2014-06-13 to 15-Leesburg, VA Historic District and...

2014-06-13 to 15-Leesburg, VA Historic District and Surroundings

By ThomasCarroll235
Aug 18, 2014
164 Photos

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ThomasCarroll235

2014-06-13 to 15-Leesburg, VA Historic District and Surroundings

Aug 18, 2014
164 Photos

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Historic District, Leesburg (The area around Leesburg has developed into a significant regional wine producing region. We were surprised to learn that Virginia now has over 230 wineries.)

Historic District, Leesburg (Reminiscent of Buck's County, PA and Princeton, NJ we noted several stone and mortar buildings like this one in Leesburg, Waterford and other towns, some dating to the 1700s.)

Historic District, Leesburg (Laurie, Georgia, Paul and I visited the tasting room of my namesake's winery and vineyard where we met Michael Carroll, the owner of a beautiful rural property where has recently begun to cultivate grapes for his winery. We learned that there is a shortage of grapes for the numerous wineries that have sprouted in Virginia and that substantial quantities of the fruit must be "imported" from California and elsewhere.)

Historic District, Leesburg (We tasted a variety of wines and bought a bottle as well as a couple of wineglasses emblazoned with our clan's name.)

Historic District, Leesburg (Red brick is the dominant building material used for many 18th and 19th century buildings in Leesburg and throughout Virginia.)

Historic District, Leesburg (Leesburg has grown into a big antique venue. It's proximity to Washington, DC and the numerous weekend day trippers who visit from the Capitol help sustain the numerous antique shops in town.)

Historic District, Leesburg-A variety of architectural styles

Historic District, Leesburg (The town is home to many cafes, taverns, Inns and restaurants that serve local folk and the many visitors from elsewhere in Northern Virginia and farther afield.)

Historic District, Leesburg, known as Georgetown in the 1700s (European settlement near Leesburg began in the late 1730s as tidewater planters moved into the area from the south and east establishing large farms and plantations. Many of the First Families of Virginia were among those to settle in the area including the Carters, Lees and Masons. The genesis of Leesburg occurred sometime before 1755 when Nicholas Minor acquired land around the intersection of the Old Carolina Road and the Potomac Ridge Road and established a tavern there. Despite lack of growth around the tavern, upon Loudoun County's formation in 1757, Minor dubbed the sparse collection of buildings about his tavern "George Town" in honor of the reigning monarch of Great Britain)

Historic District, Leesburg-Post colonial era brick structures

Historic District, Leesburg-Whitewashed brick, fairly common here

Historic District, Leesburg-Nicely maintained 1800's facade (The Leesburg Historic District includes Classical Revival, Greek Revival, and Georgian architecture and dates back to 1757. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and its boundaries were increased in 2002)

Historic District, Leesburg-Granite facade circa early 1900s

Historic District, Leesburg-The Old Loudon County Courthouse (There have been three courthouses in Loudoun County. The first was built in 1758.The third and present courthouse was erected in 1895. It rises on four columns, has double doors, and is capped by a clock and bell housed in a belfry.)

Historic District, Leesburg (Stars and stripes everywhere. We saw no stars and bars.)

Leesburg Historic District-An excellent restaurant named for a Virginia patriot (Francis Lightfoot Lee (October 14, 1734 – January 11, 1797) was a member of the House of Burgesses in the Colony of Virginia. As an active protester of issues such as the Stamp Act, Lee helped move the colony in the direction of independence from Britain. Lee was a delegate to the Virginia Conventions and the Continental Congress. He was a signer of the Articles of Confederation and the Declaration of Independence as a representative of Virginia.)

Leesburg Historic District, Old Loudon County Courthouse (In front of the courthouse stands a statue of a Confederate soldier. The statue was designed by F.S. Sievers, and dedicated to the courthouse in 1908. It serves as a memorial to the many Rebel soldiers who died fighting for the cause in which they believed)

Leesburg Historic District (Stucco, clapboard and brick-Leesburg's eclectic architectural mix.)

