Pop quiz, don't worry there is no penalty for a wrong answer. Who is Loudoun County named for?
Throughout the year, the Connection plans to answer this and many other questions about the county we call home, in honor of the 250th anniversary of its founding.
Periodically, we will be running stories specifically aimed at educating and hopefully entertaining residents. Each month, the anniversary story will focus on one aspect of county life through the years.
Naturally, we begin with a brief history, see story page 8.
Our goal is to not only provide historical facts, but also take a look at how Loudoun's history has shaped the community into what it is today and guess at where it may lead in the future.
Two hundred and fifty years of history is a lot to cover in 12 months. As a staff, we have select topics that interest us, and hopefully our readers. We are, of course, open to suggestions.
In compiling the stories, we plan to talk to residents and local historians, and raid the archival information, both written and photographic, available at the Thomas Balch Library in Leesburg, a history and genealogy library with collections that focus on Loudoun County, regional and Virginia history, genealogy, military history and ethnic history. We encourage residents to do their own research on their hometown. The better educated we are about our past, the better stewards we will be of our future.
In addition, and unrelated to the Connection's project, the county has also planned its own celebration, which includes activities and weekly information highlighting Loudoun history, which can be found on the county Web site, www.loudoun.gov/anniversary.
By the way, the county is named for John Campbell, Fourth Earl of Loudoun.