were slaves. With
the incorporation of Middleburg the following year, Aldie began a slow decline.