Leesburg Historic District

Leesburg Historic District-Grand whitewashed brick home with dormers added later

Leesburg Historic District

Leesburg Historic District-St James Episcopal Church

Leesburg Historic District-Lightfoot Restaurant, named for Francis Lightfoot Lee, a patriot

Leesburg Historic District

Leesburg Historic District-18th Century Stone Structure

Leesburg Historic District-Methodist Church with an intersting belfry

The ladies at large in Leesburg Historic District

Paul, a wild and crazy guy, leading the ladies through Leesburg

Leesburg Historic District-A really tiny house

Leesburg Historic District

Leesburg Municipal Complex

Leesburg Historic District

Leesburg Historic District

Leesburg Historic District

A Cajun Restaurant with a crwdad motif

Leesburg Historic District

Mom's Apple Pie Shop features a pie tin cieling

Leesburg-Mom's sells delectable pies, pastries and cookies. (Georgia went into involuntary spasms after entering)

Pie tin cieling motif-Mom's Apple Pie Shop

Leesburg-The home of General George C. Marshall

Geroge Catlett Marshall (George Catlett Marshall, Jr. (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959) was an American soldier and statesman famous for his leadership roles during World War II and the Cold War. He was Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Secretary of State, and the third Secretary of Defense. He was hailed as the "organizer of victory" by Winston Churchill for his leadership of the Allied victory in World War II,[4] Marshall served as the United States Army Chief of Staff during the war and as the chief military adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.Marshall's name was given to the Marshall Plan, subsequent to a commencement address he presented as Secretary of State at Harvard University in the June of 1947. The speech recommended that the Europeans collectively create their own plan for rebuilding Europe after World War II noting, "It is logical that the United States should do whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health in the world.")

Leesburg-The Marshall House

Brilliant berries

The "new" Loudon County Courthouse, Leesburg

The "new" Loudon County Courthouse, Leesburg

The old Loudon County Courthouse, Leesburg

The "new" Loudon County Courthouse, Leesburg

North King's Street, Leesburg

A great Leesburg restaurant

The old Loudon County Courthouse, Leesburg

The girls with theri new friend at Lightfoot Restaurant, Leesburg

Interior- Lightfoot Restaurant, formerly the People's National Bank, Leesburg

Leesburg evening

At Lightfoot Restaurant, Leesburg

At Lightfoot Restaurant, Leesburg

Leesburg evening

The essentials-A truck and a house

17th Century homes, Waterford, VA (Waterford is an unincorporated village in the Catoctin Valley of Loudoun County, Virginia, located along Catoctin Creek. Waterford is 47 miles northwest of Washington, D.C., and 7 miles northwest of Leesburg. The entire village and surrounding countryside is a National Historic Landmark district. The town was first settled by Quakers.)

1800's stone dwelling, Waterford, VA (The original Waterford families were soon followed by other Quakers who would all play leading roles over many years in the development of Waterford. In the 1760s the early Quakers were joined by numbers of Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans and Baptists. This influx of non-Anglicans is noteworthy considering the firm hold of the established Church of England in colonial Virginia.)

The girls in Waterford, VA (Waterford was founded about 1733 by Amos Janney, a Quaker from Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Other Quakers followed him there. Mills were built along Catoctin Creek. The village grew until it was the second largest town in Loudoun County (this was before the Civil War). Many buildings still in use in the village were built before 1840. Known as Janney's Mill until the 1780s, the early commercial center then became the village of Waterford.)

Waterford boasts several pre-Revolution buildings

Arched passage way, Waterford

Antique homes, Waterford, VA (Waterford had two or three names in colonial times; Janney's Mill, Fairfax, and Milltown. While the first two names are part of the historical record, the third's textural appearance in found first in 1915, the anonymous writer asserting that "Mill Town" was a name for the village in its founding era. ... the same anonymous writer, who in 1915 first called the early hamlet "Mill Town," also forwarded to us the origin of the village's present name: "One of the most enterprising citizens an Irish Shoemaker by the name of Thomas Moore had emigrated this country from or near Waterford in Ireland. And he very patriotically named the rising city for the place of his birth.)

A quaint Post Office, Waterford (Waterford's stagnationleave site as a commercial center after the Civil War meant it was not worth demolishing the old to make way for new development. The old town and its surrounding farms were able to slumber undisturbed, like Rip Van Winkle, for many years, By 1937, when the Historic American Buildings Survey was completed in Waterford, most buildings in the village were falling into disrepair – or falling apart.)

A quaint Post Office, Waterford (In the 1930s members of old Waterford families, beginning with brothers Edward and Leroy Chamberlin, began buying and restoring buildings. These restorationists established the Waterford Foundation in 1943 to "revive and stimulate a community interest in re-creating the town of Waterford as it existed in previous times with its varying crafts and activities. The Foundation has played an important role in revitalizing the physical fabric of Waterford as well as increasing the public's knowledge of life and work in an early American rural community. In 1970, Waterford and 1,420 surrounding acres were designated a National Historic Landmark. Another 1943 milestone was the creation of the Waterford Homes Tour and Crafts Exhibitby the Waterford Foundation. This annual event now draws some 30,000 visitors the first weekend every October.)

