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diff --git a/40558-0.txt b/40558-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3315c03 --- /dev/null +++ b/40558-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2494 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40558 *** + +Transcribers Note: Text that is represented in bold has been enclosed +in =. Punctuation errors have been fixed and superscript has been +noted by a ^ prior to the superscript itself. + + + + +[Illustration: FAIRFAX COUNTY +VIRGINIA +HUNTLEY +SITE LOCATION] + + + + +HUNTLEY + +A Mason Family Country House + +By +Tony P. Wrenn + +Published by the Fairfax County Division of Planning +under the direction of the County Board of Supervisors +in cooperation with the County History Commission + +Fairfax, Virginia +November 1971 + + + + +Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 76-183058 + +Typography by ARVA Printers, Inc. +Printing by ARVA Printers, Inc. + +Additional copies available for $1.50 from +Administrative Services, Massey Building + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + + Page +List of Illustrations v +Preface vi +Acknowledgments vii +Introduction 1 +Chapter I. The Mason Family 3 + Thomson Francis Mason 3 +Chapter II. Huntley and Its Owners 9 + Location and Site 9 + Origin of Name 9 + Owners and Occupants 10 + Mason ownership 10 + King ownership 13 + Harrison-Pierson ownership 15 + Harrison ownership 17 + Later owners 23 +Chapter III. An Architectural Description 27 + The Dwelling or Mansion House 27 + Room arrangement 27 + Windows and doors 29 + Interior features 29 + Exterior features 31 + The Tenant House 31 + The Storage House and Necessary 33 + The Icehouse 35 + The Root Cellar 35 + Dairy and Springs 37 + Early Structures No Longer Standing 37 +Chapter IV. The Architect of Huntley 41 + The Architectural Plan 41 + Area Architects, circa 1820 42 + George Hadfield 42 + Similarities to the Work of Hadfield 43 +Summary 47 +Appendix A Some Mason Houses in Northern Virginia 50 +Appendix B Chain of Title 53 +List of Sources 55 + + + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Figure Page + 1. Huntley, viewed from southwest, including root cellar and necessary, + 1969 viii + 2. Huntley house and barn complex, viewed from south, 1947 8 + 3. Detail, _Map of Eastern Virginia and Vicinity of Washington_, 1862 12 + 4. Plat of Huntley division, 1868 14 + 5. Detail, Hopkins, _Atlas of Fifteen Miles around Washington_, 1879 18 + 6. Rear facade, c. 1890 19 + 7. Rear facade, c. 1900 20 + 8. Hindenburg disaster, Lakehurst, New Jersey 22 + 9. Front view, 1969 26 +10. Rear view, 1969 26 +11. Mantel, central first floor room, 1969 28 +12. Mantel, north room first floor, 1969 28 +13. Detail, exterior door, north facade, 1969 30 +14. Detail, interior of entrance door, south facade, 1969 30 +15. Detail, window and door, central first floor room, 1969 30 +16. Necessary and tenant house from the icehouse, 1969 32 +17. Necessary, rear or west facade, 1969 32 +18. Necessary, door detail, 1969 34 +19. Necessary, interior detail, 1969 34 +20. Icehouse, detail, dome and opening, 1969 36 +21. Icehouse door to root cellar, 1969 36 +22. Root cellar entrance to icehouse, 1969 36 +23. Dairy and spring house, viewed from southeast, 1969 38 +24. Architect George Hadfield's ground plan exhibit at Royal Academy, + 1780-82 40 +25. Hadfield's design, bed chamber story plan 40 +26. Arlington House (Custis-Lee Mansion) showing portico designed by + Hadfield 44 +27. Analostan, now demolished, possibly Hadfield designed 44 +28. Front elevation, Huntley, 1946 47 +29. Rear elevation, Huntley, 1946 48 +30. Basement floor plan, 1946 48 +31. First floor plan, 1946 49 +32. Second floor plan, 1946 49 + + + + +PREFACE + + +I first visited Huntley in May, 1969 in the company of Edith Sprouse, +Joyce Wilkinson, and Tony Wrenn. Neither I nor anyone else on the staff +of the Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission had ever seen or heard of +the house, and my Fairfax guides were anxious that their "discovery" be +brought to our attention. Having assumed that anything of interest in +that section of Fairfax County had long been swept away for housing +developments, I was in no way prepared when suddenly we rounded a corner +and looked up to see a curious geometric structure sitting placidly +among its outbuildings against a wooded hillside, aloof from its plebian +neighbors. A quick scanning of composition and details dissipated any +skepticism I may have had: here, on the outskirts of the capital city +was a genuine Federal villa! + +After being graciously escorted throughout the house by the owners, we +all agreed that Huntley was, without question, one of Virginia's +undiscovered architectural treasures. Since next to nothing was known +either of its history or the development of its design, we concluded +that the house deserved the most detailed study. All assumed that a +house of such intriguing individuality had to have a story behind it. + +Through the far-sighted patronage of the Fairfax County Government and +the meticulous research of Tony Wrenn, this story has now been pieced +together. The text which follows provides a history and descriptive +analysis worthy of this distinguished Virginia landmark. + +Calder Loth +Architectural Historian +Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission + + + + +ACKNOWLEDGMENTS + + +This study was undertaken at the request of the Fairfax County History +Commission in 1969, when Mrs. William E. Wilkinson was chairman, and in +cooperation with the Fairfax County Division of Planning. + +Colonel and Mrs. Ransom Amlong, owners of Huntley and their son Bill +answered the author's numerous questions and gave him free rein to +wander through the house and site. Edith Moore Sprouse provided frequent +research leads and both E. Blaine Cliver, restoration architect, and +Calder Loth, architectural historian with the Virginia Historic +Landmarks Commission, provided architectural analysis. William Edmund +Barrett provided most of the architectural photography. A major source +of material concerning Thomson F. Mason was a collection of his papers, +lent to the Alexandria Library by William Francis Smith for our use. +Other leads were provided by Mrs. Earl Alcorn, Mrs. Sherrard Elliot, +Miss Patricia Carey of the Fairfax County Public Library and Miss +Margaret Calhoun of the Alexandria Library. Mrs. Hugh Cox provided +valuable material on T. F. Mason in Alexandria. + +Acknowledgment is also due to those who read and made suggestions +concerning the final draft of this report, among them Dr. John Porter +Bloom, Patricia Williams, John Gott, Mrs. Ross Netherton, Julia Weston, +and several others already named above. + +T.P.W. +September, 1971 + +[Illustration: Figure 1. Huntley, viewed from the southwest, including +root cellar and necessary. November 1969. Photo by Wm. Edmund Barrett.] + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +It is difficult to understand how a house whose history is closely +connected to the well-known Mason family has existed, practically +without notice or mention, for one hundred and fifty years. This fact is +all the more puzzling when the structure is as architecturally important +as "Huntley." + +Several possible explanations come to mind: + + * Though near a major highway, the house is isolated on its + hillside site. + + * Because the structure has been somewhat altered, close inspection + is necessary before its architectural merits can be fully + recognized. + + * The house was a country or secondary home for a member of the + Mason family who, though important in his own right, was + overshadowed by his more illustrious father, Thomson Mason of + "Hollin Hall", and by his grandfather, George Mason IV of "Gunston + Hall." + + * No one has written in detail about the house before and there is + little secondary material available concerning it. + +Kate Mason Rowland's _Life of George Mason_, published in 1892,[1] gives +one of the few references to Huntley found by the author in secondary +sources. In an appendix titled "Land described in George Mason's will, +and now owned by his descendent's," she notes: + + It was incorrectly stated in one of the earlier volumes that + "Lexington" was the only one of the Mason places in Virginia now in + the family. The writer had overlooked "Okeley" in Fairfax County, + about six miles from Alexandria. The farms of "Okeley" and + "Huntley" were both parts of the estate bequeathed by George Mason + to his son Thomson Mason of "Hollin Hall." A double ditch[50] is + still to be seen on the southern border of these two places, + extending several miles from East to West, with a broad space about + thirty feet wide separating the two ditches. These mark the line + between the lands of George Mason and George Washington, as they + were in the lives of those gentlemen. In General Washington's will + he refers "to the back line or outer boundary of the tract between + Thomson Mason and myself ... now double ditching with a + post-and-rail fence thereon," etc. And he mentions in another place + "the new double ditch" in connection with the boundary line between + "Mt. Vernon" and the Mason property. In adding to his estate he had + purchased land at one time from George Mason. And among the + Washington papers preserved in the Lewis and Washington families, + and recently sold to autograph collectors, are three letters of + George Mason, on the subject of the bounds between the Washington + and Mason plantations, one written in 1768, the others in 1769. + Washington adds a memorandum to the former, saying that "the lines + to which this letter has reference were settled by and between + Colonel Mason and myself the 19th of April, 1769, as will appear + ... by a survey thereof made on that day in his presence, and with + his approbation." "Huntley" owned by Judge Thomson F. Mason of + "Colross," son of Thomson Mason of "Hollin Hall," passed out of the + family some years ago ... + +Another mention is in Edith Moore Sprouse's _Potomac Sampler_, published +in 1961.[2] She identifies Huntley as "a part of the estate of George +Mason of Gunston Hall ... on a tract of land which bordered Washington's +on the north and stretched from the Potomac to Kings Highway." + +The following study of the Huntley complex combines the work of +architects, architectural historians and historians in reading and +interpreting the structures. At some future date, efforts of +archaeologists will probably be rewarded with further information about +the complex at various stages of development. + + +Introduction Notes + +[Footnote 1: Kate Mason Rowland, =The Life of George Mason= (New York: +G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1892), p. 472] + +[Footnote 2: Edith Moore Sprouse, =Potomac Sampler= (Alexandria: +privately printed, 1961).] + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE MASON FAMILY + + +The first George Mason came to Virginia during the middle of the +seventeenth century.[3] Two other Georges followed before 1725, when the +fourth George Mason, "The Pen of the Revolution," was born. Movement of +the Mason family had been gradually northward, from Norfolk, then to +Stafford and Prince William Counties in Virginia, across the Potomac +River to Charles County, Maryland, and then back to Fairfax County in +Virginia where, in 1758, George Mason IV built Gunston Hall. + +The builder of Gunston Hall was later the author of the Fairfax +Resolves, of the first Constitution of Virginia and of the Virginia +Declaration of Rights. His Declaration of Rights, which was adopted by +the Virginia House of Burgesses in Williamsburg on June 12, 1776, was +the major source for the Federal Bill of Rights, adopted in 1791. Though +a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Mason refused to +sign the Constitution because it did not provide for the abolition of +slavery, nor did it, in his views, sufficiently safeguard the rights of +the individual.[4] + +George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other early American leaders +were friends of George Mason and Mason's family surely met many of them +at Gunston Hall. Jefferson, who called George Mason "the wisest man of +his generation," was his last recorded visitor at Gunston Hall, on +September 30, 1792.[5] On October 7, one week later, Mason died. + +Nine of his children married. On December 17, 1788, George wrote to his +son John that "Your brother Thomson and his family have just moved from +Gunston to his own seat at Hollin Hall." + +A tutor of General Thomson Mason's family, Elijah Fletcher, wrote in a +letter from Alexandria, August 4, 1810: + + [General Mason is] ... a man of note and respectability, his family + very agreeable, social, affable and easy. I use as much freedom in + the family as I did at my fathers house. I doubt not of their + kindness to me in health or sickness. My employment is respectable + and I consider my standing upon a par and equality with most of the + people. Our living is rich and what in Vermont would be called + extravagant. The family rise very late in the morning and + consequently do not have breakfast till eight or nine. Our dinner + at three and tea at eight in the evening.[6] + +General Thomson Mason served as an officer of militia in the American +Revolution, held numerous state and local offices and was active in +organizing banks and transportation companies before his death in 1820. + +It was his son, Thomson Francis Mason, born in 1785 at Gunston Hall, who +built "Huntley." + + +Thomson Francis Mason + +Thomson Francis Mason was heir to a family tradition of important +friendships, public service and good taste, and he carried on this +tradition. Educated at Princeton, Class of 1807,[7] he chose to return +to the Fairfax County area to practice law and enter public service. + +His life story is difficult to trace. No biography exists, nor is he +mentioned in most works concerning Alexandria, even though he later +attained significant recognition there. + +On November 24, 1817, the _Alexandria Gazette_ announced the marriage, +on Wednesday evening, November 19th of: + + Thomson F. Mason, Esq., of this place, to Miss Elizabeth C. Price + of Leesburg, Loudoun County, Virginia.... + +The young Mrs. Mason was familiarly known as Eliza Clapham Price, not as +Elizabeth C., but Thomson F. called her Betsey. + +The use of the phrase "of this place" is of interest here, and open to +several interpretations. It could mean that he was living in Alexandria +at the time or only that he had an office there. He could have been +living in Alexandria and building a home in Fairfax County at the same +time. + +Mason was probably already a practicing lawyer at the time of his +marriage and was by 1824 a man of consequence in Alexandria. + + The fight to get out of the District began in 1824, while it was + not settled by Congress until 1846. The citizens of Alexandria, + becoming tired of being in the District of Columbia, made an + attempt to have Alexandria receded to Virginia. A meeting was held + March 9, 1824, for the purpose of preparing a memorial to Congress + on the subject. S. Thompson Mason was Chairman of the + meeting....