Private Jet to Great Falls

Fifteen miles northwest of Washington, D.C., in Virginia’s Fairfax County, is a sprawling, wooded, residential community of gated brick and stone estates, mansions and horse farms. It’s also one of the richest towns in the United States. Great Falls has a wealth of parks and hiking and horse trails that belie the fact that the express routes into Washington, the Capital Beltway and the George Washington Parkway, and the Northern Virginia tech corridor are nearby.

Great Falls lies in the Piedmont Region of Virginia on the right bank of the Potomac River. Politicians and government workers are among the 15,600 people who live in Great Falls where the median annual household income is $310,000 and the average home, many on more than an acre, sells for $1.5 million

Its major attraction – and namesake -- is the 800-acre Great Falls Park, which overlooks the Great Falls of the Potomac River. It’s the place where the river builds up speed as it tumbles over jagged steep rocks and flows through the Mather Gorge. George Washington was involved in building a canal around the falls. Remnants of the Patowmack Canal, which never became commercially viable, and Matildaville, the village that grew up around it, are in the park. There are three overlooks where visitors can view the spectacular falls. The overlook that can be seen across the river in Maryland is in the C&O Canal National Historical Park. If you’d like to go horseback riding, you’ll find riding and jumping facilities at the Fairfax County Turner Farm.

The County of Fairfax, which borders Arlington County and the city of Alexandria, forms part of the suburban ring around Washington. More than a million people live in the 400-square-mile county that is home to seven Fortune 500 companies, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and the National Counterterrorism Center.