Historic Overview

Woodlawn

Woodlawn Plantation overlooks the Potomac River on lands first inhabited by the Algonquin-speaking Doeg people. The land was incorporated into George Washington’s Mount Vernon in the late 1700s and named the Dogue Run Farm, having been pieced together from smaller farms purchased by Washington.[1] In 1799, Washington gifted the Dogue Run Farm to his nephew, Lawrence Lewis, and his step-granddaughter, Nelly Parke Custis.

The mansion house, designed by Dr. William Thornton and built between 1800-1805, was the focal point of the 2000-acre Woodlawn plantation. Built in a late Georgian or early Federal style, the home was likely meant to mirror Kenmore, the home of Lawrence Lewis’s parents in Fredericksburg, Virginia.[2] As a plantation, Woodlawn was operated using slave labor, with hundreds of people enslaved on the property in the first few decades of the nineteenth century. Research into the lives of the men, women, and children enslaved here is ongoing.

In 1846, Woodlawn was sold to the Troth-Gillingham Company, a group of anti-slavery Quakers who wanted to show that slavery was not necessary for the South’s economic and agricultural success.[3] Under Quaker ownership, Woodlawn served as an example of free-labor agriculture in a region dependent on enslaved labor. During this time, Quakers sold parcels of land to other antislavery farmers and members of the local free Black population. These communities of Quakers and free Black people thrived here into the early 20th century.

By the turn of the 20th century, however, Woodlawn had fallen into disrepair. Subsequent owners of Woodlawn mansion, attracted by romanticized ideas of the antebellum South, repaired and preserved the home for their own uses. Since 1949, Woodlawn and the surrounding 126 acres have been operated as an historic house museum, coming under the ownership of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1957.

Today, our staff is dedicated to telling a more complete version of Woodlawn’s history and partnering with our community to steward the land and these historic buildings for future generations.

Pope-Leighey House

Also located on the property is the Pope-Leighey House, a Frank Lloyd Wright designed Usonian home. Originally built in Falls Church, Virginia, in 1941, the home was commissioned by newspaper columnist Loren Pope. In 1947, the home was sold to Robert and Marjorie Leighey. In 1963, the home came under threat of demolition due to the expansion of Interstate 66. Marjorie Leighey, then a widow, campaigned to save the home, eventually striking a deal with the National Trust for Historic Preservation to move the house to Woodlawn in exchange for lifetime tenancy at that site. Marjorie lived there until her death in 1983, at which point the home became a full-time museum.

In 1995, the home was moved a second time due to the instability of the soil beneath the foundation. It was relocated about 30 feet from its second location. Today, the Pope-Leighey House contains much of the original furniture and is the only Frank Lloyd Wright home open for regular tours in the DC metro area.

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[1] “Dogue Run Farm,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon, last accessed May 30, 2023, https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/dogue-run-farm/.

[2] Craig Tuminaro, Carolyn Pitts. “Woodlawn,” National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1998)

[3] Martha Claire Catlin, “Historical Overview,” Alexandria Friends Meeting at Woodlawn, last accessed May 30, 2023, https://woodlawnfriends.org/home/history/.