The W&OD is a one-hundred-foot-wide park in Virginia and one of the state's longest, with forty-five miles of paved trail for walking, running, cycling, skating, and more, built on the roadbed of the former Washington and Old Dominion Railroad. The multi-use trail runs through the urban heartland and countryside of Northern Virginia, with endpoints at Shirlington in Arlington County and Purcellville in Loudoun County. Its first section opened in Falls Church in 1974 and the trail was completed in 1988. Along the paved trail are an additional thirty-two miles of adjacent gravel equestrian trail for horseback riding over hills and through shallow streams. The route began as the Alexandria, Loudoun and Hampshire Railroad in 1847, intended to carry commerce inland from the Alexandria seaport to Loudoun County, and although that commerce never fully developed, the line passed through places that are now key economic sites in Northern Virginia, including Arlington, Falls Church, Vienna, Reston, Herndon, Sterling, Leesburg, and Purcellville. The trail also offers rare vantage points as it crosses the Capital Beltway, crosses Route 66 in two places, crosses Route 7 near Leesburg, and runs beside a Luckstone Quarry between Leesburg and Purcellville.
