Lovettsville

History

Following the 1722 Treaty of St. Albans which established the Blue Ridge Mountains as the buffer between Native Americans and white settlers, German immigrants began arriving in the northern Loudoun Valley to farm the rich topsoil. They established several villages, many constructed of log and wooden buildings, and began to expand their land holdings. Lovettsville was then called "The German Settlement". In 1820 David Lovett subdivided his property into quarter-acre "city lots". As a result of the ensuing construction boom, the town was called "Newtown". In 1828, the town was again renamed, to "Lovettsville". In 1836 the Virginia General Assembly established Lovettsville as a town, but the town was not fully incorporated until 1876. During the Civil War, Lovettsville was an important transportation stop for Union troops crossing the Potomac River. Lovettsville was among the few communities in Loudoun County to vote against secession. In 1940, Lovettsville was the site of a crash of a DC-3 airliner. It was the worst in US history at that time, killing 25 people, including U.S. Senator Ernest Lundeen, and became known as the Lovettsville air disaster. The Lovettsville Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. In 2018, after the NHL's Washington Capitals advanced to the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in franchise history, the town's council voted to temporarily rename Lovettsville "Capitals-ville" for the duration of the finals.

Geography

Lovettsville is located in northern Loudoun County at (39.2728, -77.6399). Virginia State Route 287 passes through the center of town, leading north to Brunswick, Maryland, and south to Purcellville. Leesburg, the Loudoun county seat, is southeast of Lovettsville. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which , or 0.38%, are water. The town sits on a low ridge within the Loudoun Valley, with the west side of town draining to Dutchman Creek and the east side draining to Quarter Branch, both streams flowing north to the Potomac River.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  21,090
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  17,273
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  14,238
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  13,837
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  13,494
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  13,175
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  13,051
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  12,909

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2025-10-27
  4 km E of Riverside, Maryland
• M 2.6 — 2021-06-25
  2 km SE of Woodlawn, Maryland
• M 2.81 — 2019-09-15
  5 km ESE of East Berlin, Pennsylvania
• M 3.03 — 2016-01-17
  3 km NE of Ranson, West Virginia
• M 3.6 — 2010-07-16
  5 km NNW of Barnesville, Maryland