Entrepreneur and conservationist Chuck Kuhn was honored by the Mosby Heritage Area Association with the 2018 Heritage Hero Award Tuesday, Dec. 4.
The award was presented by Childs Burden, chairman emeritus and a founding member of the group, at the National Sporting Library & Museum in Middleburg. Burden said Kuhn and his wife, Stacy, “have done much to protect our cherished sense of place” and are “a truly positive force” in the area.
The Heritage Hero award is presented to those who have demonstrated stewardship and preservation responsibility over many years in the sprawling Northern Virginia Piedmont and lower Shenandoah Valley of the Mosby Heritage Area founded in 1995. The expanse stretches across Fauquier, Loudoun, Clarke, Warren, and western Prince William counties.
Kuhn, 53, a licensed helicopter pilot, began his highly successful J.K. Moving Services at age 16. It’s now recognized as the largest independent moving company in North America. The Kuhns are parents of nine children ranging in age from teenagers to 31.
At this time, Kuhn has more than 4,455 acres protected in Loudoun, Fauquier and Frederick Counties. This includes his 942-acre home, Loudoun County’s Egypt Farm near Lincoln. In Fauquier, Kuhn has conserved the historic 788-acre Spring Hill Farm near Warrenton.
In late May 2017, Kuhn purchased the 150-acre, circa-1956 Middleburg Training Track property in Loudoun for $1.5 million from the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation. He immediately set about restoring the facility, which includes 11 barns with a 7/8-mile race track and 22 paddocks.
The estimated $2 million renovation has transformed the property and Kuhn clearly has kept his commitment to “do everything we can to restore it as a first-class facility.”