Lorton Reformatory | Rural Fairfax

The disused effluence field at the old Lorton sewage treatment plant. I'd imagine that anything growing here would be well fertilized...

The door to the sewage treatment building stands propped open, slowly being taken over by the nature that surrounds it (and the adventurers who dare to peek inside). The facility appears to date back to the 1930's, so there's undoubtedly plenty of fairly toxic goodness contained all throughout—Gracefully returned to the possession and responsibility of Fairfax County by our environmental overlords in Washington.

Another example of the beautiful brickwork in the Lorton Reformatory reverting to nature.

Not that all of Lorton's brickwork served lofty purposes—This wall borders the former sewage treatment plant for the prison complex, which is currently in the process of leeching some brightly-colored substance into Giles Run. (One wonders what Washington, D.C. had to do to get the EPA to turn a blind eye to leaving this facility intact in the Occoquan watershed?)

A fledgling forest takes root, where once there was field.

In fact, none of the trees pictured are visible on the Google satellite imagery (ca. 2003).

Farmland gives way to McMansions—This is the true story of the modern American "dream."

I'm not exactly sure what exactly this is, but in this light, it really did look pretty cool.

Food for the cows, straight from the silo.

I am always amazed to see the brickwork around the Lorton facilities. Bricks were baked on-site in a kiln that is preserved down in Occoquan Regional Park, and hauled up to the building sites using the old Lorton prison railway.

A detail view of some intersecting rooflines. The barn on the left is on the fast track to meeting the horizon, unfortunately.

A barn and silo that were at one point used to feed the cattle raised at the Lorton Reformatory. Farming operations halted sometime in the mid 90's, and the Reformatory itself shut down in 2001. These buildings, now in a state of collapse, are located on what is now a pristine golf course.

Barrett House, built by William Pollock somewhere around 1902.

Thankfully, the County appears to be trying to preserve this one as a park. Otherwise, it would probably suffer a dreadful fate at the hands of the Great Lorton/Furnace Road Expansion Project, scheduled to begin as soon as the Board of Supervisors sees fit.