Abingdon (plantation)

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Abingdon
Abingdon foundation.jpg
Reconstructed Abingdon house foundation (2014)
Abingdon (plantation)
Alternative namesAbingdon Plantation
Alexander-Custis Plantation
General information
Type Private residence
Architectural style Georgian
Location Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Arlington County, Virginia
Country United States
Coordinates 38°51′05″N77°02′40″W / 38.851371°N 77.04443938°W / 38.851371; -77.04443938
Completedby 1746 (1746) (first building)
Destroyed1930
OwnerGerard Alexander I
Robert Alexander
John Parke Custis
Dr. David Stuart
Walter Alexander
General Alexander Hunter
Alexander Hunter (2nd)
Alfred Richards Brick Company
New Washington Brick Company
Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad
United States government
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority

Abingdon (also known as the Alexander-Custis Plantation) [1] was an 18th- and 19th-century plantation owned by the prominent Alexander, Custis, Stuart, and Hunter families and worked at times by slaves. The plantation's site is now located in Arlington County in the U.S. state of Virginia.

Contents

Abingdon is known as the birthplace of Eleanor "Nelly" Parke Custis Lewis (March 31, 1779 – July 15, 1852), a granddaughter of Martha Washington and a step-granddaughter of United States President George Washington. [2] [3] [4] Published accounts have credited Abingdon as being the home to the progenitor of all weeping willows (Salix babylonica) living in the United States. [5] Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which occupies part of Abingdon's grounds, contains indoor and outdoor displays that commemorate the plantation's history. [6]

History

Alexander family

The land that contains Abingdon was originally part of a larger holding granted in 1669 by letters patent to shipmaster Robert Howson for headrights for settlers that he had brought to the Colony of Virginia. [1] [7] [8] Howson soon sold the patent to John Alexander for 6,000 pounds of tobacco. [1] [2] [6] [7] [9] [10]

Alexander was a descendant of the MacDonald clan of Scotland and was a son of the Earl of Stirling. [11] He immigrated to Virginia around 1653, settled in Stafford County and became a planter, surveyor and captain of the Stafford County militia. [10] [11] [12]

When Alexander purchased the Howson patent, the patent covered an 8,000-acre (3,200 ha) site (believed at the time of sale to contain only 6,000 acres (2,400 ha)) on the southwestern side of the Potomac River. [7] [10] The site was about 2 miles (3.2 km) wide and extended along the Potomac from Hunting Creek (the southern boundary of the present City of Alexandria) to the present northern boundary of Arlington National Cemetery. [1] [7] [10] [11]

After John Alexander's death in 1677, one of his sons, Robert Alexander, acquired the Howson patent by inheritance and by a gift from his brother, Phillip Alexander. [9] In 1735, Gerrard Alexander, a grandson of Robert Alexander, inherited the northern part of the Howson patent. [8] In 1746, a survey map that Daniel Jennings prepared showed that Gerrard Alexander owned a house on a portion of the Howson patent that was north of Four Mile Creek. [7] [9]

Shortly thereafter, the town of Alexandria was chartered in 1749 on a more southerly part of the Howson patent. [10] The town was named in honor of John Alexander and his family, who provided land on which the town was founded. [10] [13]

In 1760, the plantation housed 24 slaves who maintained crops and livestock on its waterfront property. [14] After Gerrard Alexander's death in 1761, his three sons, Robert, Phillip and Gerrard (2nd), each inherited approximately 900 acres (364 ha) of his estate. [9]

Custis and Stuart families

In 1778, John Parke Custis (nicknamed "Jacky"), the son of Daniel Parke Custis and Martha Washington and the stepson of George Washington, purchased Abingdon and its 900-acre (364 ha) estate from Robert Alexander. [9] [15] [16] [17] Custis had been eager to obtain real estate in the Abingdon area on which to raise his family. [17] [18]

However, Jacky Custis' eagerness and inexperience allowed Robert Alexander to take advantage of him in the transaction, because compound interest during the 24-year term would eventually transform the £12,000 purchase price into payments totalling over £48,000. [17] [19] (Some sources claim that General George Washington purchased Abingdon for Custis. [2] [11] ) When he learned of the terms of the purchase, Washington informed Custis that "No Virginia Estate (except a few under the best management) can stand simple Interest how then can they bear compound Interest". [19]

Jacky Custis chose Abingdon because it was equidistant between the Washingtons' home at Mount Vernon, and the family home of his wife, Eleanor Calvert (the Mount Airy estate, whose restored mansion is now in Rosaryville State Park in Prince George's County, Maryland). [20] Eleanor Calvert was a descendant of Cecilius Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, a member of the Parliament of England and the recipient of the charter for the Maryland colony. [16] [21]

During the year (1778) that Jacky Custis purchased Abingdon, his neighbors in Fairfax County elected him to the Virginia General Assembly as a delegate. [19] Shortly after moving to Abingdon, Custis' wife gave birth to their third surviving daughter, Eleanor (Nelly) Parke Custis on March 31, 1779. [2] [3] [22] [23] Nelly, her older sisters, Elizabeth (Eliza) Parke Custis and Martha Parke Custis Peter, and her younger brother, George Washington Parke Custis (G.W.P. Custis), were then raised at Abingdon. [2] [11] [17]

However, Jacky Custis contracted "camp fever" in 1781 at the Siege of Yorktown while serving as Washington's aide and died shortly after Cornwallis surrendered there. [17] [18] Soon afterwards, George Washington "adopted" the two youngest Custis children, Nelly and George, who moved from Abingdon to live with the Washingtons at Mount Vernon. [17] The eldest children, Elizabeth and Martha, remained at Abingdon. [1] [4] [18] [24]

