A drive through Meadows at Morris Farm in Gainesville, Va., reveals an unusual feature of this suburban community. The 660 houses vary in size and style, with single-family houses, courtyard clusters and townhouses. Houses have distinct door and shutter colors, and vinyl, brick or stone siding.
This sparked an idea for resident Travis Tauzier. “Time was taking a toll on [the mailboxes],” he said. For four years, Tauzier’s youngest daughter has run a business to maintain theses mailboxes. “She’s probably replaced over 100 mailboxes in the neighborhood,” he said. “It’s something we’ve done together.”
Tauzier, who formerly served in the Air Force and Space Force, was transferred from a rural area of Georgia in 2013, and his family didn’t like the idea of a crowded neighborhood, he said. But Morris Farm — as residents call it — was “the best of both worlds,” within commuting distance to the nation’s capital and with plenty of natural space.
Dana Alexy and her husband moved to Morris Farm in 2009 partly for “its proximity to the rural crescent” — a designated rural area in Prince William County — and “slower pace of living,” she said.
The neighborhood offered a great place for her daughter to grow up with lots of other children near Glenkirk Elementary School, three playgrounds, a pool and walking trails. “It’s become quite a little village,” she said. It has a bit of “living history,” she said, because the 1857 Morris family farmhouse stands at the highest point of the neighborhood.
Alexy connected with neighbors through a book club she helped start in 2010 — one of many book clubs in the neighborhood. The community has bunco and poker clubs too, she said.
Morris Farm is bisected by Rollins Ford Road, and residents live on the “school side” or the “pool side.” The book clubs maintain two little free libraries, one outside Morris Farm’s pool house and one in Peacock Park, on the “school side.”
There are pockets of parks and natural spaces throughout the community and more than 40 acres of conservation area and open space along the south side of the community. This land is bordered by the Broad Run Creek. Although under the jurisdiction of Prince William County, the land is considered part of Morris Farm’s common area, Alexy said.
Part of this conservation area has what residents call the “field” or “meadow,” a grassy area just beyond the community pool, popular for birthday parties, Boy Scout rocket launches and Thanksgiving football games, Alexy said. When it snows, “you’re guaranteed to see tons of families trekking down to that hill to go sledding and build snowmen.”
On April 8, residents gathered for an egg hunt, cake walk, and “Guess How Many” games, said Jen Oister, a resident since 2009. Other events include movie nights, food trucks Fridays and a summer kickoff pool party, she said. During the pandemic, they transitioned from movie nights in the field to drive-in movie nights, Oister said. “It was nice because normally that’s a summer thing, but everyone could be in their heated cars, so we did it in the fall and winter.” They’ve also held dive-in movie nights in the summer, where residents watch a movie floating in the pool.
Morris Farm is “well-established,” but in the local area, “it’s nice that there’s still a bit of room to grow,” Oister said. Just down the road, Prince William County’s new Rollins Ford Park is expected to open later this year, she said. With multiuse fields, a playground and a dog park, “it’s going to add a lot more amenities within walking distance of us.”
Living There: Morris Farm is bounded by Glenkirk Elementary School to the north, Ellis Mill Estates to the west and Glenkirk Estates to the east. Nearby is the Virginia Gateway shopping center, Jiffy Lube Live and Manassas National Battlefield Park.
Matt Megel, a real estate agent and founding partner of The CAZA Group at Keller Williams, said that as of March 21, there were no active properties on the market. Over the past year, 40 properties have sold. The highest priced was a five-bedroom, four-bathroom, single family house for $1,061,500. The lowest priced was a three-bedroom, three-bathroom, end-unit townhouse for $525,000. The average sales price over the past year was $695,305.
Compared to other Gainesville neighborhoods, Morris Farm is “one of the more expensive spots,” but compared to other areas in Northern Virginia, like Fairfax, Chantilly and Arlington, Morris Farm can be more “affordable,” Megel said.
Schools: Glenkirk Elementary, Gainesville Middle, Gainesville High School
Transit: Morris Farm is about 40 miles from Washington, with access to Interstate 66, Route 29 and Route 15. The Virginia Railway Express Broad Run Train Station is about eight miles away. Commuter bus service is available through OmniRide. The University Boulevard (Gainesville) Park and Ride is about five miles away.