WOODLAND PARADISE: BELLEVUE FOREST
Shortly after its founding in 1938, Bellevue Forest outlined neighborhood covenants that set minimum lot sizes at 6,000 to 8,000 square feet. Arlington County has grown considerably denser in the decades since, but not in this picturesque enclave, where neighbors have fiercely deflected proposals to subdivide lots.
As a result, English Cottage, Colonial Revival and English Tudor homes are tucked into the landscape amid old-growth trees, sloping ravines, gurgling streams and a blaze of azaleas and rhododendrons come spring. Located within a stone’s throw of Potomac Overlook Regional Park, Donaldson Run Park and Gulf Branch Nature Center, it’s a haven for wildlife, including deer, foxes, owls, raccoons and the occasional coyote, as well as nature lovers.
For the animals, the living is free, but for would-be homebuyers, the average price tag in Bellevue Forest is $1.3 million.
“It’s a great location with nice large wooded lots and so close to D.C. and walking paths to the river,” says Diane Lewis of The Lewis Team. “The lot sizes are definitely larger than most North Arlington neighborhoods.”