Custis' widow, Eleanor, remarried in the autumn of 1783 to a friend and business associate of George Washington, Dr. David Stuart. [6] [11] [25] During the period that Dr. Stuart and Eleanor resided at Abingdon, Dr. Stuart served as a delegate from Fairfax County in the Virginia General Assembly and President Washington appointed him to be one of the three commissioners that oversaw planning of the nation's new capital city. [11] [18] [25]

In 1791, Dr. Stuart and the two other commissioners named the new capital the "City of Washington" in "The Territory of Columbia" (see: History of Washington, D.C.). [26] Dr. Stuart and his wife had sixteen children, at least three of whom (Anne Calvert Stuart, Sarah Stuart and Ariana Calvert Stuart) were born at Abingdon. [21]

Although John Parke Custis had become well-established at Abingdon, his financial matters were in a state of disarray due to his poor business judgement and wartime taxation. [17] After his death in 1781, it took the administrators of the Custis Estate more than a decade to negotiate an end to the transaction through which Custis had purchased Abingdon. [19]

Because the estate had been paid for with Continental currency, the heirs of Gerrard Alexander brought suit against the Custis and Stuart families to recover their money. [2] [11] After years of litigation, Abingdon was returned to Robert Alexander in 1792. [2] [18]

After Robert Alexander died in 1793, court-appointed commissioners surveyed his 1,090-acre (440 ha) estate and divided it equally between two of his sons, Robert and Walter. [27] In 1800, Walter Alexander obtained ownership of the southern half of the estate, which contained the 545 acres (221 ha) on which the Abingdon house stood. [2] [11] [27]

In 1805, George Wise acquired a portion of Abingdon that included the house. [28] Others acquired different parts of Walter Alexander's Abingdon property. [29] The Wise family lived at Abingdon until "General" Alexander Hunter acquired 99 acres (40 ha) of the Abingdon property from George Wise and others between 1835 and 1842. [29] [30]

At the same time that John Parke Custis purchased Abingdon from Robert Alexander, he also purchased outright a 1,100-acre (450 ha) tract of land from Gerrard Alexander (2nd). [1] [9] [27] This more northerly tract, which was separated from Abingdon by the 900-acre (364 ha) tract that Phillip Alexander had inherited, remained in the possession of the Custis family. G.W.P. Custis, who inherited this land from his father (John Parke Custis) later constructed and named Arlington House on a plantation that he developed on the tract. [1] [9]

Weeping willow

Weeping willow (Salix babylonica) (2012) Salix babylonica - Nagai Botanical Garden - DSC07654.JPG
Weeping willow (Salix babylonica) (2012)
Portrait of Alexander Pope's villa at Twickenham by Samuel Scott (ca. 1759) A View of Alexander Pope's Villa, Twickenham, on the Banks of the Thames by Samuel Scott, RA.jpg
Portrait of Alexander Pope's villa at Twickenham by Samuel Scott
(ca. 1759)

According to accounts that historian Benson J. Lossing and others wrote in the mid- to late 1800s and early 1900s that were based on a story that G.W.P. Custis had told to Lossing, John Parke Custis served on George Washington's staff during the Siege of Boston in 1775-1776 and became an emissary to the British forces there. According to these accounts, Custis befriended a young British officer on the staff of General William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe. While in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the officer gave Custis a weeping willow (Salix babylonica) twig that the officer had taken from a famous tree that Alexander Pope had planted at Twickenham and that was first of its kind in England. [5]

The officer had intended to plant his willow sprig wrapped in oiled silk along a stream on land he would seize from the Americans. However, following his army's defeat, he decided to give the sprig to Custis. [5]

Custis then planted the twig at Abingdon. The resulting tree reportedly became the progenitor of all of the weeping willows growing in the United States at the time of the accounts. [5]

One such tree reportedly grew next to Arlington National Cemetery near the northern end of George Washington Parke Custis' mansion (Arlington House). [5] [31] Another reportedly grew from a slip of the Abingdon willow that American General Horatio Gates had planted at the entrance to his Rose Hill Farm in Manhattan. That tree, which became known as "Gates's Willow", grew at a site that became the corner of Third Avenue and 22nd Street. The tree was reportedly cut down in 1860. [5]

However, two 1840 newspaper articles that related G.W.P. Custis' account of the origins of the tree then standing near Arlington House said that John Parke Custis had planted the Twickenham willow twig "on the banks of the Potomac", but had not identified Abingdon as the specific location of the planting. [32] 21st-century writers have questioned the veracity of such accounts. [33]

Hunter family

"General" Alexander Hunter, a descendant of the Alexander family who had served at the Battle of Bladensburg during the War of 1812 as Adjutant of the District of Columbia Regiment of Volunteers, acquired Abingdon from the Wise family and others. [6] [11] [29] [30] [34] [35] Hunter was a wealthy man who held a position in Alexandria's custom house and reportedly spent lavishly to renovate and beautify his house and estate at Abingdon. [2] [11] [34]

As U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia, Hunter was a friend of United States President Andrew Jackson. [2] [11] [30] [36] Jackson frequently left Washington City to spend Sundays at Abingdon as Hunter's guest. [2] [11] Hunter reportedly had an inflexible rule that forbade office-seeking and discussions of politics during Jackson's visits. [2] [11] In addition to President Jackson, Hunter also hosted Presidents John Tyler and James K. Polk at Abingdon. [30] [36]

A chamber on the northeast side of the Abingdon house was referred to as "General Washington's room" during Hunter's ownership because George Washington had usually occupied this room while visiting his stepson, John Parke Custis. [2] [11] Some authors later stated that Hunter had told visitors that he chose not to build a more pretentious structure because a house that was good enough for Washington was good enough for him. [2] [11]

