Guest Column: Please respect the privately owned Lake Catalpa and surrounding fields

To correct any misconceptions, we wish to respond to the “Our View” editorial from June 22 advocating public access for Lake Catalpa. Although recreational facilities incorporating the lake might be a nice addition to the Culpeper community, everyone should be aware that Lake Catalpa and the surrounding land is private property.

While the town has the right to draw the top few feet of lake water for municipal supply, the land under and around the lake is, and always has been, privately owned. Only Lake Pelham and Mountain Run Lake are actually owned by the town.

That municipal ownership allows for public use of those two lakes and the attendant parks and boat ramps. However, there is no legal provision or right granting public access to Lake Catalpa.

The land around the lake is in full use by a private farming operation. This farm is home and business for our families, for many years. The property is still in the county, but is now bounded on three sides by the town, and is situated between two major roads.

Dozens of new homes and the new elementary school back up to our fields. We have always suffered numerous incursions onto the property that make farming difficult and costly. Unfortunately, with increased population and the prospect of the loop road, it’s getting much, much worse.

Riders of ATVs and motorbikes cut fencing, destroy crops and stampede the cattle. Metal detectors dig huge holes and leave debris that damages tractors and other farm machinery, costing thousands of dollars to repair. We find fish carcasses, hooks and line, and other trash strewn around the lake. Illegal hunters remove gates and leave dismembered deer and bloody waste behind. We’ve actually seen men jump out of a car and steal a 90-pound calf from a field! Yes, it’s true: cattle rustling in Culpeper. That’s serious money lost.

Then there are the junk people; guess they don’t want to pay the tipping fee at the dump. We find piles of unsightly garbage — old sofas, refrigerators, stoves —dumped along the farm road. We bear the cost of removal, and repairing any environmental impact. We now endure hundreds of trespassers every year, and end up paying for the damage they do.

We find evidence of parties in hay sheds. The beer cans and liquor bottles are annoying, but the cigarette butts and fire pits are downright scary. Fire in a shed full of dry hay invites a major disaster. Also disturbing is the shrub-enclosed area that often has (used) condoms draped over branches. Imagine finding that in your backyard.

A working farm is not a park, and is not a safe place to play. Besides the heavy agricultural equipment, fertilizers and pesticides, trespassers risk running into dangerous animals and snakes. Fields have bulls and copperhead snakes. The lake has water moccasins, plus snapping turtles large enough to remove a child’s hand. In the warmer weather, kids from surrounding subdivisions try to swim in the lake (with the poisonous snakes and the snapping turtles). Should someone get hurt, the town or county does not bear the liability — we do.

Please, Culpeper, treat our property and privacy with the respect you would wish for your own home and yard. Parents, keep your children safe and away from the lake. Be the good neighbors you hope to have.

We understand that when the loop road comes, farming will no longer be viable with four lanes of traffic running through the property. Healthy growth and development could include a future park and recreational use of the lake. 

However, until then, please respect our property and allow us to farm in peace. Thank you to the Star-Exponent for clarifying the facts about privately owned Lake Catalpa.

The Harlows run Maple Springs Farm.