Our area spreads across rolling forest and is interrupted only by rocks, creeks, and wildlife. Most of the homes in Kings Mill – Morgan Creek are architect designed with special consideration for the environment of the area. We have no privacy fences, no sidewalks, and very few straight streets. The neighborhood seems to flow over the land and continue into the Botanical Garden pathways, the banks of Morgan Creek, and the sudden opening of the meadow.

At any time, but especially in the early mornings and evenings, you will find neighbors jogging, walking dogs, and simply gathering to talk. We not only bring together doctors, lawyers, scientists, business persons, engineers and other professionals and scholars, but also artists, writers, musicians, linguists and philosophers. In times of need, such as Hurricane Fran, we have banded together to support each other.

During 2005, our neighborhood began a process with the Town that resulted in a zoning overlay to protect its "character." We are now a Neighborhood Conservation District (NCD) as recommended by the Town Planning Board and enacted by the Town Council. The process was not always easy as we worked to prevent exploitation of the neighborhood while at the same time protecting the rights and freedom of owners.

Some things the NCD covers are :

• preventing further subdivision of lots
• maintaining a minimum lot size
• establishing minimum setback

Defense against NCD violations are the responsibility of the Town. Therefore, we attempted to codify some of our existing covenants into the NCD legal requirements. The NCD, however, cannot cover everything we would like to protect in our neighborhood. For further protection, the neighborhood relies upon its nine separate sets of covenants. Covenant disputes must be resolved by the neighbors, and sometimes this means having to file a law suit to defend them.

Only one covenant set has been updated in the Morgan Creek end of the neighborhood including Morgan Bend. Most of the remaining sets can be amended on each tenth anniversary of their creation. It is possible that the NCD process inspired some areas of the neighborhood to begin work on amending their covenants.