For Immediate Release                             Contact:  Nancy Doane, 540-882-3018

WATERFORD, VIRGINIA, August 30, 2007.  
The Waterford Foundation announced today that John A. Latschar, Acting Regional Director of the US National Park Service, reconfirmed the Park Service's long commitment to the US Interior Department's 1970 designation of Waterford as a National Historic Landmark.  This followed an extensive evaluation of the Waterford Landmark District by the Park Service Regional Office in Philadelphia after they received a "Petition for National Historic Landmark Dedesignation" in February 2006.  

In Latschar's response to the petitioner, he states that while there is not a process for petitioning the Secretary of the Interior for dedesignating a site, a property may be considered for withdrawal of the national designation only at the request of the owner or upon the initiative of the Secretary, but then only when the "property has ceased to meet the criteria for designation because the qualities which caused it to be originally designated have been lost or destroyed" (if designated before 1980).

Not only does the petitioner not own the site in this case, Latschar goes on to say "we wish to state that far from warranting dedesignation, Waterford possesses a commendable degree of integrity.  We wish to commend the Waterford Foundation on its heroic and sustained efforts over the past seventy years in promoting good stewardship and to commend the many caring property owners who have so lovingly managed their land and buildings.  The efforts of the Foundation and the landowners in Waterford have resulted in the protection of the District in the face of remarkable pressure from rising land values and demand for suburban growth."

The 1733 Quaker village is the oldest settlement in Loudoun County.  By the 1830s, it was a flourishing commercial center boasting a population of around 400, some 70 houses and many commercial enterprises consistent with a self sustaining rural village of the era.  Schools and churches represented an assortment of beliefs in this tolerant Quaker atmosphere.  A large skilled African American community lived and worked side by side with their neighbors.

Because this 18^th-19^th century mill town has been preserved virtually intact, including the agricultural setting instrumental in its survival and growth, it was recognized by the US National Park Service in 1970, and honored with the highest heritage designation an historic site can attain in this country.  This recognition validated the diligent efforts of the Waterford Foundation and its many friends to preserve and protect this special place from inappropriate development so that the area may be here for future generations.

According to Kathleen P. Hughes, Waterford Foundation President:  "We are delighted to receive this complete validation of the decades of very hard work by our members, supporters, and especially by the many diligent homeowners in the Landmark District who consider themselves the stewards of their historic homes.  We have always been most proud of our National Historic Landmark designation and will continue to work hard to preserve this honor."