The Waterford Corner Store (The Corner Store sits literally atop a small creek—the Town Branch—and occupies a strategic location at the intersection of Waterford's main streets. The present building, erected about 1900, replaced an earlier smaller store built of log covered with weatherboard. Note the unusual shape of the building to fit it onto the triangular site.)

Beautiful Summer Garden, Waterford

The Corner Store, Waterford

Georgia strolling in Waterford

A Bed and Breakfast, Watertown

Log Cabin for Sale, Watertown

A classic Jag, Watertown

A classic VW bug, Waterford

Classic Jag and VW bug, Waterford

Vintage home, Waterford

Self portrait, Waterford

Historic Waterford

Felling a little Sheepish, Waterford

The bucolic meadows and hills of Waterford

A stately and tidy old home, Waterford

Solid Virginia red brick construction, Waterford

A beautiful property-Waterford

Classic Chevy pick up, Waterford

17th Century house, Waterford

Laurie and Georgia, Waterford

Classic Virginia brick residence, Waterford

Beautiful clssic home, Waterford

Lush gardens, Waterford

Interesting chimney

A tidy yard in Waterford

Antique barn, Waterford

Beautiful stone gate, Waterford

17th Century house, Waterford

Tiny cottage, Waterford

1800s vintage home, Waterford

Log home, Waterford

Town center, Waterford

Georgia and Laurie patrolling Waterford

The center of Waterford

Birdhouse pole, Waterford

17th century cottage, Waterford

Some local Civil War history

A classic Virginia home

The outskirts of Waterford

The Old Mill, Waterford (In 1928, the octogenarian Mary Dutton Steer wrote in her Early Memories of Waterford, "The ever-changing owners of the ever-busy mill." As one examines the records of ownership, the truth of her statement becomes apparent. Amos Janney settled in the Loudoun Valley in 1733 and soon after built a log mill on Catoctin Creek, not far from the present location of the Old Mill. His son, Mahlon, developed this family mill into a larger operation by 1762, when he erected a larger mill of wood on a stone foundation, at the site of the present mill. Mahlon's new mill was a custom mill, grinding not only wheat grown on his own land but also providing services for other farmers settling around "Janney's Mill.")

Farm near Waterford

Morven Park Grounds, Leesburg

Morven Park, Leesburg (Morven Park is an estate in Leesburg, Virginia, USA, that includes the Westmoreland Davis Mansion and the Winmill Carriage Museum. The gardens are open to the public at no charge. The park is also home to the Museum of Hounds and Hunting, with displays of art, artifacts and memorabilia about the sport of foxhunting. Opened in 1985, the museum is located in the north wing of the Westmoreland Davis Mansion, owned by Westmoreland Davis, Governor of Virginia from 1918 to 1922. The Westmoreland Davis Mansion is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a Virginia Historic Landmark. The Westmoreland Davis Memorial Foundation operates the property and offers tours.)

Morven Park, Leesburg (The first structures on the site of Morven Park date to about 1780. A fieldstone house built by Wilson Cary Seldon is now a part of the north wing of the main house, stuccoed over to match the rest of the mansion. Judge Thomas Swann acquired the property about 1808. Around 1830 Swann built the center two-story portion of the house, with flanking pavilions. It is not known whether the pavilions were initially linked to the house, but the renovations included the prominent tetrastyle Greek Revival portico that dominates the front. While the brick structure remains, now stuccoed, none of the Swann interiors exist. Judge Swann's son, Thomas Swann Jr., began a remodeling program around 1850, using the Baltimore firm of E.G. Lind and William T. Murdock as architects, converting the Palladian house to the Italianate style with four towers, including one that was to be five stories tall, stated by The Buildings of Virginia to resemble Queen Victoria's Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.)

Gatehouse, Morven Park

Front Portico, Morven Park, Leesburg (Westmoreland Davis bought the house in 1903 and expanded it again. Davis raised the height of the hyphens to two stories and reworked the interior. Davis, a New York lawyer, had roots in Virginia and made Morven Park into an agricultural showpiece, while his wife developed formal gardens near the house. In the 1970s, Morven Park was home to the Morven Park International Equestrian Institute. The Institute was a training center for advanced dressage, 3-day eventing, and show jumping. More than one rider trained at Morven Park went on to international equestrian competition. In its day, Morven Park and the Potomac Horse Center were considered the two most prestigious riding schools in the United States. Today, the barns still stand and the gift shop is located in what used to be a student dormitory.Beginning in 2013, the turkeys pardoned in the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation have been sent to Morven Park to live out the rest of their natural lives; Davis, in his lifetime, farmed turkeys.)

