brandyam not from Middleburg proper but I am a western Loudoun County native.  I have not been around here as long as others, however Middleburg has been a part of my daily life since about 1989 so I feel pretty attached and well versed in being local.  I fondly recall places like the Coach Stop,  BP,  The Finicky Filly, Piedmont Gourmet, Mosby’s, The Intimate Fox, Huckleberries, and The Windsor House. Though times have changed, I am glad that Middleburg, for the most part, has stayed the same.

You know you are from Middleburg when…

1.  You do your best to support your local community, businesses and culture and are perfectly happy to commute to anywhere else to find a Starbucks, Subway or Multiplex rather than welcome them to town.

2.  Having a dust covered car is completely normal.   Potholes happen.  Who needs a perfectly aligned, clean car, anyway?  

3.  You are well aware of the difference between those who dress like a Ralph Lauren advertisement to look like they fit in and those that actually have been in the vicinity of a real, live horse.  You can most often tell by some sort of dirt, hay, sawdust, hair, scent or manure somewhere on their ensemble.

4.  Your go to hostess gift when you go out of town is a box of cow puddles.   Your go to dinner outing when you host is to get some peanut soup.

5.  With zero disrespect to the success of Fox Chase, The Red Horse or Middleburg Academy, to some they will always be called Paper Chase, Magpies and Notre Dame.

6.  Everyone knows that it takes “20 minutes” to get anywhere and people legitimately can use the excuse of being stuck behind a tractor or hunt or needing to help a lost dog, cow, or horse when they are late.

7.  Ladies know how acceptable and actually sought after and preferred a wedgie is at the races.  Shoes, people.  Stilettos at the races are a dead giveaway that you are not local.

8.  You know they are not dogs and no, they don’t shoot the fox.

9.  You really know you have arrived when there is at least one unfounded rumor floating around town about you.  And that rumor morphs several times as it travels from the post office to the coffee shop.  Probably the ugliest side of Middleburg.  The sad but true reality of our lovely, little village. 

10.  And last but not least, you know you are from Middleburg when you have at least once illegally parked at the Safeway when you didn’t go in there to shop.