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Huntley Meadows Park, the largest park operated by the Fairfax County Park Authority (), is located in the Hybla Valley area of Fairfax County, Virginia, south of the city of Alexandria. The park features a visitor center, a beaver-created wetland with boardwalk, wildlife observation platforms, and an interpretative trail system. The park is home to abundant wildlife and is known for attracting many birds, amphibians, and plants that are considered less common in the region. Secondary-growth forest, sprinkled with several small, native-grass and wildflower meadows surround much of the wetland habitat. The main bodies of water that flow through the park are Dogue Creek at the western border of the park, Barnyard Run, the source of the park's Central Wetland, and the headwaters of Little Hunting Creek.〔(Huntley Meadows Park ), Fairfax County Park Authority. Accessed March 22, 2011.〕 == History == In 1757 the land was purchased by George Mason. About 1825 his grandson built Huntley, on a hill overlooking the property. Huntley is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Another grandson held Okeley Manor which is now the northwest portion of the park. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the area was used for dairy farming. In colonial times, this land was part of the extensive property holdings of George Mason IV. Thomson Francis Mason, a grandson of George Mason, built a summer residence on the property in 1825. The house, now known as Historic Huntley, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Virginia Landmarks Register, and the Fairfax County Inventory of Historic Sites.〔 Mason family ownership lasted into the early 1900s, with sections of the land being sold for family farms. In the late 1920s, entrepreneur Henry Woodhouse reassembled the parcels, purchasing 1500 acres from 10 landowners. He dreamed of transforming Hybla Valley's dairy farms into a dirigible airport. After he lost nearly all of the property, the federal government acquired the land.〔 The land was bought by the federal government in 1941. From 1943 to 1953, the Bureau of Public Roads tested asphalt road surfaces. The Virginia National Guard's Battery D, 125th Gun Battalion provided anti-aircraft protection for the nation's capital from 1950 to 1959. And the Navy conducted highly classified radio communication research from 1958 to 1971, before declaring the land surplus around 1971.〔 In 1975, President Gerald Ford signed papers authorizing the donation of 1,261 acres to the citizens of Fairfax County, "exclusively for public park or public recreation purposes in perpetuity." Under the Federal Legacy of Parks Program, the County paid only one dollar for the land. In 1992 the Fairfax County Park Authority, with financial assistance from Ducks Unlimited, purchased an additional 165 acres of adjacent wetland and upland.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Huntley Meadows Park」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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