The village of Aldie enjoys a rich, 200+ year heritage, and occupies a unique place in the history of northern Virginia and Loudoun County. Few places in the region pack so much history into such a small space.

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The village grew up in the early 1800s around the grain merchant Aldie Mill. It occupies what was then a strategic location at one of the gaps in the Bull Run Mountains. Travelers and commerce could move west to Middleburg, Upperville and the Blue Ridge along the Ashby's Gap Turnpike; east to Fairfax and Alexandria along the Little River Turnpike; or northwest towards Bluemont along Snickersville Turnpike. The mill is powered by water from Little River, diverted upstream into the mill race. Its construction was financed by Charles Fenton Mercer, a distinguished member of the Virginia General Assembly and the United States Congress, and William Cooke. It was Mercer who named the village Aldie after Aldie Castle, the ancestral home of the Mercer family in Scotland. Mercer himself never operated the mill, although the income from its operations allowed him to pursue his career in public service. Mercer left day-to-day operations to Cooke, his business partner. He bought out Cooke’s interest in 1816 (for $11,250), then sold the mill in 1835 to the Moore family that operated it for six generations until 1971.

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Aldie Mill is now owned and operated by NoVa Parks as the centerpiece of the Aldie Mill Historic District, which also includes Aldie's 108-foot -long two-arch fieldstone Little River Turnpike Bridge. Both are recognized by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources as essential elements of Aldie Village's founding identity in early Industrial Revolution-era rural America. Other point of interest include Mt. Zion Church, which figured prominently in Aldie's Civil War history and opens to the public for tours, reenactments and other events; Gilbert's Corner Regional Park; Civil War Battlefields; Oak Hill, the home of the 5th president, James Monroe; and Aldie's privately-owned historic structures dating from 1775 to the mid-1800's. These are illustrated in the village map and described among the links under "Aldie Heritage Resources".

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Today, Alsie Villagers celebrate and work to preserve and  protect our rural village history and character, together with supporting our community life and small businesses. Explore the links on this page for a fuller appreciation of Aldie Village's history and people.

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Today, Aldie villagers celebrate and work to protect its rural village character. Explore the links on the right for a fuller appreciation of Aldie's history and people.