Burgundy Mansion

Here follows an excerpt from the "Historic Franconia Legacies" newsletter about Burgundy Farm that was published by the Franconia Museum in 2003:

High on the hill overlooking Burgundy Farm School once stood an impressive house known as Burgundy, the site of which was investigated by Larry Moore in 1991. The land on Cameron Run of Great Hunting Creek had been held by the Brent, Sanford, and French families before it was acquired in 1806 by James Hewitt Hooe, a wealthy Alexandria merchant and attorney. He served in the House of Delegates in 1809, and was a
Director of the Great Hunting Creek Bridge Company, the Bank of the Potomac, the Bank of Alexandria and the Marine Insurance Company. Hooe was a subscriber to the Alexandria Coffee House, where Alexandrians gathered to exchange news and read the latest newspapers. His daughters Eliza and Margaretta took dancing lessons from M. Generes, a French refugee from Haiti, French lessons from M. Reynaud and music lessons from John J. Frobel, who was a protégé of Supreme Court Justice Bushrod Washington.

James H. Hooe owned several buildings in Alexandria before he considered acquiring a farm in the country. The Burgundy tract cost him $6,078.60, according to his ledger. There had been a farmhouse on the tract in the mid-18th century. In his Ledger B [Fairfax County Circuit Court Archives] Hooe mentioned repairs
to "the upper part of the old house" in June, 1808 and in June, 1814 he had the "old house" hauled from its former location. From the ledger one can gain an insight into happenings at Burgundy. In 1808 he had 183 holes dug for trees, which were sent from New York the following spring. In 1809 he built a stable and also ordered large quantities of building materials, perhaps for a new house. The Alexandria Gazette of Oct. 11, 1810 stated that he was selling a hundred Spanish merino sheep at his farm called Burgundy. On the 27th he advertised for "a manservant who can be well recommended, and has been accustomed to waiting in the house." In 1812 lumber was purchased for an office and a servants' hall. Two stone hearths were ordered for the fireplaces at Burgundy, and in 1814 Hooe paid $108 to have an ice house constructed. He was not listed in the 1815 Fairfax County Personal Property Tax records (where less than two dozen residents were listed as having their own ice house) which may indicate that Hooe was still residing in Alexandria, for no furniture or other items considered taxable were shown. By 1821 he had paid Georgetown silversmith Charles A. Burnett $281 for a complete set of "tea table silver." This consisted of a tea pot, coffee pot, cream pot, sugar dish and a slop bowl, as well as a silver butter knife and two silver tumblers. $23 was credited to his account for old silver, which was then melted down.

James H. Hooe died at Burgundy on January 26, 1825, in his 53rd year, according to the Alexandria Gazette of February 1st. He left an estate of $63,000, a not inconsiderable sum.

On June 29, 1826 Eliza T. Hooe offered to rent the farm of 600-700 acres, with "accommodations for a large and genteel family." The farm was subsequently purchased by Samuel Lunt, who sold it to Tobias Stoutenburg in 1842, and then in 1854 to George D. Fowle. In 1850 the total value of buildings on the property was $1800. This may be compared to nearby Bush Hill at $3545, Wilton Hill at $1200 or Huntley at
$2000. Ravensworth, by contrast, was valued at $8,000. By 1861, however, the buildings at Burgundy were valued at $10,000. The escalation in value was partially the result of improvements made by its new owner.

George D. Fowle was a grandson of James H. Hooe and like him, an Alexandria merchant. He was 33 when
he bought the farm with his wife Sarah Ellen (Hooe) two years his junior. They had two daughters, Anna and Ellen, who were seven and five years old.

