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Loudoun County will soon have a new public park called Cattail Regional Park.
NOVA Parks (a conservation agency that manages 12,465 acres in the region) on Wednesday created the 36th park in its system when it received the deed to the 85 acres in Leesburg. It’s not yet clear when the park will open to the public, according to the Loudoun Times.
The property was donated by members of the Harris family, who have preserved it for generations and also donated Temple Hall Farm to the parks system about 30 years ago.
The new park is located at the corner of Edwards Ferry Road and Battlefield Parkway. It’s home to mature forests, open fields, and an upland bog. Eventually, the parks organization plans to add an entrance, parking, a trail network, and interpretive signs, according to a release.
The Cattail land has a long history. A building located there served as a bed-and-breakfast as far back as 1776, and the land also housed fortifications along Edwards Ferry Road during the Civil War, according to NOVA Parks officials. In the late 1960s, after the public pool in Leesburg was closed to suppress integration efforts, the owners of the Cattail property opened the property for local Black children to learn how to swim at the family pool, according to a press release.
“I would like to thank the Harris family for this remarkable gift. Their contributions to our community run very deep,” Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis J. Randall said in a statement.
The future Cattail Regional Park comes as NOVA Parks continues adding new parkland throughout the region. The agency added the 44-acre Winkler Botanical Preserve in Alexandria in 2022 and it also plans to open Reservoir Park at Beaverdam, also in Loudoun County, with new facilities by mid-2024. Separately, Virginia also opened its newest state park, Sweet Run in Loudoun County, in Loudoun earlier this year.
