Lee Corner is a historic part of Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, at the intersection of North Washington and Oronoco Street. The corner is named after the Lee family, who once owned almost every property on the intersection. After the American Revolution, Alexandria, already known as "Washington's Home Town", also became known as the "Home Town of the Lees". [1]
The keystone of the corner is the Lee–Fendall House at 614 Oronoco Street. The property was originally owned by Col. "Light Horse Harry" Lee, and the original 1785 home was built by Philip Richard Fendall I. [1] The house was home to 37 members of the Lee family, including Philip R. Fendall II, Edmund Jennings Lee I, and Harriotte and Louis Cazenove. [1] It is currently operated as an historic house museum by the Virginia Trust for Historic Preservation.
Across Oronoco Street from the Lee–Fendall House stand twin houses: 607 and 609 Oronoco Street. 607 Oronoco Street was the last home of Light Horse Harry Lee. His son, Robert E. Lee (future Confederate General) spent most of his youth living at the house with his mother, Anne Hill Carter Lee (1773-1829), before he left for his education at West Point in 1825. [2] The house is known today as the Robert E. Lee Boyhood Home. [2]
Next door, 609 Oronoco, stands a mirror image of Lee's Boyhood Home. The house was home to Cornelia (Lee) Hopkins (1780-1818), daughter of William Lee (1739–1795), where she lived after her marriage to John Hopkins (1795-1873) until her death in 1816. [1]
428 North Washington Street is the house built by Edmund Jennings Lee I (1772–1843), younger brother of Harry Lee, who lived in the house from its 1801 construction until 1837, when he moved across the street to the Lee–Fendall House. Directly south of the Lee–Fendall House, on the corner of Washington and Princess, is the house built by U.S. Attorney General Charles Lee (1758–1815), another of Harry's brothers. [1] Charles and Edmund married a pair of Lee sisters, Anne and Sally, the daughters of Richard Henry Lee (1732–1794), a signer of the Declaration of Independence. [1] The Lee–Fendall House is the only Lee family house on Historic Lee Corner that is now a museum. [3]
Charles Lee was an American lawyer and politician from Virginia who served as United States Attorney General from 1795 until 1801, and as United States Secretary of State ad interim from May 13, 1800, to June 5, 1800., after serving as prosecutor for the City of Alexandria and serving in the Virginia House of Delegates from Fairfax County.
William Fitzhugh was an American planter, legislator and patriot during the American Revolutionary War who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress for Virginia in 1779, as well as many terms in the House of Burgesses and both houses of the Virginia General Assembly following the Commonwealth's formation. His Stafford County home, Chatham Manor, is on the National Register for Historic Places and serves as the National Park Service Headquarters for the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.
Stratford Hall is a historic house museum near Lerty in Westmoreland County, Virginia. It was the plantation house of four generations of the Lee family of Virginia. Stratford Hall is the boyhood home of two Founding Fathers of the United States and signers of the Declaration of Independence, Richard Henry Lee (1732–1794), and Francis Lightfoot Lee (1734–1797). Stratford Hall is also the birthplace of Robert E. Lee (1807–1870), who served as General-in-Chief of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865). The Stratford Hall estate was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960, under the care of the National Park Service in the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The Lee family of the United States is a historically significant Virginia and Maryland political family, whose many prominent members are known for their accomplishments in politics and the military. The family became prominent in colonial British America when Richard Lee I immigrated to Colonial Virginia in 1639 and made his fortune in tobacco.
Richard Bland Lee was an American planter, jurist, and politician from Fairfax County, Virginia. He was the son of Henry Lee II (1730–1787) of "Leesylvania" and Lucy Grymes (1734–1792), as well as a younger brother of both Maj. Gen. Henry Lee (1756–1818) and of Charles Lee (1758–1815), Attorney General of the United States from 1795 to 1801, who served in both the Washington and Adams administrations.
Old Town Alexandria is one of the original settlements of the city of Alexandria, Virginia, and is located just minutes from Washington, D.C. Old Town is situated in the eastern and southeastern area of Alexandria along the Potomac River. Old Town is laid out on a grid plan of substantially square blocks.
Edwin Gray Lee was an American soldier from Virginia and a Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War. He was a member of the Lee family and first cousin once removed of Robert E. Lee.
Christ Church is an Episcopal church located at 118 North Washington Street, with an entrance at 141 North Columbus Street, in Alexandria, Virginia. Constructed as the main church in the Church of England's Fairfax Parish, the building was designed by Col. James Wren, a descendant of Sir Christopher Wren.
Philip Richard Fendall II was an American lawyer and politician who served as the District Attorney of Washington, D.C.
The Lee–Fendall House is a historic house museum and garden located in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia at 614 Oronoco Street. Since its construction in 1785, the house has served as home to thirty-seven members of the Lee family (1785–1903), hundreds of convalescing Union soldiers (1863–1865), the prominent Downham family (1903–1937), the family of powerful labor leader John L. Lewis (1937–1969), and enslaved or free servants of those families.
Col. Henry Lee II (1730–1787) of Alexandria, Westmoreland, Virginia Colony, was an American planter, soldier, and politician, the father of Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee III, and grandfather of Robert E. Lee.
The Woodrow Wilson Boyhood Home is a historic house museum at 419 7th Street in Augusta, Georgia. Built in 1859, it was a childhood home of Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924), the 28th president of the United States and proponent of the League of Nations. The house is owned and operated by Historic Augusta, Inc., and was designated a National Historic Landmark on October 6, 2008.
Ravensworth was an 18th-century plantation house near Annandale in Fairfax County, Virginia. Ravensworth was the Northern Virginia residence of William Fitzhugh, William Henry Fitzhugh, Mary Lee Fitzhugh Custis, William Henry Fitzhugh Lee and George Washington Custis Lee. It was built in 1796.
Fendall is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
The Potts-Fitzhugh House is a historic house at 607 Oronoco Street, Alexandria, Virginia. It served in the early 1800s as the home of Anne Hill Carter Lee and her family, including Robert E. Lee. It should not be confused with the Lee-Fendall House, which is located at 614 Oronoco Street.
Philip Richard Fendall I (1734–1805) was an influential banker, lawyer, and merchant in Alexandria, Virginia. He was a member of the Lee family and a friend and business partner to George Washington. Fendall constructed the Lee-Fendall House on the corner of Washington and Oronoco Streets as a lasting home for his family.
Edmund Jennings Lee was a prominent lawyer and politician in Alexandria, Virginia. A member of the Lee family of Virginia, he lived for some time at the Lee-Fendall House in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.
Anne Hill Carter Lee was the First Lady of Virginia from 1791 to 1794 as the wife of the ninth governor, Henry Lee III. She was the mother of the general-in-chief of the Confederate States of America, Robert E. Lee. As a separated wife and then as a widow, she was the head of her household at Lee Corner, Alexandria, Virginia, in what is now known as the Robert E. Lee Boyhood Home. Her chronic pain and straitened circumstances play a significant role in her son Robert's biography.
Leesylvania was a plantation and historic home in Prince William County, Virginia, now part of Leesylvania State Park. During the 18th century, it was the home of Henry Lee II, his family and numerous slaves, and known for its productive land and especially the quality of its tobacco. Lee's sons Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee, Richard Bland Lee and Charles Lee, held prominent positions in Virginia during the American Revolutionary War and early federal government.
Thomas Swann was an American lawyer, businessman and politician who twice served in the Virginia House of Delegates and for more than a decade served as the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia.