Most people in the Washington metro area have heard of Great Falls Park, but the roughly 9,000 residents of the town of Great Falls know the true joys of living in its shadow. The National Park Service operates the 800-acre park on the Potomac River and its surrounding land. The beautiful spot is just one of several parks that make Great Falls one of the best areas for hiking, biking, horseback riding, fishing and kayaking. River Bend Park and Great Falls Grange Park are others in the area.
The abundance of green space gives the Fairfax County town a country-like feel despite its close proximity to the Beltway.
The seven-mile drive from the Capital Beltway on Georgetown Pike into the heart of Great Falls underscores the beauty of the area. Magnificent trees and mansions line the road.
| At a glance |
| October 2010 for homes in ZIP code 22066 |
| Average sold price for homes in ZIP code 22066: $ 1,260,625 |
| Average list price: $ 1,420,306 |
| Average days on market: 177 |
| October 2009 for homes in ZIP code 22066 |
| Average sold price for homes in ZIP code 22066: $ 1,151,945 |
| Average list price: $ 1,416,157 |
| Average days on market: 193 |
It’s a drive that Vital Hiek never will forget.
“I came to the United States from a war-torn country in 1981,” said Hiek, owner of Market Cellars, a wine shop in Great Falls’ Village Centre. “Back in the early 1980s my uncle took me [on] a drive through one of Great Falls’ wavy roads, and that experience stayed with me. I told myself that one day I would live in Great Falls. I moved to Great Falls in 2001.”
Hiek and his neighbors are living the American dream — but real estate here isn’t cheap. The average sales price for a home in the 22066 zip code in October was $1.26 million.
Home prices also are buoyed by the area’s great schools. Three elementary schools feed into Langley High School, which ranks 47th on the U.S. News and World Report list of the nation’s best high schools.
“The two reasons people like Great Falls are the schools and because it’s a low-density housing community,” said Casey Margenau, a Realtor with Re/Max. “The smallest lots are a half-acre, and you don’t have any townhouses or condominiums. A majority of lots are one, two, five acres, even in the neighborhoods. It feels rural, it acts like a small town, but you’re right near Washington.”
In the heart of town sits the Village Centre, a mall unlike most you’ve seen. The shops literally are housed in houses. It looks like a series of old-time Main Street shops, with offices, restaurants and retail stores occupying individual structures laid out in a large rectangle. There’s a local hardware store, Hiek’s wine shop, a coffee shop and an Irish pub. In the middle of the rectangle is a large green open space where the community holds concerts in the summer and special events year-round.
Cathy Moran has owned and operated the gift, stationery and accessory store, Cathy’s Corner, in the Village Centre for four years. She’s lived in town for 20.
“It’s sort of like ‘Cheers,’ ” she said. “People want to go where everybody knows their name. I know my customers on a first-name basis. My friends shop here. (Great Falls) is a small enough place that you know a lot of people but it’s big enough that not everyone is in everyone’s business. Whenever anything good or bad happens, everyone is there to rally around you.”
Hiek’s shop is the kind of place you can stroll through and feel as if you’re in a wine connoisseur’s private cellar.
“Wine has intriguing characteristics — taste, aroma, feel — and deserves special care and a place as charming and unique as wine,” he said. “The Village Centre brings that and it would be difficult to find another place like it.”