"General" Hunter died in 1849. According to an 1850 inventory of his estate, the plantation held at the time five cows, four bulls, at least six calves, two carriage horses, two sows, 27 hogs, numerous plows, a wagon, two carts, a blacksmith iron (anvil) with tools, the main house, a barn, five or six slave cabins and 22 slaves aged two to 70 years that together had a value of $5,035.00 (worth $184,402 in 2021). The inventory listed the cattle and horses as being worth $1,209.50 (worth $44,297 in 2021) and the value of Abingdon's furniture, implements and produce (including pillowcases, candles, pots, kettles, ironware, pieces of china, tools, andirons, a mahogany bookcase, a spinning wheel, barometers, a fishing rod, a waffle iron and 159 barrels of corn) at $1,459.99 (worth $53,471 in 2021). [37] [38]

The main house contained upstairs bedrooms, a wash room, a storage room, a kitchen, a dining room, and a breakfast room that held a walnut table, a stove and a copper tea kettle. A large cellar lay beneath the first floor. [37]

Hunter entrusted Abingdon to his brother Bushrod Washington Hunter, until Bushrod's son, also named Alexander Hunter, could come of age. [29] [30] [36] Bushrod Hunter had earlier served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy in 1846 during the Mexican–American War. [34] In 1857, Bushrod Hunter served as a pallbearer at the funeral service for G.W.P. Custis, whose house at the "Arlington Plantation" was not far from Abingdon. [39]

American Civil War

When the American Civil War began in 1861, Bushrod and Alexander Hunter (2nd) left the Abingdon plantation to join Confederate forces. [2] [30] [39] [40] During the war, a New Jersey regiment of the Union Army occupied the plantation, calling it "Camp Princeton". [6] [30] [40]

In 1862, the 37th United States Congress enacted "An act for the collection of the direct tax in insurrectionary districts within the United States and for other purposes". [29] [41] In 1864, United States Tax Commissioners confiscated Abingdon and the nearby "Arlington Plantation" under provisions of this act after the owners of each property failed to pay their taxes in person. [29] [39] [42] (A tenant had offered to pay Abingdon's taxes on behalf of the property owner (Bushrod Hunter). However, the government's tax collector refused to accept the payment.) [43]

The government then sold the Abingdon property to Lucius E. Chittenden, Register of the Treasury in the Abraham Lincoln administration. [2] [11] [29] [42] Chittenden then leased the property to Henry M. Bennett. [29] [43] [44]

In 1904, Alexander Hunter (2nd) authored a book ( Johnny Reb and Billy Yank ) in which he recorded his recollections of the Civil War and its aftermath. In his book, Hunter stated that his father (Bushrod Hunter) had removed his family to Alexandria and in April 1861 had abandoned Abingdon. He wrote of Abingdon, whose structures and landscaping were apparently destroyed during the war:

We lived on a splendid estate of 650 acres, lying on the Potomac, between Alexandria and Washington. I doubt whether in the whole Southland there had existed a finer country seat; the house was built solidly, as if to defy time itself, with its beautiful trees, fine orchards, its terraced lawns, graveled walks leading to the river a quarter of a mile away; the splendid barns, the stables with fine horses (for which my father, a retired naval officer, had a special fondness), the servants quarters, where dwelt the old family retainers and their offspring, some fifty or more. ... The land was there after the war, but that was all. [45]

Post-Civil War

Portrait of James A. Garfield by Ole Peter Hansen Balling (1881) Ole Peter Hansen Balling - James Garfield - Google Art Project.jpg

Portrait of James A. Garfield by Ole Peter Hansen Balling (1881)

After the Civil War ended, Alexander Hunter (2nd), who by that time had inherited Abingdon, succeeded in recovering his land in a case that the Supreme Court of the United States decided on March 21, 1870 (Bennett v. Hunter, 76 U.S. 326). [46] James A. Garfield, a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives who had been a brigadier general in the Union Army during the Civil War and who later became the 20th president of the United States, was an attorney on Hunter's legal team. [39] [47] [44] [48]

Congressman Garfield received as compensation 43 acres (17 ha) in a part of Abingdon west of the Alexandria Canal that Alexander Hunter had platted in 1874 as the town of Abington. [29] [49] After moving into the White House upon his election to the Presidency, Garfield began the process of establishing a country home on his holding. [2] [11] Garfield's heirs and an improvement company continued to hold titles to that portion of the Abingdon estate until around the 1920s. [2]

Following the Civil War, Alexander Hunter (2nd) was employed for 40 years as a clerk in the federal United States General Land Office. [48] [50] [51] In 1877, he attempted to build a cattle stockyard on his Abingdon estate. [48] In 1877–1879, he served as a Delegate in the Virginia General Assembly and as County Clerk of Alexandria. [48] [51]

In 1881, Hunter advertised Abingdon for sale. [30] During the same year, he sold his remaining Abingdon property at auction to the Alfred Richards Brick Company. [48] The property at Abingdon that Hunter once owned is now within Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Crystal City and the Aurora Hills section of the Aurora Highlands neighborhood (see: List of neighborhoods in Arlington, Virginia). [52]

Hunter v. Hume

Abingdon became the subject of a legal case (Hunter v. Hume) that the Supreme Court of Virginia decided on June 18, 1891. [53] Alexander Hunter (2nd) attempted to recover from Hume a disputed strip of Abingdon land that lay between the Washington and Alexandria Turnpike (now U.S. Route 1) [54] to the east and the Alexandria Canal (now South Eads Street) [49] [55] to the west. [53] The Court ruled that the strip had rightfully passed to Hume. [53]

