Laurel Hill House

Here follows an excerpt from the Atlas Obscura website:

Laurel Hill House
Lorton, Virginia
Standing for over 200 years, the abandoned home of a Revolutionary War hero and later a succession of prison superintendents.

Shortly after the Revolutionary War, a man by the name of William Lindsay acquired a 1,000-acre homestead just outside of what is today Lorton, Virginia. Lindsay, who was a part of the Virginia Militia and a contemporary of both George Mason and George Washington, built his home on one of the more elevated portions of the land in 1787. The typical colonial home was dubbed Laurel Hill, supposedly in honor of his family’s original estate in Northern Ireland. It is said that during Lindsay’s ownership, it was possible to see the Potomac River from the front door of the home, though current urban development and vegetation make this impossible today.

Lindsay would not enjoy his new home for very long, as he died from gout in 1792. After Lindsay’s death, the Laurel Hill House was passed around his extended family. He was buried about a hundred yards from the back of the house, with his wife next to him in 1822. Officially known as the Lindsay Family Cemetery, the area is believed to hold numerous other, unmarked graves (most likely Lindsay children). The grave markers for Lindsay and his wife, it is said, were placed later by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The cemetery is denoted by four brick pillars connected by a low iron-pipe rail. It is found in tall grass near the base of the what was once the No. 9 Guard Tower of the D.C. Workhouse and Reformatory—a hint of what came next for the property.

The home saw many owners throughout the 19th century before coming into the possession of a D.C. attorney named Howe Totten in 1906. Totten used the home as a country house, and a place to breed champion Great Danes. It is believed that during his ownership several additions, including a wraparound porch, were added. By 1910, the D.C. Workhouse Prison (also known as the Occoquan Workhouse) was established only a couple of miles down the road. Totten was not very pleased with his new neighbors and began sending letters to the editors of local newspapers complaining about the prison’s lack of security, among other issues. In 1914, the federal government purchased 153 acres of the Laurel Hill property to use for an adjoining reformatory for incarcerated people with longer sentences. The purchase included Laurel Hill House itself.

The house then became the residence of many different staff members of the prison, mainly its superintendents. During this time even more rooms were added and modifications made, including three new rooms on the east side and more. By 1918, Reformatory Entrance Drive was laid along the west side of the house and served as the primary access route into the reformatory until the 1950s. Today the walled road is mostly eroded and covered in vegetation, with portions now fenced off.

By the late 1930s, a neoclassical terraced garden was constructed on the east side of the hill that the home sits upon, including extensive brickwork, a fountain, a retaining pool, and a magnificent view. Though the origins of the garden are somewhat shrouded in mystery, it is believed to have been built by incarcerated individuals and used as a means of teaching them new skills such as construction and gardening. Today, the garden is almost completely hidden in plain sight by heavy vegetation. A Cultural Landscape Report was compiled by the Fairfax County Park Authority in 2009, with treatment plans detailing the potential restoration of the garden, though these plans have yet to be implemented.

By the early 1970s, Laurel Hill House had been vacated and abandoned. Pictures from this time period show that the house was still maintained, but many decades of neglect brought it into disrepair. By 2002, the D.C. Workhouse and Reformatory had been dissolved, and ownership of the house and 2,400-acre property was obtained by Fairfax County. It was established as a historic district and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. The former workhouse was converted into a cultural arts center in 2008, and the reformatory is currently being reimagined as a new urban living community known as “Liberty.”

According to numerous online resources and reports made available by Fairfax County, Laurel Hill House has been in consideration for restoration since 2007. These plans have yet to come to fruition, and the house and terraced garden still stand in a decrepit state, a shadow of their former glory.

Know Before You Go
The easiest way to get to the house is by going through the main entrance of the "Liberty" Community located off of Silverbrook Road. You'll keep driving straight on Power House Road and you should see the house ahead of you before the road turns. The house is situated in a residential area, so please be mindful of parking. The house can be enjoyed from behind the chainlink fence that has been erected around it.