[8] + +The memorial sent to Congress was couched in legal enough terms to have +been drafted by Mason, who later became a judge. His political +activities gave him enough local standing to insure his election as +Mayor of Alexandria in 1827 and again in 1836.[9] + +A glimpse of Mason as a family man can be seen in a reply to a letter +from his wife in which she complained of an exchange of words with +Huntley's overseer (in 1828), Slighter Smith. Mason, who must have been +in court at Leesburg, wrote: + + I have been indeed a little surprised at hearing the conduct of Mr. + Smith. Altho' I knew about the general unkind and bad temper which + he possessed, I had no idea that he would have ventured to exhibit + it in your presence--or have him guilty of the insolence of + threatening violence in your presence and to one under your + protection.... I still cannot believe that he would seriously + attempt it.... + +In that same letter Mason noted: + + ... the great pleasure and pride I have ever felt in seeing you + placed above the flame, and having you so looked up to by + others.[10] + +As a good plantation manager, he also included a note to Smith informing +him of his surprise and displeasure at the outbreak and suggesting: + + I feel it is proper to inform you that I shall feel it my duty to + inquire strictly into this subject--And with regard to the + threatened violence I beg leave ... to put you on your guard and to + inform you that any new attempt will be followed by the most + serious consequences. + +Mason lived in several houses in Alexandria (see Appendix A), but it was +the time he spent at Colross which seems to have received the most +notice. Mrs. Marian Gouverneur wrote in her book, _As I Remember_: + + Another Virginia family of social prominence, whose members mingled + much in Washington Society, while I was still visiting the Winfield + Scotts, was that of the Masons of "Colross," the name of their old + homestead near Alexandria in Virginia. Mrs. Thomson F. Mason was + usually called Mrs. "Colross" Mason to distinguish her from another + family by the same name, that of James M. Mason, United States + Senator from Virginia. The family thought nothing of the drive to + Washington and no entertainment was quite complete without the + "Mason girls," who were especially bright and attractive young + women. Open house was kept at this delightful country seat, and + many were the pleasant parties given there....[11] + +Indeed the Mason occupancy of Colross made such an impression, that for +years afterward the house was known as "The Mason Mansion." During the +Civil War, on October 12, 1864, the _Alexandria Gazette_, in reporting +the military occupation of the town, carried the following item on +Colross: + + ... The fine old Mason mansion, in the suburbs of the town, was + hired by an army officer.... The Mason mansion ... is a fair type + of the residence of a wealthy Virginian. A wide hall in the centre + opens into various rooms, while the front entrance is approached + through a pleasant courtyard. At the rear of the house is a + spacious area, paved with marble in diamond shaped blocks, looking + out upon a large garden, well shaded with fruit trees and + surrounded by a heavy brick wall. At one corner of this garden is + the family tomb, in which are the remains of old Judge Mason, the + former owner of the estate, who died just before the war broke out. + He was a near relative of the present Confederate Commissioner to + England, and his widow now resides at Point of Rocks.... + +Colross remained in the Mason family until the 1880's, Mrs. Betty Carter +Smoot, Alexandria historian, who lived at Colross, wrote in 1934, of the +house and family: + + Jonathan Swift and his wife, and the Masons, who for many years + resided at Colross, are said to have lived in great style and + elegance. As regarded the Masons, there were still some evidences + of this when we went there. Although pretty well denuded of its + furnishings, there were one or two fine old mahogany pieces which + had not been removed, and some handsome mirrors, with gilded + frames, of a size appropriate to the surroundings. In the garret + was stored quantities of china, remains of dinner sets, some in + white and gold and others in blue willow pattern. There were some + beautiful old cut glass decanters, wine glasses, and goblets. I + remember also some vases and other bric-a-brac. Much of this was + mutilated, but it furnished a fair sample of the style of living + maintained in palmy days of the past. These belongings of the + Masons were all packed, under the supervision of a daughter of the + family, Miss Caroline Mason, and disposed of by her.[12] + +When Thomson F. Mason died on December 21, 1838, his obituary in the +_Alexandria Gazette_ ran two full columns.[13] It was noted that Mason, +who was a Judge of the Criminal Court of the District of Columbia at the +time of his death, had: + + ... graduated at Princeton with the highest honors of that + institution ... studied law and practiced with much success and + celebrity, until he was elevated by the Executive of the United + States to that Station on the Bench, which he filled with such + ability at the time of his decease ... his services were eminently + valuable not only in the character of Chief Magistrate of their + City (Alexandria), the duties of which he discharged for many + years, but in all their public undertakings.... + +That same issue of the _Gazette_ carried resolutions of the Common +Council of Alexandria decreeing that they would: + + ... attend his funeral, and will wear crape on the left arm for one + month.... That, as a further mark of respect, and to evince the + sense of his community of their loss, the great bell in the public + building be tolled on Sunday next, from 1 o'clock P.M., till half + past 4 P.M.... + +Members of the Bar and Officers of the Courts of Alexandria County voted +to: + + ... attend his funeral ... and wear the usual badge of mourning for + thirty days ... that a committee of three be appointed respectively + to tender them [family] our condolence ... that the proceeding of + the meeting be published in the _Alexandria Gazette_.... + +The Bar and Officers of the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia +voted to: + + ... attend his funeral, and, during the residue of the term, wear + the usual badges of mourning ... that the Chairman [Francis Scott + Key] with Richard Coxe and Alexander Hunter, Esqrs., be a Committee + to tender to the family of the deceased the sympathy of this + meeting at the death of one endeared to us by long acquaintance, + which has made known the character of the deceased as one deserving + of our warmest personal regard and highest respect, and which + rendered this event a great public loss, as well as a private + affliction.... + +T. F. Mason had been appointed to the newly organized Criminal Court of +the District of Columbia less than six months before his death. He was +the first judge appointed to that court, and its only judge during its +formative period. As a Justice of Peace he had received his first +appointment in February 1828, and was reappointed in 1833, and 1838.[14] + +The story of Mason's life presented here is only a partial one but it is +included to show something of the type of man who built Huntley.[15] + + +Chapter 1 Notes + +[Footnote 3: Stevens Thompson Mason, =Mason Family Chart= (Baltimore: +privately printed, 1907). All genealogical material is taken either from +this chart or from Kate Mason Rowland, =The Life of George Mason=.] + +[Footnote 4: Rowland, =George Mason=, p. 365.] + +[Footnote 5: =Ibid.=] + +[Footnote 6: =Ibid.=, p. 307; The Letters of Elijah Fletcher, ed. by +=Martha von Briesen=, (University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, +1965), p. 8.] + +[Footnote 7: Princeton Alumni Association, Princeton University] + +[Footnote 8: Mary G. Powell, =The History of Old Alexandria Virginia=, +(Richmond: William Byrd Press, 1928), p. 324. In her list of the Mayors +of Alexandria Mrs. Powell also lists T.F. Mason incorrectly as S. +Thomson (sic) Mason, although she spells the name without a "p" there.] + +[Footnote 9: William F. Carne, =Alexandria Business Book= (Alexandria: +M. Hill Co., 1897).] + +[Footnote 10: Thomson Francis Mason Papers, 1820-38, Collection of +William Francis Smith, Alexandria, Virginia.] + +[Footnote 11: Marian Gouverneur, =As I Remember= (New York: D. Appleton +& Company, 1911), p. 212.] + +[Footnote 12: Mrs. Betty Carter Smoot, =Days in an Old Town= +(Alexandria: privately printed, 1934), p. 127. Colross was moved to +Princeton, N.J., in 1929. According to a clipping in the Gunston Hall +archives, which is undated and unidentified, it moved in "... a grand +total of 16 carloads of brick, wood, marble, etc...."] + +[Footnote 13: =Alexandria Gazette.= December 27, 1838.] + +[Footnote 14: Noel F. Regis, "Some Notable Suits in Early District +Courts," =Records of the Columbia Historical Society=. Volume 24 (1922), +68, and Charles S. Bundy, "History of the Office of Justice of the +Peace," Volume 5 (1902), 278.] + +[Footnote 15: Additional information may be found in the Thomson Francis +Mason Papers, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, Accession #1146. +Also Gunston Hall Library, Gunston Hall, Lorton, Virginia.] + +[Illustration: Figure 2. Huntley house and barn complex, viewed from the +south. 1947. Photo by Bill Amlong, copy by Wm. Edmund Barrett.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +HUNTLEY AND ITS OWNERS + + +Location and Site + +Huntley, 6918 Harrison Lane, near Woodlawn Plantation, Fairfax County, +Virginia, is currently owned by Colonel and Mrs. Ransom G. Amlong. It is +located off the Jefferson Davis Highway (U.S. Route 1), in the Groveton +community, on Harrison Lane, between Lockheed Boulevard and Kings +Highway (Route 633). + +The house is on a plateau, overlooking Hybla Valley, at 150 feet above +sea level. To the south, or in front of the house, the ground level +drops in three terraces to 130 feet above sea level. To the north or +rear there is a sharp rise to 200 feet. + +A church and several houses are located directly in front of Huntley, +but the vista from the house toward the Potomac River, especially in +summer, is relatively undisturbed. The general area is one of intense +commercial and residential development. Hybla Valley, through which +Barnyard Creek flows from Huntley, constitutes the major part of the +view from the house, and much of this land is owned by the U.S. +Government. + +The Huntley complex consists of: + + 1. The mansion house. + 2. Necessary with flanking storage rooms. + 3. Root cellar. + 4. Ice house. + 5. Spring house. + 6. Tenant house. + +All the buildings are brick. The house itself is a significant Federal +period structure, built during the ownership of Thomson F. Mason, c. +1820, and believed to have been influenced by George Hadfield, architect +of Washington's first City Hall and first superintendent of the +Capitol's construction. + + +Origin of the Name + +The first known use of "Huntley" as a place name for the Harrison Lane +house appears in an 1859 deed of the property by Betsey C. Mason, widow +of T.F. Mason, to her sons John Francis and A. Pendleton Mason. The +property is described as: + + ... all that certain tract of land in the County of Fairfax and + state of Virginia called "Huntley" and containing about one + thousand acres....[16] + +It is probable that the plantation was named Huntley before Thomson F. +Mason died in 1838, although his will of that year mentions no real +estate, or personal property specifically. + +If he followed the Mason tradition, the house may have been named after +an ancestral home in England, and probably after the home of a maternal +ancestor. In writing of Gunston Hall, Helen Hill Miller says: + + They called their home "Gunston Hall." The name had come down + through several generations of Mason's maternal ancestry: his + grandmother was Mary Fowke of Gunston Hall in Charles County, + Maryland, and her grandfather was the Gerald Fowke of Gunston Hall + in Staffordshire who emigrated to Virginia at the same time as the + first George Mason. The habit of naming new homes in America after + the old ones in England was general among the planters of the + Virginia Tidewater. Mason conformed to this tradition for a second + time when he made a gift of a nearby plantation to his son Thomson + and called it "Hollin Hall," after the home of his mother's people + near Ripon....[17] + +If Thomson F. Mason had followed the same procedure he could have used +the name "Huntley," which might at any point have had an "e" added. His +father was General Thomson Mason of Hollin Hall, who was married to +Sarah McCarty Chichester.[18] Sarah was the daughter of Richard McCarty +Chichester, whose first wife had been Ann Gordon.[19] The ancestral +Gordon home in Scotland was called "Huntley." + + In these lands of Strathbogie Sir Adam (Adam the V) fixed his + residence, and was the first of the Gordons who removed from the + south of Scotland to the North. He obtained from the parliament + holden at Perth anno 1311, that his new estate should be called + _Huntley_, as it is still called in writings and public + instruments, altho' amongst the vulgar it retains the old name of + Strathbogie.[20] + + +OWNERS AND OCCUPANTS + +Mason Ownership + +The will of General Thomson Mason of Hollin Hall was written on April +15, 1797, and probated, after his death, on November 21, 1820.