Friends of Little Rocky Run - Virtual Tour of Watershed, Page 1, Bull Run Creek to Compton Road

The section of Little Rocky Run from its confluence with Bull Run Creek to the bridge over Compton Road is by far the most fascinating part of Little Rocky Run.  It is as close to wilderness as you will find in Fairfax County.  We are curious about the origin of the earthern dams, one is shown on this page, that are at various locations along Little Rocky Run.  Are they Civil War related and once used to power sawmills for timber for the 1,500 log cabins the Confederate Army built in the winter of 1861-'62?

The photo at left shows the confluence of Little Rocky Run and Bull Run Creek.  Little Rocky Run is to the right  (N38° 47.560’  H077°26.174’ E140').  The photo just below shows stepping stones across Little Rocky Run put there by the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority.  These are less than 100 feet upstream from the confluence.

The photo below shows the first of at least three earthern dams along Little Rocky Run.  Look on both sides of the creek and you will see mounds of earth that have long since been breached by the creek.  This dam was constructed almost certainly  before 1900, and is about 100 yards long.  This one is the largest of the three and is about halfway between Bull Run Creek and the Compton Road Bridge. The dams were probably constructed to power sawmills.  In the old days, people used to bring the sawmills to the forest, rather than haul trees to the sawmill.  If you know anything about the origin of these dams, please let us know.

This section of the creek is full of large trees and is probably what all of Little Rocky Run must have looked like long ago. The photo at left shows a huge 10" thick vine.  The photo at the right is a sycamore tree valiantly hanging on to its position on an eroding bank.  The picture below shows naturally occurring stream blockage from fallen trees.

The photo below shows a stretch of small rapids featuring the red sandstone rock that is famous in this area.  Numerous old homes and walls were constructed out of this type of rock, including the Stone House on the Mannassas Battlefield at the intersection of Sudley Road and U. S. 29.

Presumably, while hunting still goes on in the Little Rocky Run watershed, it is only bowhunting. The photo at left shows a deer stand that has been lowered, probably to be less attractive to children.

On to Page 2 of the Virtual Tour!

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All photos on this page were taken in November 2002.