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History · Aldie

Aldie’s post office opened in 1911, and 100% of its homes were built before 1940

3 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 11 buildings between them. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1933 on, and old-book passages.

1911first post office
3on the National Register
100%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Aldie’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Aldie began

When was Aldie founded?

1911

The Aldie post office opened in 1911, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 70115 years
Founding year: the first Aldie post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
The story

How Aldie came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Aldie.

Read it all →

Aldie's beginnings were laid in 1765 when James Mercer and George Mercer established a mill at the location of the present historic edifice. The location was a natural choice, as the gap contained the intersection of the Belhaven Road between Winchester and Alexandria and the Mountain Road which ran northwest to Snickers Gap. By 1809 the Little River Turnpike was completed from Alexandria to the Mercer Mill, replacing the older rutted section of Belhaven Road. With the opening of the road, James Mercer's son, Charles Fenton Mercer, in a partnership with William Cooke, set out to develop a village on 30 acres (120,000 m2) at the turnpike's western terminus. Mercer named the village for Castle Aldie, his Scottish clan's ancestral home.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Aldie, 1908–1909

Passages that mention Aldie, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Colonel Owens, however, pressed his success too far. He drove the enemy almost to the village of Aldie, where he was charged by a fresh regiment and briven back, losing many of the prisoners he had taken and some of his own men. Major Henry Carrington, of the }d regiment, was captured at this point…
History and comprehensive description of Loudoun County, Virginia1909 · page 168Read the page →
Read the text

Colonel Owens, however, pressed his success too far. He drove the enemy almost to the village of Aldie, where he was charged by a fresh regiment and briven back, losing many of the prisoners he had taken and some of his own men. Major Henry Carrington, of the }d regiment, was captured at this point. Colonel Munford says in his report: " 'Captain Newton, having rallied his small command and a

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
"Early on the morning of the 17th of June, I863, Colonel Munford, with the 2d and 3rd Virginia Cavalry, moved from Upperville through Middleburg, and having established his picket posts east of Aldie, crossed over to Snicker's Gap road and proceeded with these two regiments to procure corn at the h…
History and comprehensive description of Loudoun County, Virginia1909 · page 165Read the page →
Read the text

"Early on the morning of the 17th of June, I863, Colonel Munford, with the 2d and 3rd Virginia Cavalry, moved from Upperville through Middleburg, and having established his picket posts east of Aldie, crossed over to Snicker's Gap road and proceeded with these two regiments to procure corn at the house of Franklin Carter, about a mile distant. He expected to encamp that night in the vicinity of Aldie.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
"The arrival of Rosser's regiment was most opportune. By an immediate sabre charge he drove back the enemy's advance upon their main body in the town of Aldie. Having relieved the pressure on the pickets, Rosser stationed his sharpshooters, under Capt. R. B. Boston, on the right of the Snickersvill…
History and comprehensive description of Loudoun County, Virginia [electronic resource]1908 · page 165Read the page →
Read the text

"The arrival of Rosser's regiment was most opportune. By an immediate sabre charge he drove back the enemy's advance upon their main body in the town of Aldie. Having relieved the pressure on the pickets, Rosser stationed his sharpshooters, under Capt. R. B. Boston, on the right of the Snickersville road, where a number of haystacks afforded some protection, and held the remainder of his small regiment ready for their support. Colonel Munford, in the meantime,

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Aldie, 1840 to 1933

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1840BuiltStoke is built
  3. 1863In the archiveMap of Leesburg, Aldie, Springdale, and vicinity
  4. 20th century
  5. 1911Post officeThe Aldie post office opens
  6. 1933On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Aldie, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s6 items
Map of Leesburg, Aldie, Springdale, and vicinity1863Map of Leesburg, Aldie, Springdale, and vicinityMapPorch at Aldie, where Pleasontons staff slept1863Porch at Aldie, where Pleasontons staff sleptCavalry fight near Aldie, Va. During the march to Gettysburg; the Union Cavalry; commanded by Gen. Pleasonton, the Conf…1863Cavalry fight near Aldie, Va. During the march to Get…"Your men bin stealing my hogs"1863"Your men bin stealing my hogs"Surrender!!!1863Surrender!!!Confederate prisoners captured at cavalry fight at Aldie, Va., June, 18641864Confederate prisoners captured at cavalry fight at Al…
On the map

Aldie on the map, 1933 to 1977

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Aldie. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Aldie on the 1933 USGS mapAldie on the 1946 USGS mapAldie on the 1968 USGS mapAldie on the 1977 USGS map1933Middleburg sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Aldie.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Porch at Aldie, where Pleasontons staff slept
Retake this viewPorch at Aldie, where Pleasontons staff slept, 1863

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Aldie’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

3 listings protect 11 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
11
each building in a district counts
first listed
1970
Aldie Mill Historic District
Aldie Mill Historic DistrictLittle River Turnpike Bridge
DistrictsStructures
Aldie Mill Historic DistrictDistrict
Little River Turnpike BridgeStructure
StokeBuilt 1840

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Help out

Finish Aldie’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewPorch at Aldie, where Pleasontons staff…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Aldie’s history

What year was Aldie founded?

The Aldie post office opened in 1911, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Aldie?

Three places: the Aldie Mill Historic District (listed 1970), the Little River Turnpike Bridge (2014) and the Stoke (2015).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (5), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.