[21] That +will does not specifically mention real estate, but does: + + ... give and devise unto my Son Thomason Mason my gold watch and I + confirm unto him his right and title to a mulatto boy named Bill, + given him by his Grandfather Mr. Richard Chichester and I also give + and devise unto him my interest in the Potomack Company.... + +One reason no real estate is specifically mentioned may be cleared up by +a later deed (1823)[22] in which other heirs of General Mason deed to: + + Thomson F. Mason of the Town of Alexandria in the District of + Columbia, ... a certain tract of land situate in the County of + Fairfax and State of Virginia known and called by the name of + Hunting Creek Farm.... + +This deed reaffirms settlements made by General Mason during his +lifetime on January 1, 1817, and includes the land on which Huntley is +located. + +Thomson F. could have begun Huntley at any time after January 1, 1817. +On the 29th of January 1818, he paid Alexander Baggett $37.79-1/2 for, +among other things: + + 40 Ft. Double Architrave + 18 Ft. Jamb lining + 1 Carpet strip + 2 pr hinges put on + 1 mortice lock put on + 2 Flush Bolts + 135 Ft 4/4 clear boards + locks, hinges, bolts, nails, and Springs....[23] + +Also included is one item labeled "folding doors" (double doors). No +double doors have been located at Huntley, although Mason is not known +to have been building elsewhere at this period. During the latter part +of 1819 he was still building and paid $28.00 for: + + Sept 20--20 bushels plaster + Sept 22--20 bushels plaster + Oct 10--10 bushels plaster....[24] + +There was probably a structure at Huntley by 1823, for in February of +that year Mason sent "to his farm by surry ten bushels shoots and six +bran...."[25] + +By 1826 the house must have been substantially finished, for in that +year Mason's Grandmother Chichester wanted: + + to spend a few days at Mr. T.F. Mason's farm, but was deterred from + doing so by the apprehension that, as Mr. Mason resided in Town, + and there was no other white person on the farm but the overseer + ... she would not be secure.[26] + +By implication there was a dwelling at Huntley ready for her occupancy. + +Another letter written to Mason on August 18, 1827, now incomplete and +in poor condition, suggests finishing some construction work and notes +that the writer, whose name is missing: + + ... had understood you had only rented the place by the month, tho + the man has a little crop on the land growing and if the season + proves good at the end of the year may be worth ... [the rest is + missing][27] + +Almost a year later the _Alexandria Gazette_, on Thursday morning August +5, 1828, had an advertisement offering: + + $25 Reward/ran away from the farm of Thompson F. Mason/Fairfax + County on the night of 2d instant negro/BOB. He is about 6 feet + high, stout made, very black/and about 45 years of age; has a + stammering in his/speech; his right leg sore. Had on when he + eloped,/brown linen shirt and trowsers and took with him/blue coat, + white linsey trowsers, and black fur hat-/I will give $10 for + taking him so I get him again if in the County. If taken out of the + County/or District of Columbia, $25./Slighter Smith, Agent for + Thompson F. Mason/Fairfax County, State of Virginia/August 5. + +Mr. Smith had been replaced as Overseer at Huntley by 1832 for in that +year Price Skinner wrote: + + ... being moved to your house last friday--we are in a bad fix--I + want you if you please to ride out to see what you will have + don--if I was you I wood have the floor layed down with the plank + not used--the whole of the cappenders work may be made in less than + one day--and I ast John Parsons what the cappenders work wood be + worth--he said about fourty dollars--and forty cents I believe wood + be anough there is but three suns [?] worth--to lay the floor and + weather bord the shed Sir you will please to ride out....[28] + +Mason had already acquired Colross, in Alexandria (see Appendix A.), by +1833, for in March of that year an estimate was submitted by Thos. Beale +for: + + Labour and Materials, for repairs on the large Building North of + the Town of Alexandria.... + +The estimate included plastering, painting, brickwork, erection of +porches and porticos, and fencing of the property.[29] It is Colross +with which Thomson F. Mason's name is normally linked. He died December +21, 1838, and was buried there. + +[Illustration: Figure 3. Detail from =Map of Eastern Virginia and +Vicinity of Washington=, Arlington, January 1, 1862, Bureau of +Topographic Engineers, Record Group 77, National Archives. Copy by +Stuart C. Schwartz.] + +His will was probated on February 4, 1839,[30] with Mrs. Mason as +executrix, though it was not recorded until February 18, 1839.[31] Seven +days before his death Mason had written in his will: + + ... I devise all my estate real and personal in possession + remainder or reversion or in expectancy to my beloved wife B.C.M. + for her maintenance and support of our children during her life and + widowhood.... For any aid or assistance which my wife may require + in the management of my estate, I recommend her to my brother + Richard C. Mason, and my most excellent friends Benjamin King and + Bernard Hooe.... + +Though Thomson F. Mason had built Huntley, it never served as his +permanent residence. It was occupied by a succession of renters, +overseers and farmers. Mason's "excellent friend Benjamin King," a +doctor, was to have a more personal connection with Huntley, however. + + +King Ownership + +In November of 1859, Betsey C. Mason, having been authorized: + + ... by deed or will, to dispose of all or any part of his estate to + their children or any of them, at such times and in such + proportions as she may think just and prudent, and whereas, the + said Betsey C. Mason deems if just and prudent to dispose of a + portion of said estate to her said sons [John Francis and A. + Pendleton] ... all that certain tract of land in the County of + Fairfax and state of Virginia called "Huntley" and containing about + one thousand acres....[32] + +At the same time Mrs. Mason transferred to her two sons: + + ... eighty five negroes, slaves for life, which said negroes are + particularly mentioned and set forth in the scheduled annexes to + this deed ... Daniel Humphreys and his wife Rachel and their son + Daniel, now living at Huntley ... and Priscilla, their daughter and + her child named Thomas, the last two being at Huntley ... Sandy + living at Huntley....[33] + +Of the 85 more than six may have lived at Huntley, but only these six +are specified. + +Exactly one month later, the two Mason boys, being: + + ... justly indebted to the said Benjamin King the just sum of + thirteen thousand dollars, lawful money of the United States, to be + paid to the said Benjamin King on the first day of January one + thousand eight hundred and sixty two.... + +transferred as security for a debt to John A. Smith: + + ... that certain tract or parcel of land ... known and commonly + called Huntley ... containing one thousand acres, more or less ... + together with all and singular its appurtenances ... for the + following purposes and none other, that is to say to permit the + said John Francis Mason and Arthur Pendleton Mason, their heirs or + assigns to retain possession of the said tract or land, without + account of rents or profits, until a sale become necessary under + this deed and if the said John Francis and Arthur Pendleton Mason, + shall fail to pay the sum of thirteen thousand dollars, as the same + shall become due according to the conditions of the said bond ... + the said John A. Smith shall upon the request of the said parties + entitled to said payment proceed to sell at public auction, to the + highest bidder for cash, the said tract or parcel of land or as + much thereof as may be necessary ... after having given at least 30 + days notice of the time and place of sale in some newspaper printed + in the town of Alexandria....[34] + +[Illustration: Figure 4. Survey, Huntley, prior to May 15, 1868. Fairfax +County Deed Book 1-4, p. 240. Copy by Stuart C. Schwartz.] + +There the ownership remained until the Civil War. A map of that era +(1862) shows "Huntley Pl--Mrs. Mason's". The overview is labelled "Wide +fertile Valley with but little Timber."[35] This map also labels Kings +Highway the "Gravel Road," a term used in many of the Huntley deeds. + +Why the Masons became indebted to Benjamin King is not known, but on +June 12, 1862, the property was transferred from Smith to King. +According to the deed they did: + + ... advertise the said property in the Alexandria News, a paper + published in the City of Alexandria, for upwards of thirty days for + sale at public auction and wheras pursuant to said advertisement + the said John A. Smith did on Thursday, the 12th day of June, 1862, + at 12 o'clock a.m. in front of the Mayor's office in the City of + Alexandria, offer at public sale to the highest bidder ... several + bids having been made therefor, the said property was struck off to + Benjamin King at and for the sum of thirteen thousand dollars ... + that certain tract of land known as "Huntley" ... together with all + and singular the appurtenances thereto....[36] + +As nearly as can be determined no _Alexandria News_ was being published +at the time, and the property was not advertised in the _Gazette_. The +transaction was noted in its "Local News"; + + ... the property known as "Huntley" in Fairfax County, containing + about 1,000 acres, was sold today at public auction by John A. + Smith, esq., Trustee. It was subject to a lien of about $10,000, + and was purchased by Dr. Benjamin King, subject to said lien, for + $13,000 cash.[37] + +Evidently King either already had moved to Huntley, or did at that time. +He next appeared in the _Gazette_ when he was leaving the property in +1868. + + For sale on Tuesday the 19th instant at 10 o'clock a.m. at + "Huntley" the residence of Doctor B. King, all his HOUSEHOLD and + KITCHEN FURNITURE consisting of sideboard, chairs, tables, + bedsteads, bureaus and glasses, wash stands, toilet sets, and c. + Also stock and farming utensils, horses, cows, plows, harrows, corn + cob and crushers, horse power and threshers, cauldron, kettles, and + c. with all articles usually found on a farm. Terms at sale, my + 11--1 w.[38] + + +Harrison-Pierson Ownership + +Dr. King sold Huntley to Albert W. Harrison and Nathan W. Pierson of New +Jersey. The instrument of sale provided: + + ... the tract hereby conveyed containing eight hundred and ninety + and one half acres, more or less, known as and commonly called + "Huntley"....[39] + +The deed more specifically noted that the courses in this deed had been +so changed as: + + ... to make them conform to the ancient surveys of the land, and + being the same land which was surveyed by George and others to + Thomson F. Mason, by deed dated October 1st, eighteen hundred and + twenty three ... + +Accompanying the deed was a survey which was accomplished for Dr. King +by Thomas W. Carter, "formerly surveyor, Prince William County." The +survey was received by the County Clerk on May 15, 1868. The "Gravel +Road" was shown as running north of the "Mansion House," and the "South +Branch Little Hunting Creek" east of the house. The Huntley part of the +purchase was shown as a plot of land with 682 acres, 0 rods and 30 +poles, containing the "Mansion House." + +The "Journal of Records of Huntley Farm," covering the period between +1868-89, is currently in the possession of Mrs. Earl Alcorn of +Alexandria. It details the purchase, subsequent division between Pierson +and Harrison, payment of liens, etc., on Huntley. The Journal indicates +that the farm was actually purchased on March 1, 1868. Dr. King was +probably given time to settle his affairs, as the transfer was not +recorded until November of that year. At any rate, the Journal entry for +March 1, 1868, reads: + +956 acres at $32.50 per acre 31,070.00 +Paid down each $5,000 10,000.00 + --------- + 21,070.00 + +The Harrisons obviously entered into community affairs, for by May 1870: + + The regular monthly meeting of the Woodlawn Farmers' Club was held + on Saturday last pursuant to adjournment at Huntley, the residence + of A.W. Harrison. The President being absent, Courtland Lukens was + appointed Chairman pro tem. Twenty four members were present. + Theron Thompson was admitted as a member. The report of the + committee on vegetables and a supplement for March last was called + for, again read, and discussed at some length. The committee on + cereals presented their report on the condition of things about the + farm and premises of Huntley, which was a good one and rather + commendatory of Mr. Harrison as a practical farmer, and elicited + several pertinent questions and answers. Some discussion ensued as + to the best method of ridding farms of garlic. E. E. Mason produced + several "pips" taken dexterously with the thumb nail from under the + tongue of young chickens. The "pip" is a little boney substance + similar to a fish scale, a negative of the tongue, and prevents the + chick from eating unless it is removed. A conversational style of + discussion ensured on the subject of poultry. An invitation to + supper, as usual, was unanimously accepted without debate. The club + then adjourned to meet one month hence at Edward Daniels' [Gunston + Hall].[40] + +In the 1870 census Harrison was recorded as being 36 years old, having +four daughters, real estate worth $28,000 and personal property worth +$8,000.[41] + +Harrison became a well known citizen. The _Alexandria Gazette_ reported +on March 3, 1870, that "Mr. Harrison's horses ran away," causing great +excitement in the city. + + +Harrison Ownership + +Pierson and Harrison divided the Huntley tract on March 11, 1871,[42] +and by the time the Hopkins _Atlas_ was published in 1879, the house was +listed clearly as "A.W. Harrison, 'Huntley'."