Fauquier County, Virginia - huh?

The Top 10 Progressive Farmer magazine has tapped 10 counties as the "best places to live in rural America": 1. Fauquier County, Va. 2. Oconee County, Ga. 3. McPherson County, Kan. 4. Callaway County, Mo. 5. Grafton County, N.H. 6. Gillespie County, Tex. 7. Sauk County, Wis. 8. Wilson County, Tenn. 9. Eagle County, Colo. 10. Rankin County, Miss. Fauquier's Prize Comes With a Price By Stephanie McCrummenWashington Post Staff Writer Out in Fauquier County, the news was greeted with earnest pride, a smattering of scoffs and faint feelings of dread. The rolling, green bastion of cattle farms and horse shows, Warners and Mellons -- more recently discovered by country-life-seeking suburbanites, Starbucks and the International House of Pancakes -- was ranked the best place to live in"Rural, proud of it and trying to stay that way," the article began. "With equestrian activities around every corner, no wonder Fauquier is attractive." Accompanying photos included a winery and action from the Gold Cup steeplechase, but not, for instance, the Wal-Mart and Outback Steakhouse, which opened recently and which some longtime residents fear are more accurate, if less pastoral, signs of the county's future. "Hmmm," said Keith Dickinson, agricultural extension agent for the county, choosing his words carefully. "I think most folks were surprised when they heard about it. I'm sure the tourism folks really love it. But I think for most people, it's the 'trying to stay that way' part that is the primary concern." In recent years, the sort of grand-scale suburban development that has pervaded Loudoun and Prince William counties has crossed the border into Fauquier, which traditionally has prided itself on its efforts to preserve farms and open space and such rarefied pursuits as fox hunting. While farmland in counties closer to Washington has become front lawns or open space suitable for dog walking, Fauquier has preserved about 65,000 agricultural acres, about 15 percent of the county, through various conservation programs. For more read here...