Data centers in Orange County, Virginia: 1 project mapped

Imagery: Esri, Maxar

A rezoning for data centers on the edge of a Civil War battlefield has been stuck in court for three years. On April 25, 2023, the Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to rezone about 2,600 acres at Routes 3 and 20 near Locust Grove, next to the Wilderness Battlefield and across from Lake of the Woods, for Wilderness Crossing. The developer, KEG Associates III, plans 26 land bays with up to 5,000 homes, commercial space and 732 acres of industrial use, including data centers. It was the largest rezoning in county history. Nondisclosure agreements between Amazon Web Services and the supervisors initially kept residents from knowing which company was behind the data center portion. A Freedom of Information suit by the Piedmont Environmental Council later showed Amazon had been involved since at least April 2022, according to the American Battlefield Trust. The site also holds unreclaimed gold mines, including the Vaucluse mine, with contaminants such as mercury, arsenic and lead.

In May 2023 the American Battlefield Trust, Central Virginia Battlefields Trust, Friends of Wilderness Battlefield and several residents sued. They argue the plan was approved the same evening it first appeared on the supervisors' agenda, differed from what the Planning Commission had reviewed, and used a "secretive and unlawful zoning process". The county called the suit "a desperate attempt to substitute the opinions of a few landowners for the legislative will of the board," and said 40 percent of the land would stay green space. After a hearing before Judge David B. Franzén, the Orange County Circuit Court ruled on Sept. 16, 2025 that four of the seven counts could proceed to trial; the lawsuit has so far halted construction. The president of the Lake of the Woods homeowners' association, whose gated community houses about 10,000 people, wrote that the project's visual, noise and environmental impacts would be severe. In 2024 the National Trust for Historic Preservation put the Wilderness on its list of the 11 most endangered historic places because of the development. What happens next: the Virginia Mercury reported in April 2026 that the county had asked the circuit judge to send the case to the appeals court before any trial; no trial date has been set.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.