[43] + +In 1875 "A.F.B.", evidently a correspondent for the _Syracuse_ (N.Y.) +_Journal_, visited Huntley, and on July 25th filed a dispatch to the +_Journal_. The story indicated much about life at Huntley during the +era, including the marks left by the Civil War and the life of the +Northerners who had moved to the South: + + To come to Huntley you take the steamer from Washington to + Alexandria. The cars run hourly or nearly so, but the river ride is + more pleasant. If you have been to Alexandria at any time since the + century opened, you will recognize the place. Many things change in + three score years and fifteen, but Alexandria is not one of them. + It is the same yesterday and today. Your hospitable friends at + Huntley will meet you on the wharf, and you shall have a charming + ride through the Fairfax fair fields for four miles, until you + reach the Old Dominion plantation of Judge Mason. It joins on the + south Mt. Vernon, which is plainly visible from the ancient family + residence of the Masons, now the home of an enterprising eastern + gentleman, who has a fondness for agriculture on a grand scale. The + house stands boldly on a hill spur, looking over broad acres of + corn, rye, wheat, oats, and fertile meadows--a sight to see. + Beyond, in plain vision, rolls the Potomac. Vessels of many + kinds--by sail and by steam--are going to and from the city of + Washington.... We took a walk today over the great farm. I dare not + say how many were the acres of corn standing eleven and twelve feet + high, with tasseled ears. Our host had us through the meadows, + going like Boaz of old among his men. He speaks well of the + ex-slaves, and of their service. Among them I met a Washington and + an Andrew Jackson.... + + As we walked on into shady woods we came upon an old encampment of + our Union Forces in the war. If fruit and berries were as abundant + then as now, the boys in blue had a good time in their season. Nor + could the weather have been peculiarly trying. At night we get the + west winds from off the Alleghanies, and at times the delicious + coolness of the sea-side is rivaled. I counted as many as thirty + open graves here from which the forms of those who had been buried + had been taken away. Trees are growing in the places of the tents, + and time is fast sweeping away the marks of war. + + The Southern people are not considered by these northern farmers + especially unfriendly. There is little social intercourse, however, + because the women got so thoroughly mad, that they will never get + over it in this world.... Nevertheless, there is such a sprinkling + of Yankees in these parts that life here has its social + attractions. + + The farmers' clubs meet statedly to picnic, to discuss, and to + prove that the lines have fallen to them in pleasant places. And a + better home for a farmer can scarcely be imagined. The winter is + short; the spring early; the summer not oppressive, and the autumn + continuous, rich and glorious. The people catch the inspiration and + are "given to hospitality." One could do much worse than to live at + Huntley. As for us, we are coming again. + +[Illustration: Figure 5. Detail, G.M. Hopkins, =Atlas of Fifteen Miles +Around Washington=, Philadelphia, 1879. p. 71.] + +[Illustration: Figure 6. Rear facade, c. 1890. Courtesy Mrs. Ransom +Amlong. Copy by Wm. Edmund Barrett.] + +[Illustration: Figure 7. Rear facade, c. 1900; Courtesy Mrs. Earl +Alcorn. Copy by Stuart C. Schwartz.] + +In May, 1892, the _Gazette_ reported another meeting of the Woodlawn +Farmers' Club at Huntley, though the column was a little garble, noting +that the Club: + + ... met at Huntley, the residence of Mrs. Pierson.... The farm of + our hostess consists of about 300 acres and is part of the estate + formerly owned by Mrs. Thomson Mason. A new cottage has been built + overlooking a fertile valley, and giving a fine prospect including + the Potomac River, Mt. Vernon, Woodlawn and Belvoir estates and is + carried on by Harry Pierson, son of our former President.[44] + +The Pierson House may be the structure directly across Harrison Lane +from Huntley. It has the same outlook and general location as Huntley, +and is located on part of the original Huntley tract. + +Albert W. Harrison, to whom Huntley had passed in 1868, died in 1911. +The _Gazette_ noted that: + + Mr. Albert W. Harrison, an old, well known and esteemed resident of + Fairfax County, died at his home "Huntley" in the Woodlawn + neighborhood at 7:30 o'clock last night. The deceased was 80 years + old. He leaves four children, a son and three daughters. Mr. + Harrison was a native of Montclair, New Jersey, but moved to + Fairfax County in 1869. His frequent visits to this city for more + than forty years made him as well known in Alexandria as any + resident of the City. Mr. Harrison was a member of the Second + Presbyterian Church. His funeral will take place Saturday afternoon + at the residence. The interment will be in Alexandria.[45] + +On April 5, 1911 the married daughter, Margaret N. Harrison Gibbs, and +her husband J. Norman Gibbs, deeded: + + ... all of their right, title and interest, legal and equitable in + and to the personal estate of said Albert W. Harrison, deceased, + except his watch, and also to hold as tenants in common, the + following described tract of land containing three hundred fifty + eight and three quarters (358 3/4) being part of "Huntley" so + called and known ...[46] + +to Clara B. Harrison, unmarried; Mary C. Harrison, unmarried, and Albert +R. Harrison, unmarried. The part of the Huntley tract transferred +contained the house. + +For the next 19 years neither the Harrisons nor Huntley seem to have +made the news. Then in 1930, a full page _Alexandria Gazette_ article +appeared entitled "Nation's Greatest Air Center."[47] The rest of the +headline read: + + George Washington Air Junction Tract Found Ideal for Trans-Atlantic + Terminal for Airships of Zeppelin and R-101 types without + Interfering with Thousand-Acre Airport for Planes--Admiral Chester + Shows That Historic Ancestral Lands of George Washington and George + Mason, First Selected by War Department 12 Years Ago for Army + Aviation Field, Afford Only Tract Ideal for Great National Air + Center. + +The "only ideal tract" was the valley in front of Huntley. Admiral +Chester was reported as saying that the War Department in 1916-17, made +an investigation: + + ... of all possible sites for an Army Aviation field near + Washington, and found that the Air Junction site was the only ideal + site for a large air center. + +[Illustration: Figure 8. Hindenburg disaster, Lakehurst, New Jersey, May +6, 1937. Photo published in =New York Times=, National Archives print.] + +Public Relations men for the Air Junction certainly used local history +as a promotional gimmick: + + It will be a twentieth century aeronautic, scientific and historic + center, but retaining the gorgeous 18th Century pastoral setting, + including beautiful groves that teem with birdlife ... a dozen + bubbling springs that have been making for centuries the sparkling + Little Hunting Creek and Dogue Creek.... There are many other + alluring surprises that one would not dream of finding within only + nine miles from the Capital, such as Mason's poetic "Huntley," a + gem of colonial architecture, surrounded by stately trees. George + Mason's "Huntley" and "Okeley" are both part of the George + Washington Air Junction. These estates ... had been forgotten, due + to the lack of signs on the Washington-Richmond Highway to make + known that a modest lane led to them. The lane has now been widened + into a 50 foot gravel road and has become the entrance to the Air + Junction. + + As the visitors drive into the Junction, past the historic Little + Hunting Creek, about 3,000 feet westward, they behold "Huntley," a + gem of colonial architecture, which graces one of the hills on the + north side of the Washington Air Junction Drive and overlooks the + Thousand Acres Airport. It is surrounded by stately trees, and its + sides are screened by vines and picturesque thick bushes of lilacs, + roses and other flowers. + + "May I carry it away?" is the usual query from visitors, as from + the distance "Huntley" looks small enough to carry away. Failing to + obtain permission to remove this colonial gem, the visitors feel + happy in being photographed on the quaint porch and steps.... + +The writer had apparently convinced himself of at least one thing, for +under the photograph of Huntley, which accompanies the article, the +house is again called "a gem of colonial architecture." + +Air Junction promoters invited the Graf Zeppelin and subsequent airships +to make their base here rather than at Lakehurst, New Jersey. The same +invitation went to the British and to others, but the accidental burning +of the Hindenburg at Lakehurst on May 6, 1937, seems to have put an end +to dreams of a great airship junction at Huntley, though there was an +operative airport there. Such names as Lockheed Boulevard, Fairchild +Drive, Piper Lane, Beechcraft Drive and Fordson Road still survive. + + +Later Owners + +Albert R. Harrison, still unmarried and last of the Harrison children, +died on March 24, 1946, and in September his executors sold Huntley to +August W. and Eleanor S. Nagel.[48] For some reason the Nagels had +Edward M. Pitt, an Arlington architect, do seven sheets of drawings of +Huntley that same year.[49] + +Less than three years later the Nagels sold the house to the present +owners, Colonel and Mrs. Ransom G. Amlong.[50] + + +Chapter 2 Notes + +[Footnote 16: Deed Book B., No. 4, p. 448, November 7, 1859 Fairfax +County, Virginia. T.F. Mason's first name is spelled "Thomason," +"Thompson" and "Thomson."] + +[Footnote 17: Helen Hill Miller, =George Mason Constitutionalist= +(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1938), p. 18.] + +[Footnote 18: Stevens Thompson Mason, =Mason Family Chart=.] + +[Footnote 19: Ann was not Mason's grandmother, but the first wife of his +grandfather. Thomson was a favorite of Grandfather Chichester and he +would have known of Ann Gordon. Mr. Chichester had, as a matter of fact, +spent his first married years with the Gordon family.] + +[Footnote 20: C.A. Gordon, =History of the House of Gordon= (Aberdeen: +D. Wyllie & Son, 1890), p. 11.] + +[Footnote 21: Will Book M, No. 1, p. 130, November 21, 1820, Fairfax +County, Virginia.] + +[Footnote 22: Deed Book W, No. 2, p. 199, October 1, 1823, Fairfax +County, Virginia.] + +[Footnote 23: January 29, 1818, Letter to Alexandria Baggett from +Thomson F. Mason, Alexandria, William Francis Smith Collection, Thomson +F. Mason Papers.] + +[Footnote 24: =Ibid.=, A.P. Glover [?] to T.F. Mason, October 18, 1819.] + +[Footnote 25: =Ibid.=, P. Taylor "sent T.F. Mason, esq...." February 5, +1823. Mason either was not at Huntley at the time, or the items were for +his tenant. The bill notes specifically that the delivery was for +"W.T.R.".] + +[Footnote 26: Lee vs. Chichester, #60, Fairfax County Court House. From +a deposition of Bernard Hooe.] + +[Footnote 27: Letter, William Francis Smith Collection.] + +[Footnote 28: =Ibid.=, Price Skinner to T.F. Mason, December 7, 1832.] + +[Footnote 29: At least 10 documents concerning the work which Mason did +at Colross are in the William Francis Smith Collection.] + +[Footnote 30: Will Book T, No. 1, p. 3, Fairfax County, Virginia.] + +[Footnote 31: Will Book T, No. 1, pps. 1-4, Fairfax County, Virginia.] + +[Footnote 32: Deed Book B, No. 4, p. 448, November 7, 1859, Fairfax +County, Virginia.] + +[Footnote 33: Deed Book B, No. 4, pps. 449-50, November 7, 1859, Fairfax +County, Virginia.] + +[Footnote 34: Deed Book B, No. 4, p. 451, December 7, 1859, Fairfax +County, Virginia.] + +[Footnote 35: United States, National Archives, Record Group 77, Map of +Eastern Virginia and Vicinity of Washington, Arlington, January 1, 1862, +Bureau of Topographical Engineers.] + +[Footnote 36: Deed Book E, No. 4, p. 195, June 12, 1862, Fairfax County, +Virginia.] + +[Footnote 37: =Alexandria Gazette=, June 12, 1862.] + +[Footnote 38: =Alexandria Gazette=, May 13, 1868. King, then in the U.S. +Army, married on May 18, 1827, according to the Christ Church Register. +On May 14, 1879, when he sold Lloyd's Lot, which is adjacent to the +Huntley property, to Pierson and Harrison, he is listed as "Benjamin +King of Anne Arundel County." King, John Mason, and T.F. Mason, all +married girls named Price and may have been relatives. It is possible +therefore that King was the brother-in-law of T.F.] + +[Footnote 39: Deed Book I, No. 4, p. 236, November 21, 1868, Fairfax +County, Virginia.] + +[Footnote 40: =Alexandria Gazette=, May 16, 1870.] + +[Footnote 41: 1870 Census, Reel 108, Frame Number 197, National +Archives. In earlier censuses neither Mason nor King appeared. The +actual occupant at Huntley prior to this time was usually an overseer or +tenant. Not knowing who most of these were and having no maps coded to +the census, the author was unable to gather any earlier information from +the census.] + +[Footnote 42: Deed Book O, No. 4, p. 338, March 11, 1871, Fairfax +County, Virginia.] + +[Footnote 43: G.M. Hopkins, =Atlas of Fifteen Miles Around Washington=. +(Philadelphia: G.M. Hopkins, 1879), p. 71.] + +[Footnote 44: =Alexandria Gazette=, May 14, 1892. A Pierson property is +shown adjacent to "Huntley" on the 1879 Hopkins map.] + +[Footnote 45: =Alexandria Gazette=, March 3, 1911. The =Fairfax Herald=, +March 10, 1911, also carried an obituary. The March 4, 1911, =Alexandria +Gazette=, noted that the funeral took place "from the residence this +afternoon ... conducted by Rev. J.M. Nourse. The remains were interred +in Presbyterian Cemetery in this City." The Harrison plot is in the +third section to the left from the entrance. Stones bear no epitaphs, +only names and dates of birth and death.] + +[Footnote 46: Deed Book J, No. 7, p. 22, April 5, 1911, Fairfax County, +Virginia.] + +[Footnote 47: =Alexandria Gazette=, "Northern Virginia Industrial +Edition," January 1, 1930, Section C, p. 8.] + +[Footnote 48: Deed Book 515, p. 60, September 1, 1946, Fairfax County, +Virginia. See also Deed Book 515, p. 64, August 21, 1953. A survey of +the area is shown on pps. 62-63. The plat is marked "Farm and Mansion +House Area," and shows the "House," "Tenant House," and "Barn."] + +[Footnote 49: According to the records of the American Institute of +Architects, Mr. Pitt died January 18, 1969.] + +[Footnote 50: Deed Book 694, p. 400, June 11, 1949, Fairfax County, +Virginia. Col. Amlong is a retired U.S. Army officer.] + +[Illustration: Figure 9. Huntley, front view. 1969. Photo by Wm. Edmund +Barrett.] + +[Illustration: Figure 10. Huntley, rear view. 1969. Photo by Wm. Edmund +Barrett.