There are over 3,800 homes in Lansdowne, Virginia, between single-family and townhomes, housing roughly 13,000 residents. People, that is. This book is about the other residents.
Sandwiched between Lansdowne’s homes and golf courses on both sides of Goose Creek lies a section of the Potomac Heritage Trail. I reach it by walking half a mile from my front door, along manicured sidewalks. The path follows the creek, upstream or down, bending where waterways meet to follow a piece of the Potomac River.
Within this narrow ribbon of forest, we share the land with an astonishing set of wild neighbors. These residents don’t have five-digit addresses, but they too call this place home. All of the images and stories in this book come from a stretch of trail less than three miles long.
This is a book of wonder and of lessons—of the profusion of life that exists in a single slice of suburbia, at the edges of our awareness. It’s astonishing, enlightening, and sometimes magical. I didn’t know it was possible. I didn’t know it was here.
You might not have known either. But look inside, and you’ll see…