We’ll have a booth at the Open House for the Round Hill Volunteer Fire Department, part of the Hometown Festival. We’d love to tell you about the new Round Hill HANDS group, what we’re up to, and all the fun we can create together in our community. And you won’t go away empty-handed — We’ll have a bunch of handouts on the Appalachian Trail, the national scenic trail that is just 5 miles away from us.
Stop by and say hello.
The Round Hill Appalachian Trail Festival celebrates a national, natural treasure in our backyard. Through music, talks and more festival fun, we want to promote hiking at the same time we advocate to protect this scenic resource for future generations.
Visit the festival website for more information: https://www.roundhillat.org/
Everyone welcome — families, friends, kids. This is a fantastic hike at the Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship, about 20 minutes north of Round Hill.
Note: There is one stream crossing where you’ll get your feet wet. The water comes up to about mid-calf. All the more fun, if you ask me!
From BRCES…
“Experience the Blue Ridge Center’s 900 acre land preserve on a 10-mile trail network winding through forests and meadows, following valley streams, and climbing up the mountainside. Trails are free to the public and open from dawn until dusk every day of the year.
Farmstead Loop: The Blue Ridge Center’s signature hiking trail. Just over a mile long and with minimal elevation change, the trail is perfect for all ages and fitness levels. This scenic trail, once a road through a 19th century farming community, passes by multiple historic structures, Wortman Pond, and Piney Run.”
A few simple notes:
— Keep an eye out for Sean (orange shirt)
— Dress kids in clothes they can get wet.
— The hike will happen rain or shine.
— Pack water and snacks (if you want)
— Hike begins @ 10 am (no waiting for latecomers)
— Plan to arrive at least 5 minutes early. Folks will need to sign-in, which includes a simple waiver form.
— There is no waitlist. All comers are welcome. Bring a friend.
Round Hill Outdoors celebrates Screen-Free Week as a way to help our community discover the joys of life beyond our electronics. Visit our website for our daily event schedule: https://roundhill.at/screen-free
Join us for Round Hill’s celebration to honor Earth Day, Arbor Day, and the official ribbon cutting for the new Niels Poulsen Park.
More at –> https://roundhill.at/earth-day
I’ve been itching to get out for a longer hike, and here it is. Join me on a stretch of the Appalachian Trail called the Roller Coaster. Just take a look at the elevation map and the hills and the name says it all.
This is a 13.5-mile point-to-point hike from Rte 7 to Rte 50 (Snicker’s Gap to Ashby Gap). This is not a beginner’s hike. It’s 3500 vertical feet of steep up and down hills, mostly 300-400 foot climbs.
If you’d like to join me, let me know. The start time is negotiable, though I need to be back by around 5:30 pm. I’m looking to finish this hike somewhere between 4.5 – 6.5 hours (that’s about 2 – 3 mph, including rests).
An announcement from Friends of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a fantastic local nonprofit organization that selected Sleeter Lake Park for a special project to further extended the vision of making the park a sanctuary for all of us. Feel free to share this post or their flyer.
Thanks to donations from our members, Friends is sponsoring a collaborative project to enhance Sleeter Lake Park, western Loudoun County’s newest recreational park in Round Hill. Our partners include Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy (LWC), Loudoun County Master Gardeners Association (LCMGA), and the Town of Round Hill. Friends
Meadows Farms Nurseries also donated 20 trees for the project. LWC is developing a pollinator meadow with native plants and shrubs. LCMGA has identified existing mature trees along paths through the woods and assisted in the selection of indigenous trees to plant along the paths that connect existing and future park amenities.
Meadows Farms Nurseries also donated 20 trees for the project. LWC is developing a pollinator meadow with native plants and shrubs. LCMGA has identified existing mature trees along paths through the woods and assisted in the selection of indigenous trees to plant along the paths that connect existing and future park amenities.
The paths will employ earth stabilization and best management practices by incorporating erosion control and water retention/filtration methods on the slopes leading to the lake.
