Douglas Graham
Photojournalist Doug Graham, who helped start America’s Routes, died on July 12, 2026, at 65. His photographs of western Loudoun’s back roads, farms and the people who live along them, and his work for Loudoun Now, did more than almost anything to show why these roads matter. His work earned an Emmy and an Edward R. Murrow Award. We ride these roads a little more carefully because of him.
We are one of many people working to keep Loudoun’s old roads gravel. These are the groups and resources we point riders to, and the people whose work made these roads visible to the rest of us.
America’s Routes
A non-profit founded in 2018 by journalists and preservationists to document, share and protect Loudoun’s gravel roads. Its work helped get the road network named one of Virginia’s most endangered historic sites and declared eligible for the National Register of Historic Places in 2020. Their site has history tours, stories and photographs from the back roads.
On our rides: 214 of the 544 outdoor rides we logged since January 2023 passed the battlefields and villages on our History page. That’s the network America’s Routes works to protect.
The Rural Roads Project
America’s Routes’ public campaign to raise awareness and funds for keeping western Loudoun’s roads unpaved, slow and calm, and to invite runners, riders, equestrians and walkers to experience them.
Loudoun Preservation and Conservation Coalition
Its Rural Roads group works with VDOT and county transportation staff to support proper maintenance and preservation of the historic rural road network.
Loudoun County: Rural Unpaved Roads
The county’s page on its more than 250 miles of unpaved rural roads, including its online map of paved and unpaved roads and how paving requests work.
On our rides: our weekly Unison loops, like the Unison Gravel 50K Loop and Mount Weather 54K, run on these unpaved roads. We’ve ridden through St. Louis 88 times and Bloomfield 82 times since 2023.
Virginia DHR: Western Loudoun County’s Rural Road Networks
The state’s draft historic context for western Loudoun’s roughly 700-mile network of rural roads, many dating to the colonial era.
On our rides: we pass the places this study describes all the time: the Unison battlefield marker on 167 rides, Trappe Road on 36 and Aldie on 29 since 2023.
Loudoun 1725 Gravel Grinder
EX2 Adventures’ annual ride on the historic gravel roads around Middleburg, which benefits America’s Routes. More than 1,000 cyclists rode the 2024 edition.
On our rides: on June 14, 2026 we rode out to the 1725 Gravel Grinder from home in Unison (26.1 mi). Our Middleburg Gravel 50K and Middleburg Gravel Grinder cover the same country around Middleburg.
Ride respectfully
These are working farm roads shared with horses, tractors and neighbors. Slow down, pass wide and say hello.
Sources: Middleburg Life, Virginia Living, DCist, Loudoun Now, Loudoun Preservation and Conservation Coalition, Loudoun County, Virginia DHR. Photo from a Cycling Unbound ride.