Elaborate chimney, Morven Park

The Museum of Hounds and Fox Hunting, Morven Park

The Museum of Hounds and Fox Hunting, Morven Park

Talley Ho! The Museum of Hounds and Fox Hunting, Morven Park

The Museum of Hounds and Fox Hunting, Morven Park

Tom at The Museum of Hounds and Fox Hunting, Morven Park

The Museum of Hounds and Fox Hunting, Morven Park

I think I'd be rooting for the fox

Morven Park clock gate

The sweeping lawns of Morven Park

Morven Park from the fronting grounds

Morven Park outbuilding

The gardens, Morven Park

The gardens, Morven Park

Mom's-A wonderful bakery and pie shop, Leesburg

Tom with General George C. Marshall, a resident of Leesburg (George Catlett Marshall, Jr. (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959) was an American soldier and statesman famous for his leadership roles during World War II and the Cold War. He was Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Secretary of State, and the third Secretary of Defense. He was hailed as the "organizer of victory" by Winston Churchill for his leadership of the Allied victory in World War II, Marshall served as the United States Army Chief of Staff during the war and as the chief military adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.)

George Cattlett Marshall (Marshall's name was given to the Marshall Plan, subsequent to a commencement address he presented as Secretary of State at Harvard University in the June of 1947. The speech recommended that the Europeans collectively create their own plan for rebuilding Europe after World War II noting, "It is logical that the United States should do whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health in the world." The State Department developed most of the plan, and Truman was shrewd enough to let Marshall's name be attached to it. Unlike Truman, Marshall was widely admired by members of both political parties. Marshall received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953 for the plan, which was aimed at the economic recovery of Western Europe after World War II.)

Marshall House-George Marshall's residence, Leesburg (The Marshall House (formerly Dodona Manor) is a National Historic Landmark in Leesburg, Virginia. It is owned by the George C. Marshall International Center, which has restored the property to its Marshall-era appearance of the 1950s. The Marshall Center has close ties with the George C. Marshall Foundation in Lexington, Virginia, where the George C. Marshall Library houses Marshall’s papers)

Words of four great men for this great man, George Marshall.

Marshall House (George Catlett Marshall, who was Army Chief of Staff in World War II, special envoy to China, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and namesake of the Marshall Plan, and his wife Katherine Marshall purchased the property for $16,000 in 1941 and lived there until his death in 1959. Except for a winter home in Pinehurst, N.C., the house was the only home Marshall ever owned, and was the backdrop to quiet conversations and contemplations of international importance. Katherine gave the house and 3.88 acres to her daughter, Molly Winn, in 1960. When Mrs. Winn expressed her desire to sell the property in the early 1990s, several prominent Leesburg citizens under the leadership of B. Powell Harrison were concerned that the property might fall into commercial hands and urged the Town of Leesburg to purchase it. That proved to be impossible, so the citizens formed the George C. Marshall Home Preservation Fund, later the George C. Marshall International Center, and purchased the Marshall House for $2.3 million.)

The gardens-The Marshall House (The grounds have been restored to their Marshall-era appearance and include a large vegetable garden that was restorative as an antidote to the pressures Marshall felt as Chief of Staff. Katherine delighted in growing roses, and a restored rose garden features the types of roses she cultivated, including the "K.T. Marshall Rose.")

The Marshall House (The Marshall House is unique among historic houses because most of the furnishings and memorabilia in the house were owned and used by the Marshalls and were obtained from Mrs. Marshall’s heirs. Among the items are originals or reproductions of art given to the Marshalls, including a reproduction of View of Tinherir, painted by Sir Winston Churchill in Morocco in 1951 and given to the Marshalls in 1953. Another reproduction is Evening, by Russian artist Vassily Baksheyev. The original was a gift to Marshall from Vyacheslav Molotov, foreign minister of the Soviet Union, in 1947 in appreciation for Marshall’s efforts in World War II.)