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Here follows an excerpt from the 1970 Fairfax County Master Inventory of Historic Sites which contained entries from the Historic American Buildings Survey Inventory:

Laurel Hill was the plantation of Major William Lindsay, eldest son of Robert and Susanna Lindsay of "The Mount" in Dunn Loring. William Lindsay served in the Virginia Militia during the Revolution and was severely wounded in May 1781, at the battle of Guilford Courthouse, under the command of General Nathaniel Greene. About 1766, he married Ann Calvert of Culpeper County, Virginia, a great granddaughter of Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore.

"Laurel Hill" and the graves of William and Ann Lindsay, marked by the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, are presently within the boundaries of the District of Columbia Reformatory at Lorton. It is used for an employees' residence and guest house.


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Here follows a history of the house as published on the Fairfax County Public Schools website:

What’s in a Name?
Our school and the surrounding community are named for a historic estate established by the Lindsay family in the late 1700s. Learn more about the history of our area and the origin of our name in this video produced for the FCPS cable television channel Red Apple 21:

Laurel Hill Elementary School opened in September 2009. The school and the surrounding community are named for a historic estate established by the Lindsay family in the late 1700s. In 1787 and 1790, William Lindsay, a carpenter merchant and slave holder who lived in the town of Colchester, purchased two large tracts of land in southern Fairfax County totaling 960 acres. William and his wife, Ann Calvert, named their new plantation Laurel Hill. Their house was built on a high hill that provided picturesque views of the Potomac River to the southeast. There are several theories as to why the Lindsey's chose the name "Laurel Hill." Some researchers think the name relates to mountain laurel, an evergreen shrub which is native to the eastern United States and is commonly found in elevated areas of Fairfax County. Another strong possibility is that the Lindsey's chose the name Laurel Hill because the word Laurel embodies the concepts of victory achievement and status in ancient Greece. Victorious athletes in the Olympic Games were crowned with wreaths made of bay laurel, a fragrant plant native to the Mediterranean region. In modern times, laurel wreaths adorn Olympic medals, college and university diplomas, and film and television awards as a symbol of accomplishment. The Laurel Hill House is still standing today, but would look quite different to William and Ann Lindsay due to the many additions, including several rooms and a wraparound porch which were added in the 19th and 20th centuries. William's time at Laurel Hill was very brief. He passed away in 1792, leaving his widow Ann to care for their 10 children. In 1813, the estate was divided among William's heirs and the house remained in the Lindsay extended family until the 1870s. In 1910, the District of Columbia workhouse and reformatory was established in southern Fairfax County on land that was formerly part of the Laurel Hill estate. During 1919, the Laurel Hill house was purchased for the reformatories expansion and was used as a residence by the prison's superintendents until 1969 and abandoned in the 1970s. Today, the home is owned by Fairfax County and discussions are underway about what will become of the structure.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Laurel Hill Cultural Landscape Report prepared by John Milner Associates, Inc. for the Fairfax County Park Authority in 2009:

INTRODUCTION

Near the community of Lorton in Fairfax County, Virginia, the Laurel Hill House was the ca. 1787-1790 home of William Lindsay, who served in the Virginia Militia as a major during the American Revolution; Laurel Hill was also the name of the estate. The property originally comprised a large portion of what is today considered the D.C. Workhouse and Reformatory National Register Historic District, which today also overlaps with Laurel Hill Park land and the Laurel Hill Adaptive Reuse Area.

The D.C. Workhouse and Reformatory was established in 1910 on large tracts of farm land. It was known throughout the 1900s as the Lorton Prison, or the Lorton Reformatory (after the closest adjacent community) and also the Occoquan Workhouse (because of its proximity to the river and port town of the same name). Today this area is generally referred to as Laurel Hill, in recognition of Lindsay’s 18th century home and estate. His former estate became a substantial part of the prison property and the Laurel Hill House served as the residence of superintendents of the Reformatory from 1916-1969. This chapter is a narrative description of the historical context of the cultural landscape associated with this residence.

