Just Like Nothing (else) on Earth: Tail Race Road 

By Tim Jon

“So – just where is this ‘tail race’ we’re talking about? And, while we’re at it – just what is such a thing as a tail race, in the first place?” 

Well, good question. And, good question. Let’s see: as far as what a tail race is, the way I understand it, it’s just the portion of a creek – or ‘run’ – that’s downstream from a mill or other type of waterworks – like a hydroelectric dam or something. 

Okay, we got that straightened out. Now, back to the exact location of said tail race in today’s story – I’d probably take a stab at the little trickle of water moseying along as the ‘after-channel’ from Aldie Mill – all the way down along Rt. 50, in the historic Village of the same name. 

But my mildly adventurous drive that morning didn’t start down there; and, besides I’d set out not only ignorant of the geographic coordinates of the tail race, but I’d have failed a simple definition test: I may have described a tail race as some kind of antics performed by a litter of miniature dachshund puppies. Not that there’d be anything wrong with that. 

No: my introduction to Tail Race Road started just off Rt. 15 south of Leesburg – as a narrow, gravel corridor turning off from the highway a few miles after I crossed Goose Creek. 

I’d never driven this stretch of dirt road before that morning, and I was curious: what would I encounter along the way? Well, let’s see: solitude – a rare commodity in Loudoun County, quiet at least whenever I stopped to do a little footwork, darkness (that is, until sunrise), fog sort of hovering over the low spots in the terrain, and impending construction – evidenced by the giant earth-movers standing watch over the landscape. Some of the former agricultural fields were already laid bare by the motorized monsters still parked out on the acreage, looking ready for more action. 

Incoming housing developments would be a pretty good guess, I figured. Maybe by the time you read this, some of the new residents will be moving in and getting settled. We humans have a funny way of using words like ‘improve’ and ‘develop’ in terms of manifest destiny and all that sort of stuff. And I got to kind of mulling over these issues that morning out among the behemoths and their handiwork; I’d been witnessing scenarios like this since moving to Loudoun over 25 years ago. 

And, you know? Just maybe the tail race term sometimes refers to us humans chasing our own posteriors in an effort to win the ‘rat race.’ Images that come to mind whenever I encounter developers’ activities that lay bare every inch of greenery within eyesight in order to install their ‘improvements.’ 

And, no offense to those who move in: everybody’s gotta be someplace, right? I just wish we could do it without losing every tree, bush and blade of grass. And part of our souls in the process. Oh, well – what’s a little erosion and lack of shade when there’s money to be made? Talk about a real ‘tail race.’ Yes, I just gruffly brought in the pessimistic portion of my personality. You noticed; you say? 

But then the more optimistic, benevolent side of me sort of shoulders my bewailing negativity out of the way, and I imagine at least a portion of the future for some of these new residents along Tail Race Road: as humans, we all possess the ability to learn, adapt and overcome the most dire conditions – leveraging this important lesson, I can’t help but envision future generations developing a renewed reverence for the land on which they live, and for the various forms of life found in their immediate surroundings. 

Families may even start learning about the history of their neighborhoods (in terms of our current place in the timelines of the region’s geology, biology and anthropology – including ‘indigenous’ peoples) as a means of shared experience and entertainment; heck, we could witness a rebirth in plain old simple gardening – and perhaps an overall practice of actually raising useful crops on some of those multi-acre lots – instead of just an endless expanse of grass and its endless cycle of lawn-watering and lawn mowing. At least that’s a little bit of the vision engendered by my more positive (perhaps creative) side. 

And I’m just a humble storyteller with barely any education, accomplishments or innovative ideas; imagine if we ever get some real hearts and minds in on this thing. Could turn out to be my kind of ‘tail race.’