Driving west on Rt. 50 in Loudoun County, you may breathe a sigh of relief when you reach the first roundabout and see Gilberts Corner Regional Park on your right and Mount Zion Baptist Church on your left. It is a place where the suburban sprawl of Northern Virginia recedes, the pace slows and the beauty of the rural Piedmont’s landscape emerges.

This is no accident. Over 300 acres of land is conserved around Gilberts Corner, where Rt. 15 and Rt. 50 meet. The Piedmont Environmental Council has been working with NOVA Parks for over a decade to permanently protect the land there through conservation easements, while also opening significant parts of it up for the public to use. The results of this work are evident to anyone driving by and will be for generations to come.

In this video, the Executive Director of NOVA Parks, Paul Gilbert, helps us understand part of the conservation success story there.

In addition to GC Regional Park and Mount Zion Baptist Church, the land around Gilberts Corner also includes PEC’s Community Farm, the Gilberts Corner Farmers Market and Old Carolina Road Trail.

Learn more about Gilberts Corner Regional Park and plan your visit.

Learn more about how the land around Gilberts Corner was conserved and opened to the public.