The prison was originally conceived as a progressive facility and low-security work camp for people convicted of minor offenses. The facility included areas without walls, fences, or bars, and large tracts of farmland purchased by the District of Columbia in 1910 and 1914 were cultivated by the prisoners. Prisoners were also trained in construction techniques while building the prison’s infrastructure. The District of Columbia also established facilities where prisoners manufactured the bricks and other materials used in construction. Just one hundred feet southeast of the Laurel Hill House, obscured today by encroaching successional forest, a formal Terraced Garden contains numerous brick walls, steps, and paved walks constructed by prisoners with the bricks they manufactured.

By 2001, the entire prison complex had grown to 3,200 acres. In 2002, Fairfax County acquired 2,400 of these acres from the federal government. The Laurel Hill House and Terraced Garden is part of a site within his acquisition designated as the Laurel Hill Adaptive Reuse Area, 80 acres of land and buildings which are part of a larger sub-area, the 511-acre D.C. Workhouse and Reformatory Historic District. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006; a detailed historical narrative of the former prison site is included in the National Register Nomination. The Laurel Hill House is owned by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and is a contributing structure to the district. A Historic Structure Report completed in 2008 includes a detailed survey of existing conditions and a historical analysis pertaining explicitly to the house itself. The Lindsay Cemetery, a brick retaining wall along an entrance drive, and the Terraced Garden are also listed as contributing features in the Historic District’s nomination and are described in more detail in this report.

This chapter describes the chronological evolution of the Laurel Hill House site and former estate through five historic periods spanning prehistory to the present:

Prehistory and Early Settlement (to 1787)
Lindsay and Extended Family Ownership (1787 – 1873)
Post-Lindsay Family Ownership (1873 – 1914)
D.C. Penal Institutions – Progressive Era (1914 – 1962)
Prison into Park (1962 – present)

These periods are treated as distinct sections within this chapter. They were established using the dates of known events and physical developments that significantly altered the land use and character of the Laurel Hill landscape.

There is little documentary evidence and few surviving physical resources related to the site that predate the 20th century. However, a survey of what is known provides some understanding of the character and configuration of the landscape at various stages in its history and helps to identify the specific features and qualities that engender its particular sense of place.

PREHISTORY AND EARLY SETTLEMENT (TO 1787)

The prehistoric cultural sequence for the Coastal Plain of Maryland and Virginia, of which the study area is a part, parallels that identified for other areas of the Middle Atlantic region. It consists of seven time periods divided as follows: Paleo-Indian (11,000 to 8,000 BC), Early Archaic (8,000 to 6,500 BC), Middle Archaic (6,500 to 3,000 BC), Late Archaic (3,000 to 1,000 BC), Early Woodland (1,000 to 500 BC), Middle Woodland (500 BC to AD 900), and Late Woodland (AD 900 to 1600). Paleo-Indian and Early and Middle Archaic sites in the area are very rare and poorly documented. More intensive occupation began in the Late Archaic period when people associated with the Savannah River culture moved into the area. The exploitation of anadromous fish during the spring and early summer was the focal point of the subsistence and settlement rounds of these people.

Technological innovations, such as the invention or adoption of pottery and the bow and arrow, mark the Early and Middle Woodland periods. Intensive exploitation of floral resources in floodplain environments led to increased sedentism during these periods. The Late Woodland period is characterized by the introduction of agriculture and a shift in settlement locations. Hunting, fishing, and the gathering of plant foods still contributed much to the diet.

The Virginia Company of London established the first permanent English settlement in North America at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607.4 By 1625, the Virginia Company charter was revoked by the King and the land became a royal colony. Increasing population necessitated the creation of counties and county governments. In 1645, Northumberland County was established between the Rappahannock River and the Potomac River, enabling settlement in Northern Virginia. By this time, European settlement was having a significant impact on local Native American populations. Introduced European diseases and the increased hostilities between groups led to the disruption of Native American populations and the abandonment of many areas. By the early 1700s, the native populations presented little barrier to European settlement. Land in the colony was granted to individuals by the governor on the authority of the King. Much of the land became managed as plantations that produced tobacco as the main crop.

