PATC Joins Paris Mountain Alliance to Oppose Commercial Development Near AT
By Lowell Smith with Laura Greenleaf
More than a century ago, Benton MacKaye envisioned what would become the Appalachian Trail: not just a 2,000-mile hiking path along the Appalachian Mountain range, but a place belonging to all. A place apart from the rapidly industrializing urban centers along the Eastern Seaboard where the work-weary could find respite, solitude, and reconnection with the natural world.
Eleven miles of MacKaye’s vision—the infamous “roller coaster”— lie between Ashby Gap and Snickers Gap on Paris Mountain. The Appalachian Trail is one feature of an area defined by conservation—across Route 50, the trail runs through the 1,900-acre Sky Meadows State Park, which exists because of the conservation legacy of philanthropist Paul Mellon. Much of the land in the national and state listed Crooked Run Valley Rural Historic District is under conservation easement to preserve in perpetuity the valley’s rural character and agricultural, natural, and scenic resources. But a commercial development proposal threatens this tradition of conservation and the treasured landscape that has endured because of it.
Fairfax-based Mountain Resort LLC and NY-based Eastwind Hotels have submitted a pre-application to Loudoun County to develop 150 acres on the southeastern slope of Paris Mountain into Eastwind Blue Ridge, an exclusive hotel, restaurant, spa, and event facility. The 17-partner Paris Mountain Alliance has mobilized to oppose the development which would include two hotel buildings for a total of 40 rooms running $400 to $600 a night, an 88-seat restaurant, and a spa/wellness center plus wells, septic, and parking lots. The property encompasses Clarke, Fauquier, and Loudoun counties, but the developers are planning to construct Phase 1 entirely in Loudoun County where zoning is less protective and intentions for Phases 2 and 3 are uncertain. The developers plan to route traffic from the narrow Mount Weather Road access spur from westbound Route 50 and onto Blue Ridge Mountain Road along a hairpin turn just south of the Appalachian Trail parking area.
The resources at risk cannot be overstated. According to state agencies, they include:
- forest value categorized as “outstanding” and habitat within the Crooked Run-Goose Creek watershed associated with 28 Species of Greatest Conservation Need
- steep slopes identified by Loudoun County as “very sensitive”, “sensitive” and “somewhat sensitive”
- shrinking reserves of groundwater documented in a recent Loudoun County study that sounds the alarm on chronic drought conditions and over-development
- surface waters that are a critical habitat component and support the mountain ecosystem, and
- the beauty of an intact mountainside not scarred by roads, buildings, parking areas, and lighting.
Unfortunately, the developers’ logging operations, which did not comply with regulations, have already fragmented the forest and created vectors for the spread of invasive plants, increasing the reservoir of invasive species reaching the Appalachian Trail.
This new threat of commercial development on Paris Mountain calls us to heed Benton MacKaye’s principled recognition that “. . . a realm and not merely a trail marks the full aim of our efforts.” Stewardship of the Appalachian Trail encompasses the sweeping landscape of the Blue Ridge Mountains as an integral whole—rural character, ecosystem health, wildlife habitat and migration corridors, climate resiliency, scenic viewsheds, and tranquility. As the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) notes in its focus on landscape scale conservation, “Experts agree that the Appalachian Trail Landscape must be conserved and connected to maintain its resilience and biodiversity while protecting species’ current and future opportunities to move across eastern North America.” (For more on the ATC’s conservation mission, read “C is for Conservation” in the Fall 2025 centennial issue of Journeys.)
This same ethic guides PATC as it joins its fellow mountain defenders in the Paris Mountain Alliance. Mountain Resort LLC and Eastwind Hotels have not yet submitted their formal application. The outlook for decisions by appointed and elected officials requiring public hearings is unclear, but the odds are that the fate of Paris Mountain is in the hands of Loudoun County leaders. The Paris Mountain Alliance will provide updated information as it becomes available. To get involved, please contact PATC’s
Lowell Smith at patcconserve@gmail.com.
You can read the Paris Mountain Alliance’s recent press release and see a full list of membershere.