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +AN ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION[51] + + +The buildings currently comprising the Huntley complex include the +mansion house, the tenant house, the storage and necessary house, the +ice house, the root cellar and the spring house. + + +The Dwelling or Mansion House + +Huntley, the mansion house, is of brick construction. The brick is laid +in common, or American, bond, with five courses of stretchers to one of +headers. Average brick size is eight and three-eights inches by four +inches by two and one-quarter inches thick.[52] "The brickwork does not +seem to have been laid ornamentally, but this is not strange for a +building of the early part of the nineteenth century, where the emphasis +was taken away from brick and it was often either stuccoed or +painted."[53] + + +Room Arrangement + +Originally the house was "H" shaped. The center portion is three stories +at the front (south), two at the rear, and only one room deep. The wings +on either side are two stories at the front, one at the rear and two +rooms deep. Construction of the house on the slope of the hill accounts +for the difference in height. Major entrances are on the first floor, +although a ground floor is located beneath it. The wings project about +half their width front and rear from the center section. This +arrangement provides a large center room at the first floor level, with +two rooms on each side. On the second floor level there is only one +large center room, while on the ground floor level there is a large +center room with two flanking rooms on each side. Here were the kitchen, +various storage rooms, and possibly quarters for the household staff. + +Every room on the first floor and almost every room on the ground floor +had an exterior entrance. There is no obvious physical evidence to +indicate the means of access to the second story room. Evidence of a +dumbwaiter from the ground floor kitchen area to the floor above still +exists in the rear ground floor room of the west wing. + +A wing has been added to the rear portion of the west side of the house. +This is partly brick and partly frame and is of relatively recent +construction. The rear of the H-shaped building has been filled in to +create a hall space, bath and an enclosed stair to the second floor +room. At the second floor level it provides an extra room and a bath. +This work is probably nineteenth century, but the exact date is unknown. + +In front, at the first floor level is a porch addition. This is built +around earlier steps which are of quarried stone supported by a brick +wall on each side. The present porch roof covers and obscures the brick +arch and top of the fanlight over the entrance. There was probably no +covered porch on the house originally. + +[Illustration: Figure 11. Mantel, central first floor room. 1969. Photo +by Wm. Edmund Barrett.] + +[Illustration: Figure 12. Mantel, north room first floor. 1969. Photo by +Wm. Edmund Barrett.] + + +Windows and Doors + +Windows in the facade are unique in that they are set into recessed +brick frames. While the frames in the root cellar are arched, those in +the residence are square panels, with the window set into the center of +the frame. According to architectural historian E. Blaine Cliver, the +exterior window construction is quite simple with a double beaded frame +set into the brick two to three inches from the front surface. The +simplicity of the window framing, which is Federal in style, would place +the house somewhat after the late Colonial period, in the early +nineteenth century. Windows on the ground and first floor are +six-over-six, double-hung sash, except adjacent to the entrance on the +first floor porch where they are four-over-four. Windows on the second +floor consist of a single, nine-pane sash, which opens to the side on +hinges. The pane size is eight and a half inches by ten inches and a +large portion of the glass is early. The exterior shutters consist of a +single panel of fixed louvers and much shutter hardware survives. This +includes several types of shutter stops, which are generally wrought +rather than stamped. A fine boot scraper also exists at the rear first +floor entrance. + +The door entrance in the south front has framing sidelights and an +elliptical fanlight with wood tracery. In general, the oval fanlight +came into use in the 1790's and went out of common use around 1825; +although according to Mr. Cliver it probably was not common in this area +until after 1800. The stiles of the entrance are basically the pilaster +type although the reeding within the pilaster is rounded rather than +flat. An opposing door at the north or rear of the center room was also +originally exterior. The keystone over the fanlight has a beaded center +portion which is similar to those found in the work of nineteenth +century architect Asher Benjamin. + + +Interior Features + +The center first floor room has a fine mantel which is also similar in +proportion to the Federal styles of Benjamin. The mantel is somewhat +busy, and a little heavy, yet it has delicate detail and reeding on the +sides. The mantels in the side rooms are much simpler, as might be +expected in ancillary rooms. Basically, however, their proportions are +the same, dateable to the early nineteenth century but with much less +style involved. All four of the side mantels are of the same basic +design, but each has been given an individual detail or refinement. + +The second floor room has a simple mantel and moldings. It has the ovolo +curve in the molding around the architraves which was common in the +eighteenth century and persisted into the nineteenth.[54] This room +would have been less used than downstairs rooms and the moldings are +bound to be simpler, as is often found in the nineteenth century, when +the upstairs was no longer as much used as in the eighteenth century. +This room has a tray ceiling of the type one would expect to find +beneath a hip roof, such as Huntley had in the nineteenth century. + +Much of the flooring in the house is early, consisting of wide random +width pine boards. The saw marks in the subflooring above the ground +floor center room are vertical, but apparently from a mechanical saw. +Beams under this portion of the house are hand-sawn on one side and +broad-axed on the other. + +[Illustration: Figure 13. Detail, exterior door, north facade. 1969.] + +[Illustration: Figure 14. Detail, interior of entrance door, south facade, +1969.] + +[Illustration: Figure 15. Detail, window and door, central first floor +room. 1969. Photos by Wm. Edmund Barrett] + +On the ground floor only the kitchen fireplace in the west side is open. +There is evidence of a possible oven in the west chimney in the center +room. In the east wing the front fireplace has been closed, though a +balancing structural arch in the adjacent room is still open. The floor +on the ground level was brick but floors in all rooms except the rear +room in the east wing have been covered with concrete. + +Much early hardware remains at Huntley, some of which fits stylistically +into the period of construction. Most of it cannot be positively dated. +The front door latch, for example, is an old Carpenter-type lock, +generally common in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but having +no visible manufacturers mark, it cannot be positively dated. + +Door and window architraves in the center first floor room, and in rooms +in the east wing have corner blocks, while those in the west wing do +not. Detail of the architraves throughout is early, and those with +corner blocks are probably contemporary with the rest of the house. In +the center room, first floor, the mantel, door and window architraves, +and panelling beneath windows, all have the same molding details, +indicating that all woodwork is of the same age. + + +Exterior Features + +On the two wings the wooden cornice is fairly deep, approximately eight +inches, providing a slight projection. This may be indicative of a +somewhat later date--moving toward the cornices of the Greek Revival +period. They are probably of a later date, but if so, certainly within +thirty to forty years after the house was constructed, or no later than +the mid-nineteenth century. The saw-tooth cornice line does not run +behind the present wooden cornice, indicating, along with the fact that +brick bonding continues into the gable end, that the roof configuration +on the wings is probably original. The only probable differences between +the original roof and that now in place is that the gable ends over the +center section were clipped, giving the appearance of a hip roof when +seen from the front. This roof continued, shed style, over the wings. +There probably were no covered porches and the front porch at the first +floor level may have been open above and below. + + +The Tenant House + +The tenant house is a brick two-story structure with a ridge roof, a +slightly off-center interior chimney and a three bay front. The building +is approximately thirty-two feet long and twenty-two feet wide. A seven +foot projection on the right end, added in this century, houses bath and +kitchen facilities. It is approximately two hundred seventy feet west of +the mansion house. + +The brick is laid in common bond, with five courses of stretchers to one +of headers. The average brick size is eight and one-half inches by four +inches by two and one-eighth inches. The cornice line is composed of +three rows of bricks stepped outward. The first and third courses are +stretchers and the middle course is composed of headers laid to form a +dentil course. + +This structure burned in 1947; now only the exterior walls are original. +All windows, doors and interiors date from remodelling after the fire. +As part of the Huntley complex, it is still a visually important +building. + +[Illustration: Figure 16. Necessary and tenant house from the icehouse, +1969. Photo by Wm. Edmund Barrett.] + +[Illustration: Figure 17. Necessary, rear or west elevation. 1969. Photo +by Wm. Edmund Barrett.] + + +The Storage House and Necessary + +The building referred to by the present owners as the slave quarters +does not seem to have been suitable for the housing of human beings, and +may actually not have been used for that purpose. It is a one-story +brick structure with a ridge roof over three rooms. Neither of the end +rooms has a finished floor or ceiling nor do they appear ever to have +had finished walls; the windows are wall openings protected by iron +bars; each room has four brick diamond-shaped ventilators and neither +seems to have been heated--in addition to being open, there are no +chimneys or flues. It is likely that both rooms were used for storage +spaces and, from the evidence in existing doors and windows, secure +ones. The overall measurements of the building are approximately +thirty-four feet eight inches by ten feet ten inches, each end room +measuring approximately eleven feet eleven inches by ten feet ten +inches. + +The necessary, a privy or outdoor toilet, occupies the central recessed +portion between the two end storage rooms. It measures approximately ten +feet ten inches by five feet five inches, and includes separate men's +and women's sections. + +Brick in the structure has an average size of nine inches by four and +one-quarter inches by two and one-quarter inches. The bond is common, +varying from three courses of stretchers to one of headers at the +foundations, to five to one at the gable end. Queen closers are used at +the corners of the structure. The cornice line is three bricks deep, +stepped outward. The bottom and top course are stretchers, while the +middle course is set at an angle in a saw-tooth pattern,[55] the same +cornice as is used on the house. + +The structure is symmetrical. Brick ventilators, two in each gable end +and two to the rear of each end section, are worked into the brick wall. +They are in the shape of a flattened diamond, with sixteen headers +eliminated to form the pattern.[56] + +To the rear of the structure the roof has been replaced, though the +front part of the ridge is old. This may be accounted for by the fact +that the rear wall is bowed back two or three inches out of plumb. This +may be immediately seen in the joint of the wall dividing the storage +room on the left from the necessary. This shift could have necessitated +the replacement of the roof to the rear. + +Hand wrought, rose head nails were used in the construction of the doors +to the necessary; they may have been used for their clenching +properties. The latches are hand wrought, or at least one of the early +fabrications. The left door consists of three vertical boards, from left +to right; nine, ten and eleven inches in width. The center board is +beaded on each side, while the outer boards are undecorated. + +Hand wrought rose head nails are also used in the construction of the +barred windows in the front of the storage rooms. Here they are used +structurally, tho the effect is decorative. The bars are iron, and the +original frame and bars remain in the left storage unit window. + +The storage rooms have dirt floors and unfinished ceilings. Bars at the +windows, strong doors and the open ventilators would indicate storage +areas needing light, ventilation and security. Such an area might be +required for any number of farm produced commodities. + +Both necessaries, in the center portion, are completely finished, with +plaster walls, well shaped seats, windows with sash and glass, and brick +floors, now covered with concrete. The necessary for men to the right +has one seat, while that for women, to the left, has three. Two of these +are at ordinary height, while the third is at a child's height. The +necessary was cleaned from the rear. A tray, inserted beneath a log sill +at the foundation line, could be removed, cleaned and reinserted daily. + +[Illustration: Figure 18. Necessary, door detail. 