St Jon the Apostle Catholic Church, Leesburg

Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, Leesburg

Many men died on this field- The Battle of Ball's Bluff was fought here during the Civil War in 1861 (The Battle of Ball's Bluff in Loudoun County, Virginia on October 21, 1861, was one of the early battles of the American Civil War, in which Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac (Union) suffered a humiliating defeat.The operation was planned as a minor reconnaissance across the Potomac to establish whether the Confederates were occupying Leesburg. A false report of an unguarded Confederate camp encouraged Brig. Gen. Charles Pomeroy Stone to order a raid, which clashed with enemy forces. A prominent US Senator in uniform, Colonel Edward Baker, tried to reinforce the Union troops, but failed to ensure that there were enough boats for the river crossings, which were then delayed. Baker was killed, and a newly-arrived Confederate unit routed the rest of Stone’s expedition. The Union losses, although modest by later standards, alarmed Congress, which set-up the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, a body which would provoke years of bitter political infighting.)

Civil War cannon on the Ball's Bluff Battlefield

Georgia hiking through Ball's Bluff battlefield

Ball's Bluff National Cemetery-54 Union soldiers are burried here. Only one was identified. (A total of 223 Federals were killed, 226 were wounded, and 553 were captured on the banks of the Potomac later that night. Fifty-four Union dead—of whom only one is identified—are buried in Ball's Bluff Battlefield and National Cemetery. Confederate casualties were much lighter at 155 (36 killed; 117 wounded; 2 captured). While terrible, the number of casualties in this early Civil War battle were dwarfed by the carnage of subsequent battles. When the great conflict finally ended in 1865, 750,000 Americans, North and South, had lost their lives.)

Ball's Bluff National Cemetery-Some of the Union dead

A soldier known only to God

Many men from Massachusetts fell at Ball's Bluff

Ball's Bluff National Military Cemetery

The guns of our nation's trauma are forever silent

Ball's Bluff Battlefield. Today a peaceful scene. A scence of mayhem and death over 150 years ago.

White's Ferry connecting White's Ferry, Maryland and Leesburg, Virginia (White's Ferry is the only cable ferry service that carries cars, bicycles, and pedestrians across the Potomac River. Early settlers recognized that the relatively still waters of the Potomac River at the location would provide an ideal location for a ferry. The first known ferry operation at the location was Conrad's Ferry, pronounced contemporaneously by the locals as "Coonrod's Ferry" n 1817. After the Civil War, former Confederate officer Elijah V. White purchased it and made many improvements to the service. He named his ferry boat in honor of his former commander, General Jubal Anderson Early. Brown, whose father purchased the location in 1946 with other business partners. He eventually bought out his partners and shipped new ferries from Baltimore in 1953 and from Norfolk in 1988; both of which were named after Confederate General Jubal A. Early because of his "rebellious, no surrender attitude".)

Oatlands-A National Trust Historic Site (Oatlands was formed in 1798 from 3,408 acres of prime Loudoun County, Virginia, farmland by a young bachelor named George Carter, descendant of one of Virginia’s first families. Basing his plantation economy on wheat production, Carter eventually branched out to grow other small grains; raise sheep for their wool; develop a vineyard; and build a mill complex on nearby Goose Creek for the grinding of grain, milling of timber, and pressing of flax seed to produce oil cake. In 1801 he began calling his plantation “Oatlands.”)

Oatlands-Slave Quarters

Oatlands Mansion (Carter’s growing wealth was based on the labor of enslaved African Americans. When he took over the property, George Carter owned 17 slaves; in the 1840s the number had grown to 85. Just prior to the Civil War Oatlands housed the largest slave population in Loudoun County, numbering 128 people. Unfortunately, little documentary evidence remains about the personal lives of these workers or the slave culture at Oatlands.)

Georgia at Oatlands (When George Carter died, his widow, Elizabeth Grayson Carter, remained at Oatlands with their two sons and managed the property through the Civil War years.The Carter family’s fortunes declined following the Civil War. Beset with debt and unable to recover from the loss of their slave labor, George Carter Jr. and his wife, Katherine Powell Carter, operated Oatlands first as a girls’ school and later as a summer boarding house. In 1897 the Carters sold the mansion with 60 acres to Stilson Hutchins, founder of the Washington Post newspaper. Hutchins never lived on the property, selling it in 1903 to affluent Washingtonians William and Edith Eustis.)

Oatlands (William Eustis, an avid equestrian, found the location ideally suited for fox hunting; Edith, enchanted by the neglected gardens, was determined to return them to their former splendor.When Mrs. Eustis passed away in 1964, her two daughters, Margaret Eustis Finley and Anne Eustis Emmett, donated the Oatlands mansion, its furnishings, and 261 acres around it to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.)

Tom at Oatlands

A hybrid brick and stone wall at Oatlands.

The big house at Oatlands

Silver trees, Oatlands

Oatlands-Carriage House

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