About the Baliles Center

The Gerald L. Baliles Center for Environmental Education at Hull Springs will stand as a living, working monument to a pivotal Virginia lawmaker and leader, Gerald L. Baliles (July 8, 1940-October 29, 2019), who arguably did more than any other public official in the nation to set in motion the modern transformation toward a healthier Chesapeake Bay.

This is a place that resonates with the legacy of Gerald Baliles—on education and the environment, his beloved Southside home region that Longwood serves, and the Chesapeake Bay.

Now, the historic Northern Neck property where Longwood University students experience life-transforming learning and research opportunities bears the name of the former Virginia governor:  The Gerald L. Baliles Center for Environmental Education at Hull Springs.

The name change became official on October 6, 2021, along with the opening of a $1.2 million environmental research lab that expands the scope of work and student experiences at the 662-acre preserve in Westmoreland County, near the mouth of the Potomac River on the Chesapeake.

The Baliles Center at Hull Springs honors Baliles’ work as a General Assembly member, Virginia attorney general, and then governor from 1986-1990—and his work toward improving the health of the Bay.

As Virginia’s 65th governor, Baliles led efforts crafting the 1987 Chesapeake Bay Agreement that pinned down commitments across the mid-Atlantic for reducing pollution and improving water quality.  Baliles championed the landmark Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act as well, spearheaded by Del. Tayloe Murphy, who represented the Northern Neck in the Virginia General Assembly.  Murphy, who passed away in 2021, was instrumental in the legal structuring of the gift of the Hull Springs property in 1999 by Mary Farley Ames Lee ’38 for her alma mater.

While governor, Baliles established the first Cabinet-level position for natural resources, appointing John W. Daniel, II as the Commonwealth’s First Secretary of Natural Resources.  Mr. Daniel has served as a member of the Board of Visitors for Longwood University and currently serves as President of the Logwood University Real Estate Foundation.  

In 2004, Gerald Baliles was named conservationist of the year by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Archaeological Resources

The Baliles Center contains numerous archaeological sites, both prehistoric and historic. The Archaeology Field School of Longwood University has been surveying the site since 1993. Based on the evidence of projectile points types and other stone tools, prehistoric Native American Indians were present as early as 3,800 years ago, and based on the evidence of fired clay pottery shards and other ceramics, prehistoric presence continued up to the time of European contact. There is also evidence of windowpane glass, wrought and cut nails, colonial ceramic shards, kaolin pipe stems, and wine bottle pieces which indicate historic occupation in numerous areas of the property, as early as the 1680s.

In 2005, Longwood Foundation started re-engineering the Baliles Center from a traditional working farm and timber operation to a sustainable model of conservation.