1969. Photo by Wm. +Edmund Barrett.] + +[Illustration: Figure 19. Detail, interior, women's necessary, 1969. +Photo by Wm. Edmund Barrett.] + +Part of the lath in the ceiling of the necessary is split; there has +been some replacement with sawn lath. Lath nails in a piece of split +lath removed from the ceiling probably postdate 1830, while nails used +in the seats are cut and probably postdate 1840. The significance of +dating these nails is minimal as the interiors could have been finished +at any time after the construction of the building. + +The ceiling and columns of the recessed entrance to the necessaries were +recently replaced by the present owners, the Amlongs. They replaced the +round columns with square posts. The brick floor laid in a herringbone +pattern, if not original, is certainly early. + +In the absence of documentary material it is difficult to date this +structure. It would probably be safe to say that it was built as early +as the house, c. 1820, and possibly before. + + +The Icehouse + +The icehouse, located sixty-six feet northwest of the mansion, is one of +the most striking structures at Huntley, and one that differs from most +other Virginia icehouses known to the author. It exhibits quality of +design and workmanship seldom seen in a utilitarian structure. Most +icehouses are square, a simple form which would offer easier +construction than the round structure at Huntley. Not only is this +structure round, but the roof is hemispherical, forming a complete +circular dome. Construction of the dome is all headers. Some of the +bricks are fired to a dark color but there is no discernible pattern in +the brick work. + +All of the structure is below ground. At the top of the dome is a square +opening of quarried stone which is at ground level. The stone here shows +the wear of ropes which were used to lower and raise ice. Most other ice +houses are at least partially above ground, with some type of +superstructure, or reveted into a bank or side of a hill.[57] They +require some depth, and insulation, so that they are usually finished in +brick or stone. Sawdust was an ingredient commonly used for storing ice, +used in alternating layers of block ice and sawdust. Sawdust was +certainly used in the icehouse at Huntley, and has covered the floor to +such an extent that it is not possible to determine the original depth +of the structure. Walking on the present "floor" gives one somewhat the +same feeling as walking on a peat bog. The distance is at least twelve +feet from the present floor level to the entrance at the top of the +dome, and approximately fifteen and one-half feet in diameter. + +The dome is strong enough to support the Amlong automobile, which is +parked above it in a recently constructed carport. Access to the +icehouse may be had directly from the adjacent root cellar. One stone +step exists, in the root cellar wall. There may have been a ladder or +wooden steps at one time. The walls between the root cellar and icehouse +are separate, indicating that the two structures were constructed at +different dates. + + +The Root Cellar + +This building, located fifty feet northwest of the mansion and adjacent +to the icehouse, consists of a one story brick structure above ground, +approximately fifteen feet two inches square, with a full cellar below +ground level. Access to the cellar is through steep steps of rough cut +stone, located on the right side of the structure. Access to the +icehouse is directly opposite. + +[Illustration: Figure 20. Detail, dome and ground level opening, +icehouse. 1969. Photo by Wm. Edmund Barrett.] + +[Illustration: Figure 21. Detail, icehouse door to root cellar. 1969. +Photo by Wm. Edmund Barrett.] + +[Illustration: Figure 22. Detail, root cellar entrance to icehouse. +1969. Photo by Wm. Edmund Barrett.] + +Evidence of ventilators can be seen on both front and rear. These were +barred openings approximately six inches deep with vents to the surface, +which were finished with brick and faced with quarried stone at ground +level. The bars are now gone, but they were horizontal, instead of +vertical as are those in the storage rooms adjacent to the necessary and +of approximately the same size. There is no shelving or other built-in +furniture to indicate the use of the cellar. Since the room above and +the roof are replacements, there is little indication of actual use, and +the name "root cellar" has been used only for convenience. + +The cellar walls are brick, laid in common bond, with three courses of +stretchers to one of headers. This bond is uniform for the structure, +above and below ground. The average size of bricks is eight and +three-eighths by four by two and one-half inches. The plain cornice is +uniform, probably indicating that the roof was originally hipped. + +With the exception of the brick walls, which stand substantially as +constructed, the structure has been entirely rebuilt. Windows in these +walls are set into brick arches which are decorative rather than +structural. The recessed windows of the building like those in the +mansion house are of particular interest. + + +Dairy and Springs + +A dairy or springhouse is located at the base of the hill, some one +hundred fifty-six feet southeast of the mansion house, near the point +where the south driveway to Huntley meets Harrison Lane. This spring, +and the one immediately across the road, form the source of the south +branch of Little Hunting Creek, from which derived the early name of +Huntley, "Hunting Creek Farm." The springhouse is brick, now overgrown +and filled almost completely so that there is no flow of water and +original use is difficult to ascertain. The structure may have had a +door and shelves in the brick wall. The roof is arched, one brick course +deep, and the structure is reveted into the hillside. + +There is another spring on the hill to the northwest above the mansion +house. This, too, is encased with bricks, all below ground, and could +have furnished water to the house through gravity flow. Since both this +cistern type spring and the springhouse below the mansion house are +probably contemporary, the lower one may have served exclusively as a +dairy. + +At least two other springs or shallow wells also exist on the property, +providing the headwaters for Barnyard Creek, and for part of Dogue +Creek. + + +Early Structures No Longer Standing + +Though barns existed until the 1950's, none of these, as evidenced by +photographs, would seem to date from the period of construction of the +house. Some one hundred seventy-one feet west of the tenant house, and +in a straight line with the main house, are the remains of a large brick +foundation. This foundation supported a sizeable structure in the +Huntley complex, which may have been a barn. The ruins are rectangular, +and approximately thirty-three by sixty feet. + +[Illustration: Figure 23. Dairy and springhouse, viewed from the +southeast. 1969. Photo by Wm. Edmund Barrett.] + +None of the storage rooms in the outbuildings show any evidence of ever +having been used as a smoke house, though the structure over the root +cellar may have been used for that purpose. It has been completely +remodeled inside, including a floor and roof, and any evidence of smoke +house use has been eradicated. Though one would expect to find, in a +complete southern plantation complex, barns, slave quarters, and a smoke +house, none of these now exist at Huntley, as is the case with most +surviving eighteenth and nineteenth century mansions. + + +Chapter 3 Notes + +[Footnote 51: All quotes in this section unless otherwise credited are +from E. Blaine Cliver who visited the site with the author on November +11, 1969, and taped his comments. Mr. Cliver is with the firm of +Geoffrey W. Fairfax, AIA, Honolulu, Hawaii, where he is working as +restoration architect for Iolani Palace. Calder Loth, architectural +historian with the Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission visited the +site with the author on May 12, 1969. Their comments were of +immeasurable value in the investigation.] + +[Footnote 52: All measurements are approximate, and are only used to +suggest scale and distance.] + +[Footnote 53: In this area examples include Arlington House, 1802-17; +Tudor Place, about 1815; and Oatlands, Loudoun County, 1800-27.] + +[Footnote 54: Similar moldings may be found at Sully, 1794, Fairfax +County, and at Monticello, about 1770-1808.] + +[Footnote 55: This was a relatively common cornice line in the +Washington area. It appears on, among others, Earps Ordinary in Fairfax, +last half of the eighteenth century; Millers House, Colvin Run, about +1825; servants wing of Decatur House, 1818, Washington.] + +[Footnote 56: This design is used, among other places, in the +outbuildings at Bremo, about 1820, Fluvanna County, and the jail, about +1848, Palmyra. In the immediate area the use is known to the author only +in the barn at the Oxon Hill Childrens Museum, Prince Georges County, +Maryland, early nineteenth century.] + +[Footnote 57: The icehouse at Belle Grove, Middletown, late eighteenth +century, is the former type, while Woodlawn, Fairfax County, 1805, is +believed to have been the latter type.] + +[Illustration: Figure 24. + +Architect George Hadfield's exhibit at the Royal Academy, 1780-82.] + +[Illustration: Figure 25. + +Hadfield's design, bed chamber story plan. + +Courtesy, Avery Library, Columbia University] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE ARCHITECT OF HUNTLEY + + +The construction of Huntley was probably not supervised by an architect. +There are too many imperfections for that. At the same time, it is too +architectonic to have either evolved or been put together from style +manuals. It is likely instead that the building derived from an +architect's plan. + + +The Architectural Plan + +The mansion house at Huntley has remarkable refinement for a secondary +house of a Virginia planter's family. This includes not only concept, +scale, and the manner in which the component parts hold together, but +extends to detail as well. For example, both the center first floor room +and the east wing have corner blocks, of two different designs, as a +part of door and window architraves. The architect Benjamin Latrobe used +corner blocks, for which the drawings still exist, in some of the rooms +at Decatur House in 1818.[58] Fiske Kimball, the architectural +historian, believes that: + + In the Forrester House and the Andrew House there [Salem, + Massachusetts] at this time [1818], and in the Decatur House, + Washington, just before, we find the first examples of doors + framed, not by a mitred architrave, but by moulded bands with + corner blocks, which remained characteristic through the middle of + the Century.[59] + +That Huntley, c. 1820, should have corner blocks, is probably too much +to expect from a local carpenter's design, if Mr. Kimball's dates are +correct. Inasmuch as the corner blocks are an integral part of the +design of the center first floor room at Huntley, there can be no +question that they were original. It is interesting to note that at +Decatur House, as at Huntley and Arlington, corner blocks are used only +in some rooms, and not uniformly throughout the house, as is common +later. + +Of course, Thomson Francis Mason could have had easy access to the works +of Gibbs, Morris, Benjamin and others. George Mason IV had enough +knowledge of architecture and design to employ William Buckland to +design the interiors at Gunston Hall and his library was extensive. Mrs. +Rowland, in speculating on what was in that library, notes that it was +divided among his five sons, including T. F.'s father, and further notes +that: + + The editor of the "Spotswood Letters" notices the libraries, really + extensive for the time, of the second William Byrd of "Westover," + of Sir John Randolph of Williamsburg, and of John Mercer of + "Marlboro," and numerous others nearly as large, among them that of + George Mason of Gunston.[60] + +Books might have given Mason an appreciation and knowledge of +architecture and design, but it is highly unlikely that the design for +Huntley derived from a book. In discussing the design of houses in this +period architect Robert Mills noted in his "Autobiographical Notes" +that: + + The principle assumed and acted upon was that beauty is founded + upon order, and that convenience and utility were constituent parts + ... the author has made it a rule never to consult books when he + had to design a building. His considerations were first, the object + of the building; second, the means appropriated for its + construction; third, the situation it was to occupy; these served + as guides in forming the outlines of his plan. Books are useful + guides to the student, but when he entered on the practice of a + profession, he should lay them aside and only consult them upon + doubtful points, or in matters of details or, as mere studies, not + to copy buildings from.[61] + +At Huntley the designer certainly considered convenience and utility, +while keeping in mind "the object of the building ... the means +appropriated for its construction" and "the situation it was to occupy." + + +Area Architects, Circa 1820 + +During the first quarter of the nineteenth century, Dr. William +Thornton, Charles Bulfinch, Robert Mills, Benjamin Latrobe and George +Hadfield were all designing buildings in the stylistic mode of Huntley. +Mason would have been aware of Dr. Thornton's work at Tudor Place in +Georgetown, completed about 1815, and at Woodlawn Plantation, near +Huntley, completed about 1805. Though Thornton did not die until 1828, +he was already an elderly man by 1820, and Tudor Place is the last house +he is known to have designed.[62] + +Mason would have been aware of Bulfinch's work from his visits to +Boston, and Bulfinch arrived in this area in 1817. He immediately busied +himself as Architect of the United States Capitol, however.[63] Robert +Mills studied in Washington with Latrobe, and later designed buildings +here, but he was not in Washington at the time Huntley was built.[64] +Latrobe, who died in 1820, was at the height of his career and had ample +commissions in the period of time from 1810-20. Hadfield, on the other +hand, was available, needed work,[65] and had not yet begun his City +Hall. Huntley would have provided not only suitable work, but a +challenging site, and a suitable family for whom to work. + + +George Hadfield + +Hadfield, a British subject, was born in Leghorn, Italy, about 1764.