Industrialization

In 1896, the Washington, Alexandria and Mount Vernon Railway began to run electric trolleys beside the abandoned Alexandria Canal west of Abingdon. [55] [56] By 1902, the railway was distributing a booklet for tourists that described Abingdon and other historic sites along its route. [57] The booklet illustrated a house at Abingdon (identified as the "birth-place of Nellie Custis") that reportedly stood on the bank of Potomac River, a mile east of the railway's tracks beyond a brickyard. [58]

In 1900, the New Washington Brick Company purchased the Abingdon property. The company used steam shovels to dig yellow clay out of the fields at Abingdon for the production of brick used in the construction of buildings in nearby Washington, D.C. [4] In 1912, the Daughters of the American Revolution reported in their magazine that Abingdon was "gradually being eaten away by the steam shovel before which modern invention many old landmarks must fall." [4]

Nevertheless, the Abingdon house was serving in 1922 as the residence of the brick company's superintendent and was in good condition. [2] [59] Vivian Allwine Ford, the supertendent's youngest child, was born in the Abingdon house in 1912 and lived there until 1922. [59] [60]

Structural and landscape architecture

Abingdon House, before 1902 Some old historic landmarks of Virginia and Maryland, described in a hand-book for the tourist over the Washington, Alexandria and Mount Vernon electric railway (1904) (14595292919).jpg
Abingdon House, before 1902

The house at Abingdon that existed during the early 20th century had a wood-frame in the Georgian style that faced east and west. [61] The house was painted white with green shutters, had a shingled hip roof, and had a scattering grove of big trees to the front and sides. [4] [62]

At the east front was located Abingdon's principal garden where the land sloped gradually down to the Potomac River shore about five hundred yards away. [4] [63] Its beams and rafters were of a solid oak, two feet in diameter. [11] It was two stories in height and exhibited red brick chimneys at the structure's north and south ends. [2] [4]

Deterioration, burning and stabilization

In 1922, Lewis Smoot purchased the Abingdon House and 158 acres (64 ha) of the original estate. [64] Smoot transplanted the boxwood bushes that had surrounded the house to his home's lawn in Washington, D.C. [64] In 1924, Smoot sold the property to the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad (RF&P), which planned to extend its rail yard (Potomac Yard) onto the property. [64] [65]

From 1923 to 1927, members of the Beckworth family leased the Abingdon house and farmed the property's land. [66] After the Beckworths vacated the house, the RF&P tried to sell and give away the house's materials to reduce the costs of removing the structure. [64] [65]

By 1928, the Abingdon house had become dilapidated. [56] [64] [67] [68] Visitors reported that people were tenting and enjoying a campfire nearby and that souvenir hunters had removed a cornerstone and parts of a chimney. [67] [69] In that year, the Washington Society of Alexandria asked the RF&P to defer the razing of the building until it could be restored. [67] The Mt. Vernon Memorial Highway (now the George Washington Memorial Parkway) was constructed on Abingdon's grounds between 1929 and 1932. [56] [70]

On March 5, 1930, a fire destroyed the unrestored Abingdon house. [71] The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA) (now named "Preservation Virginia") then stabilized the house's ruins. [6] [56] [65] In 1933, the APVA commemorated the site and placed a historical marker there. [72]

In addition, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked on the Abingdon ruins, which in the early 1930s were located in the median of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. The CCC landscaped the grounds and built a parking lot, a concrete pad for a monument, and a cinder access road from the parkway to the site of the ruins. The CCC also built a reproduction well cover which was intended to be as close as possible to the design of the well house that was in use when Nelly Custis lived at Abingdon. [73]

For more than 50 years thereafter, the Abingdon ruins remained largely undisturbed, despite the surrounding construction and expansion of Washington National Airport, which opened in 1941, and the construction of the nearby "Nelly Custis Airmen's Lounge". [1] [6] [56] Photographs taken in 1934 and in the 1950s showed the conditions of parts of the ruins during that period, as did a sketch in a pamphlet describing the recently opened airport that the United States Civil Aeronautics Administration authored in 1941. [74]

Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (2002) Washington national airport.jpg
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (2002)

The Federal Aviation Administration of the United States Department of Transportation and other federal agencies owned and operated Washington National Airport until 1987. In that year, the airport was transferred to the newly formed Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority under a 50-year lease that the Metropolitan Washington Airports Act of 1986 (Title VI of Public Laws 99-500 and 99-591) had authorized. As a result, the Airports Authority obtained control of Abingdon's property, while the Federal government held title to the airport's lease. [75]

Two years later, in 1989, the Airports Authority revealed that it was planning to replace the Abingdon ruins with a new parking garage. [76] [77] To comply with the provisions of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the Authority commissioned a series of studies that described the history of Abingdon and the archaeological features of the Abingdon site and its surroundings. [78] [79]

The final report of the series, issued in 1991, summarized the studies and examined several alternative treatments of the site. [79] The report stated:

... the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (State historic preservation office) concluded that there was insufficient evidence to link the existing "ruins" with any of the important historic individuals or families reported to have lived on the property. At the present time, there is no concrete evidence on the construction date or history of occupation of the structure represented by the existing ruins. [80]

The 1991 report concluded with a recommendation from the Authority's engineering division that included:

..... the undertaking of an appropriate archaeological data recovery program at the site and the construction of a "museum quality" interpretive exhibit to be located within the terminal complex. Once data recovery was performed, parking structure construction would follow. The basis for this recommendation was the intention to avoid an adverse effect to the Abingdon Site (through comprehensive archaeological data recovery and public interpretation program) while at the same time providing the desired amount of parking in the near-terminal area. [81]

The Airports Authority's actions ignited a public preservation effort that culminated in 1992 with legislation that the Virginia General Assembly enacted and that Governor L. Douglas Wilder approved. [82] The legislation required the Airports Authority to "take all steps necessary to insure the preservation in place, the study, and the interpretation to the public" of the Abingdon ruins during a one-year period that followed the law's enactment. [82] [83] During that period, James Wilding, the general manager of the Airports Authority, reported to the Authority's planning committee that multiple options had been identified that would provide adequate parking without having to excavate the Abingdon site. [84]

The Abingdon Plantation historical site, looking west from a Metrorail train passing through the airport (2014). Abingdon ruins as seen from Metro .jpg
The Abingdon Plantation historical site, looking west from a Metrorail train passing through the airport (2014).