Other improvements planned for Sleeter Lake Park include an outdoor classroom for teaching environmental stewardship, a viewing platform, pollinator gardens and meadow, picnic areas, benches,
Round Hill Outdoors and the Round Hill Arts Center received 45 works in a variety of media from artists of all ages for the 2nd Annual Appalachian Trail Art Show. These works will be on display at the Round Hill Arts Center throughout the month of March. The purpose of the show is to broaden public awareness and appreciation of the Appalachian Trail and the beautiful wild nature of the Blue Ridge.
There will be a reception at the Round Hill Arts Center on March 10 from 2-5pm to recognize the participating artists to celebrate Round Hill’s new status as a designated “Appalachian Trail Community”.
The Round Hill Arts Center is located at 35246 Harry Byrd Hwy #170, Round Hill, VA 20141.
Judges Jill Evans-Kavaldjian and Brian Kirk will present prizes to the winners at 2:30pm. Prizes for the two student categories (grades K-6, and grades 7-12) were generously provided by Mod Pizza, the Round Hill Arts Center and Sweet Rose Bakery. Adult winners will receive gift certificates donated by Magnolia’s at the Mill, West End Wine Bar & Pub, B Chord Brewing Company and Otium Cellars. Awards will be presented at 2:30pm.
At 2:45pm, we will introduce our guest speaker, Sandi Marra, Chair of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Board of Directors.
Refreshments will be provided by Savoir Fare Catering and Notaviva Vineyards. There will be snacks and arts activities for the children.
For more information, visit our Art Show page or contact Susan Stowe.
Also posted at screenfree.org.
It was spring 2018, and the tiny town of Round Hill in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia was gearing up for Screen-Free Week. A small town that’s more than 100 years old, Round Hill is home to many communities and neighborhoods, all built at different times: some Round Hill homes are over 100 years old, some were built in the 60s, some in the 90s, and clusters of new neighborhoods were added recently.
All it took for us to organize a Screen-Free Week event was one fearless parent, a few committed town citizens, an open-minded elementary school principal, and a fantastic town planner. These amazing people pulled off a campaign to trade screen life for real life for an entire week.
We posted signs advertising our town-wide Screen-Free Week around town, and we used the town’s and community’s social media for screen-free advocacy and encouragement.
But the most important and challenging part of it all was getting the youngest generation, our children, to give up screens for more meaningful ways to spend time with family, ideally outdoors.
One fearless parent, Kathi Hottinger, met with Andrew Davis, the principal of Round Hill Elementary (a school of about 600 students), and together they agreed on some important details for the school’s celebration of Screen-Free Week:
With these details in place, the very first Round Hill Screen-Free Week
It went great, but it was not perfect. Some parents and kids still had screens and some teachers still assigned screen homework (just for one day).
Hiccups happen.
But the amount of fun our Round Hill families had was well worth all the effort: parents, kids, and neighbors really connected through hikes, playing games, or hanging outdoors and soaking up the sun. Sean Lloyd, a resident of Round Hill, organized a community hike at the nearby Appalachian Trail, a national treasure, which some Round Hill residents had yet to discover. Melissa Hynes, Round Hill’s town planner, found funding to purchase some native plants for Round Hill Town Park that would attract native wildlife and provide educational opportunities for kids. She organized a town-wide event where residents planted a pollinator garden with help from local scout troops.
And the students had a grand school scavenger hunt outdoors on Friday, with every grade taking a turn while two parent volunteers reshuffled and re-positioned the scavenger hunt items for the next group of students.
Round Hill’s Screen-Free Week proved how great it feels to celebrate life away from screens and in the great outdoors.
Screen-Free Week is a great way for a community to organize a variety of different outdoor events that bring families and neighbors together. As we learned, it can and should be done if we want to pass on to our children the value of reality, the value of neighbors, friends, and togetherness, and the value of
Join Round Hill’s Appalachian Trail Art Show celebrating the Trail and the surrounding Great Outdoors. The A.T. is a designated National Scenic Trail that stretches 2,200 miles from Maine to Georgia. It’s right in our backyard, less than 5 miles away, with local hotspots like Bear’s Den and Raven Rocks. Help us to connect our community with the A.T. by stopping by and saying hello. Special guests will include an A.T. Thru-Hiker sharing their experience hiking the entire trail!
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