The Rest of the Story

The Rest of the Story
Post-1846 history of Woodlawn gets a closer look.

By Robert Fulton | October 19, 2010

Woodlawn, the 126-acre National Trust for Historic Preservation site located off Richmond Highway near Ft. Belvoir, has a long history. But while the first 40 years of Woodlawn's existence is well-known, details of the estate's history that follow its sale in 1846 have been incomplete.

Until now.

The history of Woodlawn from 1846 on is getting a much-needed closer look.

"In the past, the main focus of the interpretative tour here has been the original owners of the house," said Susan Hellman, Deputy Director of Woodlawn and the Pope-Leighey House. "While people have known some about the later owners, just general information, they haven't known very much about them. I've done more in-depth research on the people who lived here."

The original owners were George Washington's nephew Major Lawrence Lewis and his wife Eleanor "Nelly" Custis Lewis. The property was originally part of Mt. Vernon, which can be seen from Woodlawn. In 1846, the Lewis's son sold the property to two families that were members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers. Opposed to slavery, the families established a free labor colony at Woodlawn.

According to Hellman, during the Civil War, Woodlawn and the surrounding area was raided by both the Union and the Confederacy – the North figuring the estate owners were southerners and part of the rebellion, the South knowing the group was made up of Union sympathizers.

"We're finding that it's really a very fascinating story," Hellman said. "We're going deeper into that, into some of these post-Lewis owners because they're really more interesting than you think they are.

The renewed focus on the history of Woodlawn from 1846 on is due to Woodlawn's Director Laurie Ossman. She secured a grant from the National Trust Interpretation and Education Fund to hire researchers to explore the era in question.

Ossman wanted to learn more about Woodlawn beyond the Washington-related family that first lived there.

"It was a logical next question," the director said, before adding, "The focus with George Washington is hard to get past."

Hellman worked as a historian for Fairfax County for five years before taking over as Deputy Director at Woodlawn in April. In May of 2009, Hellman, along with genealogist Maddy McCoy, started work on tackling Woodlawn's history.

Born and raised in the area and now living in Herndon, Hellman combed through a wealth of information, including land records, tax records, census records, family archives, old photographs and local newspapers.

The plan is to offer a lecture on the findings sometime next year, and dedicate a room to the house to the post-1846 era.

"You can't tell the whole story of a site with just focusing on one part," Hellman said. "That's part of what preservation is all about, is the entire history of the structure or the site, not just this one microcosm in time.

"To us it's more interesting to tell the story of the house through time, not just this one static period."

http://mountvernon.patch.com/articles/the-rest-of-the-story-2

Maddy McCoy
Fairfax County, Virginia
Slavery Inventory Database

I will be speaking at “Woodlawn on the Eve of the Civil War: A Changing Cultural Landscape.” From plantation slavery to an integrated community – 1846-1865

2nd Season
2010-2011 Woodlawn and The Pope-Leighey House Lecture Series

“Woodlawn on the Eve of the Civil War:
A Changing Cultural Landscape.”
From plantation slavery to an integrated community – 1846-1865



Susan Hellman is a professional architectural historian with an M.A. from the University of Virginia School of Architecture and a B.A. from Duke University. After several years working as a Historian for Fairfax County, she is now the Deputy Director of Woodlawn/Pope-Leighey.

Maddy McCoy is a Certified Historic Preservationist and creator of the Fairfax County, Virginia Slavery Inventory Database, a searchable genealogical database of enslaved and free black individuals who lived in Fairfax County, Virginia prior to 1865. She is a Historian for the Fairfax County Park Authority, and part of Gunston Hall's Seeds of Independence Group, researching the post-bellum African American community on Mason Neck.

Thursday, September 30
Historic Woodlawn
7 – 9 p.m.

Admission: $15.00; National Trust members; $10.00

RSVP:
Please respond to Karen Sherwood at 703-780-4000 extension 26321 or karen_sherwood@nthp.org. All major credit cards accepted; checks payable to Woodlawn; mail to address below.

9000 Richmond Highway▪ Alexandria, VA 22309
Mailing Address▪ PO Box 15097▪ Alexandria, VA 22309
www.woodlawn1805.org ▪ www.popeleighey1940.org

I will be speaking about the Fitzhugh slaves at the Oak Hill Open House, Fairfax County, VA

A LOOK BACK AT BRADDOCK PROJECT PROUDLY PRESENTS

OAK HILL OPEN HOUSE SATURDAY OCTOBER 16, 2010

NOON—FIVE PM

(Opening ceremony at 12:30 pm)

4716 Wakefield Chapel Road, Annandale, VA 22003




ABOUT OAK HILL

The Fitzhugh Family and 17th & 18th Century Fairfax County

In 1670, William Fitzhugh (a.k.a. “William the Immigrant”) settled in Westmoreland County Virginia. He became a governor of the College of William and Mary and a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. He also established one of the largest land grants in the “new world.” He owned land that stretched from present day Stafford County to Arlington County. The Fairfax County portion of this property, the 21,996-acre Ravensworth Tract, was described in 1694 as “upon the runs of Accotinke, Mussel Creek run and on the south side of the run Four Mile Creek.”