In 1994, the Airports Authority entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with Virginia and federal officials that assured, among other things, that the resources and historic setting of the site would be protected and that disturbance of the site's archaeological deposits would be avoided during the airport's redevelopment, which was then proceeding. [85] The Authority also issued a March 1994 "Preservation Plan" that summarized the measures that the Authority would take to preserve, repair and protect significant features of the site, while removing other features that the Authority did not consider to be of historical significance. [64] [86]

In 1998, an Airports Authority contractor conducted an archaeological investigation of the Abingdon site, [87] preserved and repaired some of site's remnants and removed others. [88] The Authority relocated some of the artifacts that the contractor had found at the site to a display in a new exhibit hall that the Authority constructed in the airport's original 1941 terminal (Terminal A). [6] [89] [90] A panel in the exhibit hall later reported that archaeologists had recovered over 37,000 artifacts from the Abingdon site since 1988. [91]

The contractor preserved parts of the brick foundations of the Abingdon house and its nearby kitchen, but not all remained visible. [6] [88] [92] The contractor used some of the original foundation's bricks to rebuild a 6 inches (15 cm)-high foundation over a new concrete base. [88] The contractor also used new building materials when restoring portions of the original foundations. [92]

As a result, when the Airports Authority completed the Abingdon site's restoration in 1998, the ruins were reportedly gone, the main foundation looked new and a well had been covered over. [93] Photographs of the reconstructed Abingdon house foundation and kitchen/laundry taken in 2006, 2008 and 2009 illustrated the restoration's condition eight to eleven years later. [94] [95] [96] A group of 2010 photographs also illustrated various features of the renovation and its surroundings. [97]

Historical markers at the Abingdon Plantation site

The Abingdon Plantation Restoration historical marker, looking east with the reconstructed Abingdon house foundation and a Metrorail train in background (2013). Abingdon Plantation (10700319324).jpg
The Abingdon Plantation Restoration historical marker, looking east with the reconstructed Abingdon house foundation and a Metrorail train in background (2013).

The Airport Authority's Abingdon Plantation site contains a sequential series of nine historical markers that describe the history of the plantation, its occupants and its site. The Airports Authority erected all but two of these. The markers are:

Abingdon artifacts in airport exhibit hall

The airport's Terminal A contains an exhibit hall with panels displaying artifacts excavated at the Abingdon Plantation site. [90] The panels are:

