Fairfax4Horses, a local non-profit equestrian organization that is celebrating its tenth year of advocacy on behalf of the equestrian community in Fairfax County and Northern Virginia, opposes a detrimental bypass proposal for Route 1 improvements that would divide the property and facilities of Woodlawn Stables.
Located on a 56-acre portion of the Woodlawn Plantation Historic District in Alexandria, Woodlawn Stables leases the 56-acre horse farm from the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one portion of the Woodlawn Mansion and its 127 acres of historic property. With 50 horses and ponies and ten instructors, Woodlawn Stables provides lessons in horsemanship and horse riding to 300-400 children and adults per week who come from inside and outside Fairfax County. It is the largest, and one of only a handful of its kind left, in Fairfax County.
In solidarity with the dedicated volunteers of Save Woodlawn Stables, Fairfax4Horses strongly supports the adoption of the widening-in-place proposal for Route 1. This alternative solution would preserve the property, the historically significant buildings, and the existing pasture, barn, and riding facilities of Woodlawn Stables, so that it may continue to operate as a family-owned riding school and boarding facility, as it has done for 33 years under current ownership. The closing of numerous large riding stables in Fairfax County over the past decade, due in part to rising property values and real estate development, was the primary impetus for the founding of Fairfax4Horses, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose primary advocacy is for the establishment of public riding facilities on County parkland.
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“Our reason for seeking new facilities on County parkland is that private facilities are disappearing,” said Fairfax4Horses President Beverly Dickerson. “Woodlawn Stables helps fill the great public demand for accessible horse riding lessons and enjoyment of scenic green pastures and wildlife habitat — things that make Fairfax County so special,” she added.
For further information, visit http://www.facebook.com/#!/savewoodlawnstables
and http://www.savewoodlawnstables.org.
About Fairfax4Horses
Fairfax4Horses, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization working to ensure that all Fairfax County residents have access to affordable public riding lessons at park facilities within a reasonable distance of where they live. For more information on Fairfax4Horses, visit www.fairfax4horses.org.
Contacts: Rebecca Brown Thompson, Public Relations (479) 530-8971; Beverly Dickerson, President (703) 620-4689