In the 1680s and 1690s, the Fairfax County land known at the time as Ravensworth was marketed to French Huguenots who were suffering under religious persecution. In 1686, William Fitzhugh wrote the following to entice the Huguenots to buy or lease this land: “The land I offer to sell or lease is scituate in this county, lyes within a mile and a half of Potomac River, and of two bold navigable creeks, is principal good land and is proper for Frenchmen, because more naturally inclined to vines, than yours or any about our neighborhood; and will engage to naturalize every soul of them at 3 per head without anymore or other matter of charge or trouble to them, whereby the heirs will be capacitated to inherit the fathers purchase.”

In 1730, tobacco warehouses were established at Little Hunting Creek and Occoquan. These helped to make Ravensworth a very prosperous tobacco plantation. By 1782, Ravensworth was the fourth largest plantation in Fairfax County, and had 203 slaves. In 1783, the north section of the Ravensworth tract was divided among the five [great] grandsons of William Fitzhugh. The south section, south of Braddock Road, remained largely intact until Robert E. Lee’s children inherited it. Richard Fitzhugh, one of the five [great] grandsons, built Oak Hill in 1790. In the same year, Ossian Hall and another house named Dover*were all constructed by the [great] grandsons of William Fitzhugh. Today Oak Hill is the only remaining home built by the Fitzhugh family left in Fairfax County.

Built in 1790 by Richard Fitzhugh, Oak Hill was patterned after the rigid symmetry of the late Georgian style which was inspired by Italian Renaissance architecture. In 1830, an extension was added to the west side of the original house. In the 1930s renowned restoration architect Walter M. Macomber restored and remodeled the house in a Colonial Revival style. Other than the sunroom added to the west side of the house in the 1970s, most of Oak Hill stands today as it did after the 1930s restoration. One feature of significance is the Colonial Revival wood paneling in the dining room which is a replica Federal-period mantel that is detailed with a molded shelf, decorative carved medallions, marble facing and a marble hearth.

The grounds of Oak Hill are also remarkable. From Braeburn Drive up to the front doors of Oak Hill is the original lined drive to the house. This drive is lined on both sides by boxwoods that date back to the 1790 construction of Oak Hill. It is unusual to find so much of the original landscaping including oak trees and boxwoods still intact over 200 years later.

The purchase of a historic easement on Oak Hill offers a unique opportunity to preserve an important piece of the history of our area for generations to come.

Written by Paul Gilbert, Director of the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority.

*Recent research has clarified the term Dover as “Dower,” which is the widow’s share of property upon her husband’s death. Fontainebleau is the name of the house that Mordecai Cooke Fitzhugh built and bequeathed to his wife, as part of her dower share, in the 1858 division of their property.

PROGRAM

Speakers—Maddy McCoy, John Browne, Dennis Howard

Before and after emancipation: African Americans in the Oak Hill community. Maddy McCoy, developer and curator of Fairfax County's Slavery Inventory Database, shares insights from her research of the lives of Ravensworth's slaves, former slaves and free blacks. John Browne maps changes that divided up Oak Hill and Ravensworth land through generations of inheritance and sale. Together the speakers present what is known of a now-lost African American community that developed in the late 1800s on former Oak Hill land on Braddock Road.

Springfield resident and author, Dennis Howard recounts his family's passage from slavery in Culpeper, Virginia, to becoming land owners and proprietors of a blacksmith shop on Little River Turnpike, to their contributions in developing our community.


Schedule

12:00—12:30 House open for unguided walk-through first floor only

Ticket distribution for Guided-tours begins

12:30 Opening Ceremony

1:00—2:00 Guided House tours (first floor only)

Entry time into house – 10-15 persons at a time: 1:00; 1:20; 1:40

2:00—3:30 House open for unguided walk-through (first floor only)

3:30—5:00 Guided tours of house (first floor only)

Entry time into house – 10-15 persons at a time: 3:30; 3:50; 4:10;

Speakers

1:00—1:30 Dennis Howard

1:45—2:45 Maddy Mc Coy & John Browne
3:00—3:30 Dennis Howard
3:45—4:45 Maddy Mc Coy & John Browne
Between 1:00 and 4:30 on the lawn—Food, Music and Children's Activities
Fairfax County is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination in all county programs, services and activities and will provide reasonable accommodations upon request. To request special accommodations, call 703-324-2321 or TTY 711. Please allow ten working days in advance of events in order to make the necessary arrangements.