Location

The Abingdon Plantation site is located on a knoll between the airport's parking Garage A and Garage B/C. [6] [100] [101] It can be reached by walking from either garage, from the south end of the nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Metrorail station and from the Mount Vernon Bike-Hike Trail. [6] [100]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Templeman, Eleanor Lee (1959). ""Abingdon", Alexander-Custis Plantation". Arlington Heritage: Vignettes of a Virginia County. New York: Avenel Books, a division of Crown Publishers, Inc. pp.  12–13. ISBN   978-0-517-16709-0. OCLC   586063151 . Retrieved December 26, 2017– via Google Books.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Lowther, Minnie Kendall (1922). "Abingdon - The Birthplace of Nellie Custis". Mount Vernon, Arlington and Woodlawn: history of these national shrines from the earliest titles of ownership to the present, with biographical sketches, portraits, and interesting reminiscences of the families, who founded them. Washington, D.C.: C. H. Potter & Co., Inc. pp. 57–58. OCLC   1106843 . Retrieved March 13, 2016– via Google Books.
  3. 1 2 Snowden, p. 10.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Denniston, Eliza Olver, ed. (November 1912). "Passing of an Old Home". American Monthly Magazine . 41 (5). New York: National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution: 200. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Multiple sources:
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (November 12, 1998). "Historic Site At Airport Open to Travelers And Public". Press Release. Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Archived from the original on November 15, 2015. Retrieved November 15, 2015..
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Rose, pp. 26-32.
  8. 1 2 Abbott, p. 37.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Kevin W. (June 17, 2008). "Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority: "Abingdon Plantation: The Alexander Family" marker". HMdb.org: The Historical Marker Database . Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved March 18, 2011..
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Abingdon and John Alexander". John Alexander" marker. John Alexander Chapter, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. April 2009. Archived from the original on March 25, 2012. Retrieved March 18, 2011..
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Multiple sources:
  12. ↑ "John Alexander, Patriot". Alexandria, Virginia: John Alexander Chapter, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. May 7, 2010. Archived from the original on April 26, 2012. Retrieved January 1, 2012..
  13. ↑ "Early Alexandria: The Colonial and Federal Periods". City of Alexandria, Virginia. March 7, 2020. Archived from the original on November 2, 2020. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  14. ↑ Dodge, p. 43.
  15. ↑ Fields, Joseph E., ed. (1994). "To John Parke and Eleanor Custis: Note 3". "Worthy Partner": The Papers of Martha Washington. Contributions in American History: Number 155. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 182. ISBN   0-313-28024-X. LCCN   93035842. OCLC   622446720 . Retrieved June 19, 2021– via Internet Archive.
  16. 1 2 Kail, Wendy (2009). "Martha Parke Custis Peter". The Papers of George Washington. University of Virginia Library: Alderman Library. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Yates, Bernice-Marie (2003). The Perfect Gentleman: The Life and Letters of George Washington Custis Lee. Fairfax, Virginia: Xulon Press. pp. 35–39. ISBN   1-59160-451-6. LCCN   2003091843. OCLC   54805966 . Retrieved March 5, 2015– via Google Books.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kevin W. (June 17, 2008). "Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority: "Abingdon Plantation: The Custis Family" marker". Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved March 18, 2011..
  19. 1 2 3 4 Grizzard, Frank E. Jr. (2002). "Custis, John Parke ("Jacky"; 1754-1781)". George Washington: A Biographical Companion. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, Inc. p. 69. ISBN   1-57607-082-4. OCLC   53275803 – via Google Books.
  20. ↑ Multiple sources:
  21. 1 2 Johnson, R. Winder (1905). The Ancestry of Rosalie Morris Johnson: Daughter of George Calvert Morris and Elizabeth Kuhn, his wife. Ferris & Leach. pp.  16–17, 29–30. OCLC   5383615 . Retrieved May 20, 2011– via Internet Archive.
  22. ↑ Snowden, p. 80.
  23. ↑ Daughters of the American Revolution: Nelly Custis Chapter. "Historic Preservation of Abingdon Plantation". Mount Vernon, Virginia: Daughters of the American Revolution: Nelly Custis Chapter. Archived from the original on December 2, 2007. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
  24. ↑ Smith, Delos (1929). "The Abingdon of Fairfax County". Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine. 63. National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution: 325. Retrieved June 28, 2011– via Google Books.
  25. 1 2 Lee, Edmund Jennings (2008). Lee of Virginia, 1642–1892: Biographical and Genealogical Sketches of the Descendants of Colonel Richard Lee. Westminster, Maryland: Heritage Books. pp. 95–96. ISBN   978-0-7884-2103-7. OCLC   233546866 . Retrieved June 28, 2011– via Google Books.
  26. ↑ Crew, Harvey W. (1892). "IV. Permanent Capital Site Selected". Centennial History of the City of Washington, D.C. Dayton, Ohio: United Brethren Publishing House. p.  101. LCCN   06028029. OCLC   612798983 . Retrieved February 8, 2024– via Internet Archive.
  27. 1 2 3 Abbott, p. 38.
  28. ↑ Stetson, Charles Wyllys (1935). Four Mile Run Land Grants. Washington, D.C.: Mimeoform Press. p. 37. ISBN   978-1-58549-365-4. OCLC   31762440 . Retrieved March 13, 2016– via Google Books.
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Abbott, p. 39.
  30. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority: "Abingdon Plantation: The Hunter Family" marker". Stafford, Virginia: HMdb.org The Historical Marker Database. June 18, 2008. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved March 18, 2011..
  31. ↑ McCormick, Charles H. (June 1, 1968). Custis-Lee Mansion: Historical Data for Grounds (PDF). Washington, D.C.: United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service: Division of History: Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. pp. 61–62 and Illustration numbers 9, 10, and 11. OCLC   33219564. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 15, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2020..
  32. ↑ Multiple sources:
  33. ↑ Multiple sources:
  34. 1 2 3 Abbott, p. 42.
  35. ↑ Multiple sources:
  36. 1 2 3 Dodge, p. 46.
  37. 1 2 Dodge, pp. 45-47.
  38. ↑ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–" . Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  39. 1 2 3 4 Dodge, George W.; Holien, Kim B. (2006). "The Union Soldier Presence at Arlington during the Civil War". Arlington National Cemetery. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. pp. 30–31. ISBN   0-7385-4326-8. OCLC   76416297 – via Google Books.
  40. 1 2 Dodge, p. 47.