[66] +His architectural training and collection of architectural prizes were +outstanding when he arrived in this country in 1795 to superintend the +construction of the United States Capitol. He, and his sister Maria +Cosway, a painter, were both friends of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson +championed Hadfield here, though his actual recommendation to the +Capitol job was from John Trumbull, the American artist. Soon +difficulties began with Dr. William Thornton, who had won the +competition for design of the Capitol and Hadfield lost his job. + + From the time of Hadfield's dismissal from the Capitol in 1798, + until 1820, when he was busy with his _magnum opus_, the City Hall, + the records are sketchy and incomplete. He elected to stay in this + city rather than go to Philadelphia where the social and political + centers were. This decision must have been made deliberately, with + the prospect of designing many buildings in this growing + metropolis. He was without a steady income during all this period, + yet he was able to keep busy on many jobs that enabled him to stay + alive.[67] + +Hadfield was obviously not always happy with the commissions which came +his way, however. On September 22, 1822, he wrote Jefferson: + + ... am much obliged to you Sir, for the wish you express to inform + my Sister that I am in good health and doing well: the former, + thanks to Providence, I enjoy; as to the latter, I cannot say much; + there is here a stagnation in the building line, owing to the + scarcity of money, that is very injurious to both architects and + mechanics. I have for the two preceding seasons been occupied in + the building of the City Hall....[68] + +We know little of what Hadfield accomplished in Washington, though his +obituary, in 1826, gives some leads: + + It is a duty we owe to the founders of our city, when any of them + are called from the scene of their former usefulness, to do honor + to their memory, by recording with truth, whatever they have done + in laying the foundations of our infant metropolis, or promoting + its welfare. It is but doing justice to the dead; and it is to be + hoped, when such men die, that it will excite the living to emulate + them. Amongst this class may be placed the late Mr. GEORGE + HADFIELD, _Architect_, who died at his residence in this city, on + Sunday evening, the 5th instant, aged about 62 years.... + +The obituary notes that Mr. Hadfield never married, mentions his early +training and prizes, his arrival in Washington to superintend the +construction of the Capitol and the subsequent arguments. His +accomplishments were summarized: + + Amongst the works which will serve to perpetuate his memory in this + city are the City Hall; the Public Offices, which were built from + his design; Mr. Custis's house [Arlington House]; Com. Porter's; + Mr. Way's Row, now occupied by Mr. Gunton and others; Heightman's + Row, now occupied by Mr. Poor and others; Col. Taylor's, now + Williamson's Hotel; the Mausoleum, built for the families of Van + Ness and Burns; and the Branch Bank of the United States. It is + only to be regretted that there are so few remains of his uncommon + talents.[69] + +There are "remains of his uncommon talents" which are not in that list. +Hadfield is known, for example, to have provided plans and designs for +the Marine Barracks in Washington.[70] There are also good reasons to +believe that he designed Analostan, located on what is now called +Theodore Roosevelt Island, for John Mason, Thomson Francis Mason's +uncle.[71] + + +Similarities to the Work of Hadfield + +Among the few known drawings of Hadfield is one labelled "A Country +House--Geo. Hadfield--Exhibited Arc. designs at Royal acad. in +1780-82...."[72] The house is of three-part construction and has windows +set into arched recessed panels. Arlington House (Custis-Lee Mansion) is +of three-part construction and has windows set into arched recessed +panels.[73] The City Hall in Washington, now the District of Columbia +Court House, is of three-part construction, with connecting hyphens, and +has windows set into arched recessed panels.[74] The same is true of the +plan for Analostan, though one wing evidently was never constructed. + +Huntley, too, is of three-part construction and though the windows are +not set into arched recessed panels, they are set into the center of +square recessed panels, which serve the same design function of catching +and reflecting light and shadow. The recessed arch appears at Huntley in +the root cellar superstructure, however, duplicating Hadfield's use in +the structures mentioned above. + +[Illustration: + + Figure 26. Arlington House (Custis-Lee Mansion) showing portico + designed by Hadfield. Photo courtesy National Park Service.] + +[Illustration: + + Figure 27. Analostan, now demolished, formerly stood on Theodore + Roosevelt Island. Possibly designed by Hadfield. Photo by Abbie + Rowe. Courtesy National Park Service.] + +Arlington House has a two story center section with one story wings, as +does Huntley. It is possible that had Huntley been built on different +terrain, it might have followed the more common "I" plan of Arlington +House. Given the limited space on Huntley's hill, however, the "H" plan +obviously made more usable space available on the site. The chimneys at +Arlington, and those at Huntley, are placed in the same position in +relation to the center structure and the wings; the wooden mantels in +both houses have obvious stylistic similarities. + +When Huntley is compared with Analostan another similarity shows up. The +gable end at Analostan has a relatively shallow cornice, common in the +period, outlining a pediment strikingly similar to the gable ends of the +wings at Huntley. Located within the pediment at both houses is an +elliptical ventilator. + +The design for Huntley could easily have come from Hadfield. There were +opportunities for T.F. Mason to have met him through Jefferson or +through his uncle, General John Mason of Analostan. + +George Washington Parke Custis of Arlington House and Thomson Mason of +Hollin Hall were both sheep raisers and there was much rivalry between +the two families in this field, including Mason entries which took +prizes at Custis exhibitions and shows.[75] This offers, in addition to +the day-to-day opportunities presented to Mason through his political +and social standing, one more means whereby T.F. Mason might have +learned of Hadfield, observed his work, met him, and contracted for +design assistance in the construction of his country house. + +In addition, Mason was a lawyer, who later became a justice of the peace +and a judge. For several years before and after 1820, Hadfield was +involved with the design and construction of the City Hall, which was to +house the Courts of the District. Mason would have been aware of this +and would probably have known Hadfield. + +Certainly the design evidence of Huntley indicates the work of an +architect. The structure is much too architectonic to have evolved and +in many respects much too advanced for its day to have been designed by +a local carpenter-builder. Perhaps at some future time we shall discover +information which indicates precisely whose trained hand put all the +pieces together in this highly satisfactory manner. + +Until that time, the evidence strongly points to George Hadfield. + + +Chapter 4 Notes + +[Footnote 58: Paul F. Norton, "Decatur House: Design and Designer," +=Historic Preservation=, Volume 19, Numbers 3-4 (July-December 1967), +pp. 9-24.] + +[Footnote 59: Fiske Kimball, =Domestic Architecture of the American +Colonies and of the Early Republic=, (New York: Dover, 1966 Reprint), p. +27.] + +[Footnote 60: Rowland, =George Mason=, Volume II, p. 369.] + +[Footnote 61: H. M. Pierce Gallagher, =Robert Mills= (New York: Columbia +University Press, 1935), p. 170.] + +[Footnote 62: Deering Davis, Stephen P. Dorsey, Ralph Cole Hall, +=Georgetown Houses of the Federal Period=. (New York: Bonanza Books, +1944), pp. 21-23.] + +[Footnote 63: Lonnelle Aikman, =We the People= (Washington: U.S. Capitol +Historical Society, 1965), p. 33.] + +[Footnote 64: H.M. Gallagher, =Robert Mills=, p. 169.] + +[Footnote 65: George S. Hunsberger, "The Architectural Career of George +Hadfield," =Records of the Columbia Historical Society=, Volume 51-52 +(1955), pp. 46-65.] + +[Footnote 66: =Ibid.=] + +[Footnote 67: =Ibid.= p. 51. See also: Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, +=Dictionary of American Biography= (New York: Charles Scribner, 1932 +(1931)), Vol. IV, p. 76.] + +[Footnote 68: Letter, George Hadfield to Thomas Jefferson, Thomas +Jefferson papers. Volume 222, op. 39775, Library of Congress.] + +[Footnote 69: =Daily National Intelligencer=, February 13, 1826.] + +[Footnote 70: Karl Schuon, =Home of the Commandants= (Washington: +Leatherneck Association, 1966), pp. 61-64.] + +[Footnote 71: Harry F. Cunningham, Joseph A. Younger, Wilmer Smith, +=Measured Drawings of Georgian Architecture in the District of Columbia, +1750-1820= (New York: Architectural Book Co., 1914), Sheets 58-61.] + +[Footnote 72: Original watercolor signed "Geo. Hadfield, Sept. 1798," +Avery Library, Columbia University.] + +[Footnote 73: Murray H. Nelligan, =Custis-Lee Mansion= (Washington: +National Park Service, 1950), pp. 2-4, 6, 15, 24. The staff at Arlington +House was also kind enough to allow the author the use of Mr. +Nellingan's unpublished manuscript on Arlington House.] + +[Footnote 74: H. Paul Caemmerer, =Historic Washington= (Washington: +Columbia Historical Society, 1960), pp. 34, 39.] + +[Footnote 75: Edith Moore Sprouse, "Died in a Kind of Fit Like....", +Hollin Hills Bulletin, May and June-July, 1969.] + + + + +SUMMARY + + +It should be clear from the picture of Mason which emerges from an +earlier part of this report that his tastes and his capabilities could +have included a house designed by a known architect. His family ties, +educational background, travels, position and social standing evidence +the highest standards of his day. His acquisition of Colross, his +sensitive repairs of that structure and the manner in which he seems to +have furnished the house again indicate taste and awareness of current +architectural trends. + +The design evidence indicates that Mason did build well at Huntley, and +that he sought assistance in doing so. Huntley's similarities to other +area structures designed by the architect George Hadfield are striking. +In addition, of all the architects in the area at the time Hadfield was +most available and is believed to have already designed one house for +the Mason family, Analostan. There is also good reason to believe that +Thomson Francis Mason and Hadfield knew each other. + +Whatever the derivation of the mansion house at Huntley, it survives as +a notable example of early nineteenth century architecture; as an +example of a farm or country house of an early nineteenth century city +dweller; as a Mason family house and as a part of a well sited and +relatively complete complex. When considered together, these factors +make Huntley an important architectural landmark. + +[Illustration: + + Figure 28. Huntley, front elevation, 1946. Edward M. Pitt, + Architect. Blueprints courtesy Col. and Mrs. Ransom Amlong. Photo + copies by Wm. Edmund Barrett.] + +[Illustration: Figure 29. Huntley, rear elevation.] + +[Illustration: Figure 30. Huntley, basement floor plan.] + +[Illustration: Figure 31. Huntley, first floor plan.] + +[Illustration: Figure 32. Huntley, second floor plan.] + + + + +APPENDIX A + +SOME MASON HOUSES IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA + + +Mason land holdings were vast in Stafford, Prince William, Loudoun and +Fairfax Counties in Virginia, and in Maryland and Kentucky. In the +northern Virginia area the Masons built or occupied a number of houses +many of which are mentioned here. + + +Thomson Francis Mason Houses + +_501 Cameron Street_, Alexandria. This is believed to be the "large and +comodious" dwelling which, according to an 1823 entry in the _Alexandria +Gazette_, Mason was renting at the corner of Cameron and Pitt Streets. +The house is a three-story brick structure, probably built during the +first quarter of the nineteenth century. It is still standing. +(_Alexandria Gazette_, March 13, 1823 and November 1, 1833.) + +_Colross_, Alexandria, 1100 block of Oronoco Street, block between +Oronoco, Pendleton, North Henry and North Fayette. This was an existing +house built in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, acquired by +Thomson F. Mason in 1833. Mason was buried in a tomb behind the mansion +after his death in 1838. The main house was moved to Princeton, New +Jersey, in 1929 and rebuilt there. Today the block in Alexandria +includes a warehouse, car wash, automobile repair facility and a +transformer station. The present location of the remains of Thomson F. +Mason, removed from Colross, is not known to the writer. (Mary G. +Powell, _The History of Alexandria_, Va., Richmond, Wm. Byrd Press, +1928, p. 261; _New York Herald Tribune_, July 7, 1929, "Colross Built +1785, to come to Jersey site."; Mrs. Betty Carter Smoot, _Days in an Old +Town_, Alexandria, privately printed, 1934, pp. 121-32; Henry H. Saylor, +_Alexandria Virginia_, The White Pine Series, New York, Russell F. +Whitehead, 1926, (photographs and drawings); plus additional material +available in the Alexandria Public Library.) + +_The Hallowell School_, 609 Oronoco Street, Alexandria. A +two-and-a-half-story brick structure, built circa 1800, it is the +companion house to the Lee Home, next door at 607 Oronoco. At 609, +Benjamin Hallowell operated a school among whose students was Robert E. +Lee. T.F. Mason acquired the house after the Hallowell School moved +elsewhere, at public auction on February 9, 1835, though he may have +lived there earlier as a tenant. By the time of purchase he was already +a resident at Colross, but a sale advertisement for 609 Oronoco Street +in 1839 calls it "... the late residence of the Honorable T. F. Mason +...". The house is still standing. (Deering Davis, Stephen P. Dorsey and +Ralph Cole Hall, _Alexandria Houses_, Cornwall, N.Y. Architectural Book +Publishing Co., Inc., 1946, pp. 88-89, 126; Benjamin Hallowell, +_Autobiography_, Philadelphia, Friends Book Association, 1884, pp. +95-120. _Alexandria Gazette_, August 30, 1839,; Alexandria Deed Book +V-2, p. 355(1835).) + +_Huntley_, 6918 Harrison Lane, Groveton, Fairfax County. Still standing. +Though Huntley was built during Mason's ownership of the property, no +record has been found that he actually lived there. + +_115 South St. Asaph Street_, Alexandria, is a two-and-one-half-story +brick structure over an English basement built about 1800, and still +standing. A sign on the structure says "Home of Thomas Mason, circa +1775." It was purchased by Mason in May of 1832, at about the same time +that he purchased the lot next door at 117 S. St. Asaph Street. A +three-story structure of the last quarter of the nineteenth century now +stands there. Mason may have been a tenant at 115 before his purchase, +but was already out of the house by November 8, 1833, when a Dr. +Wheelwright announced that he had "... removed to the house on St. Asaph +Street ... formerly occupied by Thomson F. Mason, Esq." (Deering Davis, +Stephen P. Dorsey & Ralph Cole Hall, _Alexandria Houses_, Cornwall, +N.Y., Architectural Book Publishing Co., Inc., 1946, p. 126; _Alexandria +Gazette_, November 8, 1833. Alexandria Deed Books: U-2, p. 27 (1832); +U-2, p. 29 (1832); and M-3, p. 646 (1852).) + +This list includes only part of the real estate owned by Thomson Francis +Mason. He lived in the Cameron Street house during the 1820's. He may +have lived in either the Oronoco Street or St. Asaph Street houses +before he purchased them. At any rate, he purchased Colross, Hallowell +School and the St. Asaph Street houses in the decade before his death. +He died in 1838 and was buried at Colross. There are long periods of +time unaccounted for and probably many real estate transactions which +have not yet been documented. + + +Other Mason Houses + +_Analostan_, home of General John Mason. Located on the Potomac River in +the District of Columbia on Theodore Roosevelt Island, known in the past +as Barbadoes, Mason's Island, or Analostan. Built in the 1790's, its +design is attributed to George Hadfield. General Mason sold the house +about 1833 and moved to Clermont. Parts of the Analostan house stood +until the 1930's when they were demolished by the Theodore Roosevelt +Memorial Association. (_Sunday Star_, Feb. 6, 1921, Rambler "... History +of Analostan Island;" _Star_, June 4, 1958, Rambler, "Revisits Analostan +Island;" _Virginia Record_, July 1956, p. 9, Mollie Somerville, "George +Mason's Island;" Rowland, _George Mason_, New York, Russell & Russell, +1892 and 1946, Vol I, p. 117; Harry F. Cunningham, Joseph A. Younger, +and J. Wilmer Smith, _Measured Drawings of Georgian Architecture in the +District of Columbia_, 1750-1820, New York, Architectural Book Company +1914, Sheets 58-61.) + +_Clermont_, which was purchased by General John Mason and to which he +and his family moved in 1833. Site near Fairfax County-Alexandria line, +off Clermont Drive, near point where the Richmond, Fredericksburg & +Potomac tracks cross Cameron Run. It was demolished in the 19th Century. +("Diary of Miss Mason," beginning Sept. 20th 1833, property of Mrs. +Augustus Thorndike, partial copy in Gunston Hall archives (Analostan +file); Christine Gibson unpublished report, Fairfax County Public +Library, Virginiana Collection.) + +_Gunston Hall_, home of George Mason IV, in Fairfax County. The house is +a one-and-one-half-story brick structure, with interiors by William +Buckland joiner and architect. In the garden is one of America's best +surviving stands of English Boxwood. The house still stands on Route +242, 4 miles southeast of Route 1, and south of Fort Belvoir. It is +owned by the Commonwealth of Virginia and administered as an historic +house museum by a Board of Regents of the National Society of Colonial +Dames. (Thomas Tileston Waterman, _The Mansions of Virginia_, Chapel +Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1946.) + +_Hollin Hall_, built for and occupied by General Thomson Mason, son of +George Mason IV of Gunston Hall, and father of T.F. Mason. It was a +two-story frame structure, which burned early in the nineteenth century. +Part of the complex may still exist, or be incorporated into the present +structure known as Little Hollin Hall at 1901 Sherwood Hall Lane, in +Fairfax County south of Alexandria. (Rowland, _George Mason_, New York, +Russell & Russell, 1892 and 1946, Volume II, pps. 307, 351, and numerous +others; _Hollin Hills Bulletin_, May 1969, June-July, 1969.) + +_Lexington_, in Fairfax County, built for George Mason V, son of George +of Gunston Hall and uncle of T.F. Mason. The house stood on Mason Neck, +near Gunston Hall. The structure burned in the nineteenth century. +(Rowland, _George Mason_, New York, Russell & Russell, 1892 and 1946, +Volume I, p. 112; Edith Moore Sprouse, _Lexington_, unpublished report, +June 1967, Virginiana Files, Fairfax County Public Library.) + +_Okeley_, home of Richard Chichester Mason, brother of T.F. Mason. The +structure was destroyed during the Civil War. It was located in Fairfax +County on S. Kings Highway, just south of Huntley. (Rowland, _George +Mason_, New York, Russell & Russell, 1892 and 1946, Volume II, p. 473; +_Alexandria Gazette_, March 30, 1841). + +_Spring Bank_, owned by George Mason, son of William Mason and first +cousin of T.F. Mason. There may have been an earlier structure on the +site, but the house in which this George Mason lived is a two-story +brick structure, built about 1850, which is still standing. It is +located at Penn Daw in Fairfax County in the Spring Bank Trailer Park, +at the intersection of Kings Highway and the Jefferson Davis Highway +(Route 1). (Rowland, _George Mason_, New York, Russell & Russell, 1892 +and 1946, Volume II, pps. 366, 369, and others.) + +_Woodbridge_, home of Thomas, son of George of Gunston Hall, and uncle +of T.F. Mason. It stood in Prince William County almost directly across +Occoquan River from Colchester and was demolished prior to 1892. +(Rowland, _George Mason_, New York, Russell & Russell, 1892 and 1946, +Volume I, p. 112.) + + + + +APPENDIX B + +CHAIN OF TITLE + + + 1949--June 11, Deed Book 694, page 400: AUGUST & ELEANOR S. NAGEL + _to_ RANSOM G. AND MARGUERITE K. AMLONG. + + 1946--September 1, Deed Book 515, p. 60: ARMISTEAD L. BOOTH, + _executor under the will of_ ALBERT R. HARRISON _to_ AUGUST W. & + ELEANOR S. NAGEL. + + 1911--April 5, Liber J, No. 7, p. 22: CLARA B. HARRISON, UNMARRIED, + MARY C. HARRISON, UNMARRIED, ALBERT R. HARRISON, UNMARRIED, _first + part_, MARGARET N. HARRISON GIBBS AND HER HUSBAND J. NORMAN GIBBS, + _second part_. (Albert W. Harrison died intestate.) + + 1871--March 11, Liber O, No. 4, p. 338: NATHAN W. & SUSAN E. + PIERSON _to_ ALBERT W. HARRISON. + + 1868--November 21, Liber I, No. 4, p. 236: BENJAMIN KING _to_ + ALBERT W. HARRISON AND NATHAN W. PIERSON OF NEW JERSEY. + + 1862--June 12, Liber E, No. 4, p. 195: JOHN A. SMITH _to_ BENJAMIN + KING. + + 1859--December 7, Liber B, No. 4, p. 451: JOHN FRANCIS MASON AND + ARTHUR PENDLETON MASON, _first part_, JOHN A. SMITH, _second part_, + BENJAMIN KING, U.S. ARMY, NOW RESIDING IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, + _third part_. + + 1859--November 7, Liber B, No. 4, p. 449: BETSEY C. MASON _to_ JOHN + FRANCIS MASON AND A. PENDLETON MASON, SONS OF THE SAID BETSEY C. + + 1859--November 7, Liber B, No. 4, p. 448: BETSEY C. MASON _to_ JOHN + FRANCIS MASON AND A. PENDLETON MASON, SONS OF THE SAID BETSEY C. + + 1839--February 4, Will Book T, No. 1, p. 3: "To all persons to whom + the presents shall come, greetings. Know ye that the last will and + testament of Thomson F. Mason of Alexandria County deceased hath + been in duo form of law exhibited, proved and recorded in the + Office of the Register of Wills of said County, a copy of which is + to these presents annexed and administration of all the goods, + chattles and credits of the deceased is hereby granted and + committed unto Betsey C. Mason, the Executrix of the said will + appointed...." + + 1839--February 18, Will Book T, No. 1, pp. 1-4: _Will of_ THOMSON + F. MASON. Will was dated December 14, 1838. + + 1825--Chancery Suit referenced in Liber W, No. 2, pp. 162-65: + THOMSON F. MASON _vs._ GEORGE W. MASON, RICH C. MASON, FAYETTE BALL + AND MARY HIS WIFE, GEORGE MASON AND HELLEN, JOHN, GEORGE, AND SALLY + MASON HIS INFANT CHILDREN AND SAMUEL DAWSON AND EUGENIA AND MASON + DAWSON HIS INFANT CHILDREN. (Suit was not located.) + + 1823--October 1, Liber W, No. 2, p. 199: THIS INDENTURE MADE THIS + FIRST DAY OF OCTOBER IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND + TWENTY THREE BETWEEN GEORGE M. MASON, AND MARY HIS WIFE, RICHARD C. + MASON AND LUCY B., HIS WIFE, GEORGE MASON OF GUNSTON, AND ELEANOR + ANN, HIS WIFE, ALL OF THE COUNTY OF FAIRFAX AND STATE OF VIRGINIA, + AND FAYETTE BALL AND MARY T. HIS WIFE AND SAMUEL DAWSON, BOTH OF + THE COUNTY OF LOUDOUN AND STATE AFORESAID, _all of the one part_, + AND THOMSON F. MASON OF THE TOWN OF ALEXANDRIA IN THE DISTRICT OF + COLUMBIA, _of the other part_. + + 1820--November 21, Will Book M, No. 1, p. 130: _Will of_ THOMSON + MASON OF HOLLIN HALL, dated April 15 1797. The land on which + Huntley is located had come to Thomson by the will of his Father, + George Mason of Gunston Hall. + + 1792--August 23, Will Book F, pp. 104-105: Will of George Mason of + Gunston Hall granting lands to his son, Thomson Mason, which were + part of the Ball patent on both sides of the North Branch of Little + Hunting Creek. + + 1772--June 18, Deed Book K-1, p. 54: Sampson Darrell to George + Mason the lower part of a tract granted to John Ball by the + proprietors of the Northern Neck of Virginia in September, 1695; + willed to his son George Ball August 14, 1722; sold to John + Carlyle, March 17, 1742/43; sold to Sampson Darrell August 16, + 1748. + + + + +LIST OF SOURCES + + +Books + + Aikman, Lonnelle, =We the People=. Washington: U.S. Capitol + Historical Society, 1965. + + Caemmerer, H. Paul. =Historic Washington.= Washington: Columbia + Historical Society, 1966. + + Carne, William F. =Alexandria Business Book.= Alexandria: M. Hill + Co., 1897. + + Cunningham, Harry F.; Younger, Joseph A.; and Smith, Wilmer. + =Measured Drawings of Georgian Architecture in the District of + Columbia, 1750-1820.= New York: Architectural Book Co., 1914. + + Davis, Derring; Dorsey, Stephen P.; and Hall, Ralph Cole. + =Georgetown Houses of the Federal Period.= New York: Bonanza Books, + 1944. + + Gallagher, H.M. Pierce. =Robert Mills.= New York: Columbia + University Press, 1935. + + Gordon, C.A. =History of the House of Gordon.= Aberdeen: D. Wyllie + & Son, 1890. + + Gouverneur, Marian. =As I Remember.= New York: D. Appleton & Co., + 1911. + + Hallowell, Benjamin. =Autobiography.= Philadelphia: Friends Book + Association, 1884. + + Hopkins, G.M. =Atlas of Fifteen Miles Around Washington.= + Philadelphia: privately published, 1879. + + Johnson, Allen; and Malone, Dumas, eds. =Dictionary of American + Biography.= New York: Charles Scribner, 1932. + + Kimball, Fiske. =Domestic Architecture of the American Colonies and + of the Early Republic.= New York: Charles Scribner Sons, 1922. + + Mason, Stevens Thompson. =Mason Family Chart.= Baltimore: Privately + published, 1907. + + Miller, Helen Hill. =George Mason Constitutionalist.= Cambridge: + Harvard University Press, 1938. + + Nelligan, Murray H. =Custis-Lee Mansion.= Washington: National Park + Service, 1950. + + Powell, Mary G. The =History of Old Alexandria Virginia.= Richmond: + William Byrd Press, 1928. + + Rowland, Kate Mason. =The Life of George Mason.= New York: G.P. + Putnam's Sons, 1892, Volume II. + + Schuon, Karl. =Home of the Commandants.= Washington: Leatherneck + Association, 1966. + + Smoot, Mrs. Betty Carter. =Days in an Old Town.= Alexandria: + Privately printed, 1934. + + Sprouse, Edith Moore. =Potomac Sampler.= Alexandria: privately + published, 1961. + + Waterman, Thomas Tileston. =The Mansions of Virginia.= Chapel Hill: + University of North Carolina Press, 1946. + + +Articles + + Bundy, Charles S., "History of the Office of the Justice of the + Peace." Washington: =Records of the Columbia Historical Society=. + 1902. + + Hunsberger, George S. "The Architectural Career of George + Hadfield," =Records of the Columbia Historical Society=, Vol. + 51-52, 1955. + + Norton, Paul F., "Design and Designer," =Historic Preservation=, + Volume 19, Nos. 3-4, July-December 1967. + + Regis, Noel F. "Some Notable Suits in Early District Courts." + Washington: =Records of the Columbia Historical Society=, 1922. + + Somerville, Mollie. "George Mason's Island," =Virginia Record=. + July, 1956. + + +Newspapers + + =Alexandria Gazette=: November 24, 1817; March 13, 1823; August 5, + 1828; November 1 & 8, 1833; May 16, 1837; December 27, 1838; August + 30, 1839; June 12, 1862; October 12, 1864; May 13, 1868; May 3, + 1870; May 16, 1870; May 14, 1892; March 3, 1911; January 1, 1930. + + =Daily National Intelligencer=: February 13, 1826. + + =Fairfax Herald=: March 10, 1911. + + =New York Herald Tribune=: July 7, 1929. + + =Syracuse (N.Y.) Journal=: July 28, 1875. + + =Washington Sunday Star=: February 6, 1921; June 4, 1958. + + +Manuscripts + +Nelligan, Murray H. "Custis-Lee Mansion." Unpublished manuscript. +National Park Service. + +Sprouse, Edith Moore. "Lexington." Unpublished report, 1967. + +Thomson Francis Mason Papers. Collection of William Francis Smith, +Alexandria, Virginia. + +Thomson Francis Mason Papers. Duke University, Durham, N.C. + + +Legal Records + + Fairfax County Courthouse, Deeds, Wills, Chancery Court Cases: Will + of George Mason, August 23, 1792; Will of Thomson Mason, April 15, + 1797, Will Book M, No. 1, p. 130, November 21, 1820; Liber W, No. + 2, p. 199. October 1, 1823; Liber W, No. 2, pp. 162-65; Will Book + T, No. 1, February 18, 1839; Will Book T, No. 1, p. 3, February 4, + 1839; Liber B, No. 4, p. 448, November 7, 1859; Liber B, No. 4, p. + 451, December 7, 1859; Liber E, No. 4, p. 195, June 12, 1862; Liber + I, No. 4, p. 236, November 21, 1868; Liber O, No. 4, p. 338, March + 11, 1871; Liber J, No. 7, p. 22, April 5, 1911; Deed Book 515, p. + 60, September 1, 1946; Deed Book 694, p. 400, June 11, 1949. + + +Division of Planning Publications Staff + +Peter T. Johnson, Chief, Operations Branch +Stephen H. Lopez, Historic District Planner +Nan Netherton, Historic Research Supervisor +Elizabeth David, Research Assistant +Jay Linard, Copy Editor +Gloria Matthews, Book Designer + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Huntley, by Tony P. Wrenn + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40558 *** |