Meet Lewis Ashton

As an elected board director, representing

King George County for Tri-County/City Soil and Water Conservation District, Lewis promotes and supports conservation practices that conserve natural resources and protect water quality and implements them on the family farm, Waterloo, located in King George County.

Lewis Ashton is a familiar face in both King George County and in the Fredericksburg area. Originally born in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, his family moved to King George where he grew up and showed cattle in the Fredericksburg area 4-H/FFA Livestock Show and Sale. After high school, he attended Virginia Tech where he graduated with a BS in Animal Science in 1969. A participant in ROTC, Lewis served as a 1st Lieutenant in the Vietnam War, leaving home on Thanksgiving Day in 1969 and returning on Thanksgiving Day in 1970. Lewis then continued his education obtaining a MS degree in Animal Science from Iowa State University in 1971. Lewis returned to Virginia after graduation, and eventually, to the family farm in 1983.

Waterloo has been continuously farmed by a family member since 1652. Lewis has raised corn, soybeans, wheat, and barley. He now has 500 acres of hay and pasture and runs a cow-calf operation. 

Lewis and his wife, Dianne, also won the Clean Water Farm / Bay Friendly Farm Award for his efforts in helping to keep the Potomac River clean through his conservation farming efforts. He installed a strip cropping system, waterways, field buffers and a drop structure to reduce and control any sedimentation from his grain operation. When he converted to grass, fences went up and water systems were developed to handle cattle, and a rotational grazing system was developed.

Lewis developed a fencing system and excluded his cattle from streams on the property and developed a livestock watering system to enhance his grazing program. This system initially included two wells and nine frost-free waterers. 

Today, in addition, to farming Lewis sells cattle waterers and high-tensile electric fencing.

Lewis is married to the former Dianne Condrey of Powhatan County, and they have three children. In addition to raising a family and farming, Lewis is a dedicated servant in his community. He has been on the Board of Directors of the King George Farm Bureau since returning to King George County and is currently the President of the Board. He is also a long-term member of the King George Extension Leadership Council. Lewis has also assisted with the 4-H Livestock Club in King George, and he is a regular supporter of the annual Fredericksburg area 4-H/FFA Junior Livestock Show and Sale. 

Lewis attends Oakland Baptist Church where he is a deacon, former Sunday school teacher and has served on various committees through the years.