  41. ↑ "An act for the collection of the direct tax in insurrectionary districts within the United States and for other purposes". A Compilation of the Direct Tax Laws of the United States from August 5, 1861. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 1874. pp. 25–30 – via Google Books.
  42. 1 2 Dodge, p. 49.
  43. 1 2 Bennett v. Hunter, 76 U.S. 326.
  44. 1 2 Bromberg, p. 16.
  45. ↑ Hunter, pp. 40-41.
  46. ↑ Ashmore, Anne (August 2006). "Dates of Supreme Court Decisions and Arguments: United States Reports: Volumes 2 — 107 (1791-1882)" (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Library, Supreme Court of the United States. p. 96. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved August 22, 2011.,
  47. ↑ Wallace, John William (1870). "Bennett v. Hunter". Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Supreme Court of the United States, December Term, 1869. 9. Washington, D.C.: William H. Morrison: 326–338. Retrieved August 22, 2011– via Google Books.
  48. 1 2 3 4 5 Dodge, p. 50.
  49. 1 2 Abbott, p. 40.
  50. ↑ Abbott, p. 43.
  51. 1 2 Multiple sources:
  52. ↑ Multiple sources:
    • Abbott, p. 41.
    • "Aurora Highlands NC Plan Update" (PDF). Arlington County, Virginia: Arlington County Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development. 2008. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved November 15, 2015..
  53. 1 2 3 Multiple sources:
    • Hansbrough, George W. (1892). "Hunter v. Hume, June 18th, 1891, Wytheville". Reports of Cases Decided in the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia. 88. Richmond, Virginia: J. O'Bannon, Superintendent of Public Printing: 24–30. Retrieved June 28, 2011– via Google Books.
    • Lacy, J. (1892). "Hunter v. Hume (Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, June 18, 1891)". The Southeastern Reporter, Containing All of the Decisions of the Supreme Courts of Appeals of Virginia and West Virginia, and Supreme Courts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, April 28, 1891 — January 5, 1892. National Reporter System — State Series. Vol. 13 (permanent ed.). St. Paul: West Publishing Company. pp. 305–308 – via Google Books.
  54. ↑ Rose, p. 75.
  55. 1 2 Miller, Richard E., Oxon Hill, Maryland (September 15, 2009). Swain, Craig (ed.). ""Transportation" marker". HMdb.org: The Historical Marker Database. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved September 22, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link).
  56. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kevin W., Stafford, Virginia (June 18, 2008). "Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority: "Abingdon Plantation: The Industrial Age" marker". HMdb.org: The Historical Marker Database. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved March 18, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  57. ↑ Multiple sources:
  58. ↑ Snowden, p. 10.
  59. 1 2 Collins, Sarah J. (October 2005). W. Karl VanNewkirk (ed.). "Vivian Allwine Ford". The Arlington Historical Magazine. 13 (1). Arlington, Virginia: The Arlington Historical Society, Inc.: 19–20.
  60. ↑ "Obituary: Vivian Alwine Ford, Danville, Virginia, December 31, 1912 - April 14, 2014". Alexandria, Virginia: Everly-Wheatly Funeral Home. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved September 22, 2015. Most of her youth was spent growing up at the Abingdon Plantation which was also the birth place of Nelly Custis, they lived there until 1922 when the family moved to South 20th St in Arlington.
  61. ↑ Multiple sources:
    • Image of photograph of east face of Abingdon House, circa 1920: Kevin W., Stafford, Virginia (June 12, 2008). "The Abingdon House". Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority: "Abingdon Plantation: The Ages of Abingdon" marker. HMdb.org The Historical Marker Database. Archived from the original on January 12, 2014. Retrieved June 24, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
    • Image of photograph of west face of Abingdon House, circa 1920: Kevin W., Stafford, Virginia (June 12, 2008). "The Abingdon House". Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority: "Abingdon Plantation: The Ages of Abingdon" marker. HMdb.org: The Historical Marker Database. Archived from the original on January 12, 2014. Retrieved June 24, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link).
  62. 1 2 Kevin W., Stafford, Virginia (June 17, 2008). "Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority: "Abingdon Plantation: The Ages of Abingdon" marker". HMdb.org: The Historical Marker Database. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved March 18, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link).
  63. ↑ Wilstach, illustration facing p. 360.
  64. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (March 1994)
  65. 1 2 3 Dodge, p. 51.
  66. ↑ Pratt, p. 55.
  67. 1 2 3 Pratt, pp. 53-54.
  68. ↑ "Abingdon Plantation, c.1930". Alexandria, Virginia, Library: Special Collections. Archived from the original (photograph) on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 14, 2014.InRice, Allison (November–December 2013). "Hidden in Plain Sight". Arlington Magazine. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  69. ↑ Bromberg, p. 28
  70. ↑ Davis, Timothy; Croteau, Todd; Payne, R.D. (1994). "A Model Parkway". Highways in Harmony: George Washington Memorial Parkway, Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C. (leaflet). Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. p. 2. Retrieved March 28, 2021– via Digital Collections from the Washington Library.
  71. ↑ Multiple sources:
  72. 1 2 Kevin W. (June 17, 2008). "Abingdon". The Historical Marker Database . Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  73. ↑ Davidson, pp. 21, 82.
  74. ↑ Multiple sources:
  75. ↑ Multiple sources:
  76. ↑ Henderson, Nell (January 4, 1990). "Airport Debate Amid the Ruins". Weekly-Virginia. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. p. v.01. Archived from the original on June 30, 2017. Retrieved June 30, 2017..
  77. ↑ Multiple sources:
  78. ↑ Multiple sources:
  79. 1 2 Parsons Management Consultants, 1991
  80. ↑ Parsons Management Consultants (1991), pp. 40-41.
  81. ↑ Parsons Management Consultants (1991), p. 44
  82. 1 2 Multiple sources:
    • Pratt, pp. 70, 78.
    • 1992 SESSION: VIRGINIA ACTS OF ASSEMBLY — CHAPTER 402:
      An Act to amend Chapter 598 as amended of the 1985 Acts of Assembly by adding a section numbered 28, relating to the preservation of the Abingdon Plantation House ruins at Washington National Airport [H 726]: Approved Mar 20 1992:
      "Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
      1. That Chapter 598 as amended of the 1985 Acts of Assembly is amended by adding a section numbered 28 as follows:
      Section 28. Preservation of Abingdon Plantation House ruins.—The Authority shall take all steps necessary to insure the preservation in place, the study, and the interpretation to the public of the Abingdon Plantation House ruins and Historic Site at Washington National Airport.