The Alexandria firm, Fowle & Co., imported guano from Peru and turned it into fertilizer. A visitor to the town toured the farm factory and left us the this description: "During our stay in Alexandria we took a ride out to Mr. George D. Fowle's farm 'Burgundy" for the purpose of seeing the effects of the guano he manufactures on his own soil. We found it acting well there, and we had the extra gratification of closely examining a head of fine Alderney cattle, the descendants of six cows and bulls, which Mr. F. imported from the Isle of
Jersey in 1855." (Alexandria Gazette, April 10, 1861). It is possible that the cattle may have been purchased by George Fowle during a trip to Europe during this period, for a newspaper article written on October 16, 1916 (after Fowle's dwelling had been destroyed by fire) mentioned that he had gone to Europe before the Civil War and "on his return built Burgundy, which was fashioned after the baronial mansions of the old world." It is unclear whether Fowle enlarged the existing dwelling or started afresh. A later owner Thomas Walsh, described the house as facing southeast with 19 rooms. The parlor also served as a ballroom, and had a bay window with floor-length windows opening onto balconies. A huge mahogany staircase extended upward into the tower atop the house, refashioned into the latest Continental style.

With the outbreak of the Civil War George D. Fowle fought for the Confederacy and his family went south. Burgundy Farm became the headquarters of the 3rd and 4th Maine during the winter of 1861-1862. Letters from "Camp Howard, Burgundy Plantation" appeared in an article in the Civil War Times Illustrated , November, 1972. More references to Burgundy are found in the Civil War diary of Anne Frobel, who lived across Franconia Road at Wilton Hill.

Four years after George Fowle's death in 1867 his daughter Ellen married the Civil War hero General Fitzhugh Lee. The Gazette noted that "several Confederate generals were in attendance at the ceremony."
When Lee was campaigning for Governor in 1885 he and his family lived at Evergreen which was then part of Burgundy.

In 1869 Burgundy was sold to Thomas Walsh. A native of Limerick, Ireland, he came to America in 1840.
Within ten years he had served as apprentice to a Boston harness maker, purchased his business, and then sold it and started a wholesale grocery business in Brooklyn. He married Mary Ryan in 1851. Three months
after their purchase of Burgundy their seventh child was born. Three more children followed and grew up at Burgundy, which had now been turned into a dairy farm.

Less than a year after the heirs of Thomas Walsh sold the farm the mansion burned. The Gazette reported the blaze on Oct. 16, 1916: “Destroyed by fire last night, Burgundy, country home of the late George D. Fowle. The old homestead has been a familiar landmark in Fairfax County, in sight of the city, for sixty years. The house of W.H. Fowle was expanded by his son when he came of age.”

The Fairfax Herald added more detail in an October 20th article, stating that the fire occurred about 8 o'clock Saturday night. Although a motor fire engine was sent to the scene, the three story frame house was totally destroyed. Only partially insured, the damage was estimated at $15,000. "It was," concluded the Herald, "one of the prettiest homes in the section." After the fire, one of the Walsh family said that swords
from the Revolutionary War period were found inside a cavity of a brick wall in the oldest part of the house.

On Dec. 2, 1920 a prominent banker from Berkley, West Virginia proposed to auction off the property in "two to five acre baby farms and bungalow sites." The sale would be preceded by a street parade. There were two cottages, a frame dwelling and four good barns on the tract.

After several changes in ownership, the Burgundy Farm Country Day School was established on part of the tract in 1946. Four years later the cooperative, which still operates the school today, became the first desegregated school in Virginia. Burgundy Village subdivision was also built at that time. In 1951 thirty acres on the hillside were purchased by Alexandria pediatrician Dr. Thistle McKee and her husband Toscan Bennett. They lived in one of the surviving buildings on the property, which had been remodeled in the 1930's by the President of the Potomac Electric Power Company. Dr. McKee felt that the original house had been located on the lawn, some fifty yards east of the present dwelling on the crest of the hill. Her guess proved correct when that area yielded 19th century ceramics during a recent archaeological excavation.


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Here follows an excerpt from Donald Hakenson's "This Forgotten Land" tour guide:

At the beginning of the War Between the States, George and Ellen Fowle lived at the Burgundy Farm. George was a merchant in the City of Alexandria. They had a daughter named Ellen "Nellie" Bernard Fowle. On April 19, 1871, Nellie married a former Confederate General, Fitzhugh Lee. Though Fitzhugh was twice as old as Nellie they had a happy marriage, not to mention seven children.