      Notwithstanding any powers and duties that may be conferred upon it in section 5 of this act or elsewhere, the Authority shall neither undertake nor permit the undertaking of any transportation program or project, including, but not limited to, the construction of motor vehicle parking facilities, roads, or other structures intended for uses related to transportation, if any such program or project requires the use of any land that is occupied by the Abingdon Plantation House ruins and Historic site. Any program or project on neighboring lands shall include all possible planning to minimize harm to the ruins and Historic Site resulting from such use.
      The provisions of this act shall expire on April 1, 1993.      "
  83. ↑ Bates, Steve (November 20, 1992). "Manor's Ruins May Be Saved, Airport Says". Metro. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. p. D.06. Archived from the original on June 30, 2017. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  84. ↑ Multiple sources:
  85. ↑ Multiple sources:
    • Wilding, James; Wise, W. Alexander Jr; Bush, Robert (October 1994). Memorandum of Agreement for the Middle/North Parking Structure: Washington National Airport.
    • Pratt, pp. 73-74.
  86. ↑ Multiple sources:
    • Pratt, pp. 73-77.
    • Hong, Peter Y. (April 22, 1994). "Airport Board Has Plan to Save Historic Ruins". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. p. A.46. Archived from the original on April 10, 2017. Retrieved April 10, 2017. A parking garage originally planned for the site of the Abingdon plantation house will be scaled back from 5,000 to 4,376 cars and moved to a position adjacent to the ruins of the 200-year-old structure. The airport authority also will spend $500,000 improving the Abingdon site by building a pedestrian bridge from the garage to the ruins, building a pathway to the remains of the house and removing underbrush and other plants..
  87. ↑ Greenhorn & O'Mara, Inc.(1999). Archaeology of the Abingdon Plantation Site (44AR18), Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Arlington County, Virginia. Report AR-46 on file with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Richmond, VA. Cited in Jia, Wendy. Virginia State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) Project Review Application Form: Crystal City/Potomac Yard Transit Improvements Project, Arlington, Virginia. Washington, D.C.: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. p. 4.in "Technical Memorandum Update: Appendix 5 (Cultural Resources): Attachment A (SHPO Project Review Form)" (PDF). Crystal City/Potomac Yard Transit Improvements. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. August 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 15, 2014. Retrieved July 15, 2014..
  88. 1 2 3 Daly, Rich (June 29, 1998). "Touching down on the 18th century: Airport lifts Abingdon from ruins". Arlington Journal. pp. A1, A6. A nearly $1 million historic preservation project by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has begun to shape the ruins into a clearly visible brick foundation. .... Assisted by a historical excavation expert, the Greenhorne and O'Mara architecture and engineering design firm is using some of the original foundation bricks to rebuild a 6-inch high foundation over a new concrete base. "We're trying to make it so people can see what it was like at the time," said David Jones, authority design manager.
  89. ↑ Sipress, Alan (November 11, 1998). "At National Airport, A Historic Destination: On Acre Nestled Between Parking Garages Are Restored Ruins of Colonial Plantation". Metro. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. pp. B1, B7. Archived from the original on November 16, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2016..
  90. 1 2 "History at National Airport". Urban Land. 58. Urban Land Institute: 24. 1999. Retrieved July 14, 2014– via Google Books. An exhibit hall in the original 1941 terminal, Terminal A—which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places—features artifacts from an archeological dig at the Abingdon Plantation site .....
  91. 1 2 Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. ""Digging Through Layers of Time" panel". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 22, 2015.. inPaulwC3, Northern Virginia (December 23, 2011). "Digging Through Layers of Time exhibit". Picture Number 8 in "Abingdon Plantation: Restoration" marker page. HMdb.org: The Historical Marker Database. Archived from the original on December 23, 2015. Retrieved December 22, 2015. A display in Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Exhibit Hall of the artifacts unearthed at the Abingdon Plantation site{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link).
  92. 1 2 3 4 Kevin W. (June 17, 2008). "Abingdon Plantation". The Historical Marker Database . Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved March 18, 2011..
  93. ↑ Multiple sources:
  94. ↑ 2006 photographic images of Abingdon plantation house Historic Site by hey-helen (June 6, 2006), via Flickr:
  95. ↑ 2008 photographic images of Abingdon Plantation site by Kevin W., Stafford, Virginia (June 12, 2008), via HMdb: The Historical Marker Database:
  96. ↑ 2009 photographic images of Abingdon plantation house Historic Site: Dan S. (August 23, 2009). "Abingdon Plantation Ruins" (Blog). 12 Mile Circle: An Appreciation of Unusual Places. Archived from the original on February 5, 2011. Retrieved December 21, 2015..
  97. ↑ 2010 photographic images of Abingdon Plantation site from Healy, David (June 28, 2010). "Abingdon Plantation at National Airport" (Blog). Tuxedo Moon. Archived from the original on August 31, 2011. Retrieved December 21, 2015.:
  98. ↑ Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. ""Daily Life: Colonial Times at Abingdon Plantation" panel". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 22, 2015.inPaulwC3, Northern Virginia (December 23, 2011). "Daily Life: Colonial Times at Abingdon Plantation exhibit". Picture Number 9 in Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority: "Abingdon Plantation: Restoration' marker page. HMdb.org: The Historical Marker Database. Archived from the original on December 23, 2015. Retrieved December 22, 2015. A display in Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Exhibit Hall of the artifacts unearthed at the Abingdon Plantation site{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  99. ↑ Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. ""Trade Unites Abingdon with the World" panel". Archived from the original on October 22, 2014. Retrieved July 14, 2014.. InPaulwC3, Northern Virginia (December 23, 2011). "Trade Unites Abingdon with the World exhibit". Picture Number 10 in Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority: "Abingdon Plantation: Restoration" marker page. HMdb.org: The Historical Marker Database. Archived from the original on December 23, 2015. Retrieved December 22, 2015. A display in Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Exhibit Hall of the artifacts unearthed at the Abingdon Plantation site{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  100. 1 2 Multiple sources:
  101. ↑ Cressey, Pamela J. (2002). Walk and Bike the Alexandria Heritage Trail: A Guide to Exploring a Virginia Town's Hidden Past. Sterling, Virginia: Capital Books. pp. 16–17. ISBN   1-892123-89-4. LCCN   2001058221. OCLC   48613607 . Retrieved June 16, 2011– via Google Books.

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