Fairfax County was created out of Prince William County in 1742. The general area of southern Fairfax County near the Occoquan River was not as densely settled as other parts of the county. Colchester, approximately three miles south of the area that became Laurel Hill, was established on the north bank of the Occoquan in 1753 as a tobacco inspection and warehouse town. Prior to the establishment of the town, this location was the site of a ferry for the King’s Highway across the Occoquan River.

Laurel Hill is part of the 960 acres patented by Reverend Charles Green in 1742. Reverend Green later conveyed this parcel to William Fairfax, Esquire, who in turn, devised the tract to his children Bryan and Hannah. It is from Bryan and Hannah Fairfax that Hector Ross purchased the same 960-acre parcel. Reverend Green, the Fairfaxes, and Mr. Ross were presumably all speculators, holding the land as an investment, possibly seating the property with tenant farmers, but likely residing elsewhere.

LINDSAY AND EXTENDED FAMILY OWNERSHIP (1787 – 1873)

Hector Ross sold the 960-tract to William Lindsay in two parts. In October 1787, Ross sold 303 acres, with appurtenances, to William Lindsay for £150. In February 1790, Ross sold the remaining 657 acres to Lindsay for £100.

William Lindsay was a member of a family that traces its Virginia roots to 1655. He was the eldest son of Robert and Susanna Lindsay of “The Mount,” near Falls Church, Virginia and had a younger brother named Opie. “The Mount” was built in 1745, and was large and grand for its period and vicinity. For unknown reasons, Robert Lindsay bequeathed “The Mount” to his son Opie, and left William only “ten pounds current money as it runs, and for him therewith to be content.” William Lindsay is listed as a joiner in 1766 in Colchester, Virginia, in the account books of Alexander Henderson, and as a factor for John Glassford & Co. of Glasgow. Other sources list William Lindsay as a “commission merchant,” which he could have become after his days as a carpenter. Lindsay married Ann Calvert, great-granddaughter of Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, in 1766.

During the Revolutionary War, William Lindsay served as a Major in the Virginia Militia. He was wounded at the March 1781 Battle of Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina. In 1785 and 1791, William Lindsay held a tavern license in Colchester, even though he had purchased his estate, which he called “Laurel Hill” by that time.

Although William Lindsay’s 1787 land purchase from Hector Ross included improvements, the location and extent of these structures are not known. While some sources state that William Lindsay built Laurel Hill House in 1766, this seems unlikely as he did not purchase the property until 1787.20 He could have built the core of the present house after this purchase, or the house could date to the Hector Ross ownership period.

William Lindsay died of gout in 1792 and became the first to be buried in the family burial ground at Laurel Hill. His personal estate was extensive, with a value of £967 and eleven pence and included farm implements, livestock (eight horses, cattle, and hogs), a wagon, a ferry scow, a cross cut saw, and forty-one fish barrels. His household goods indicate a household of some social standing, as they included billiard and backgammon tables, £21 worth of silver plate, eleven feather beds, and several sets of china and glasses. Lindsay, as was typical of large property holders of this region and era, was also a slaveholder. Twelve slaves, valued from £20 to £65 each, seven women and five men, were listed in his will.

Around October 1813, the real estate of William Lindsay was divided among his heirs. His widow, Ann Calvert Lindsay, received the dower right to “Lot 1,” 166 acres and 92 poles. Ann Calvert Lindsay lived for many more years at Laurel Hill with her extended family. She died in 1822, at her son-in-law’s house in Prince William County, Maryland. She was buried at Laurel Hill. There is a grave marker at the Lindsay Cemetery at Laurel Hill for Ann Calvert Lindsay. The marker for her grave simply says “Wife of a / Revolutionary War / Soldier / Ann C. Lindsay / 1776 1783 / placed by / Fairfax County / Chapter D. A. R.” It is metal, shield-shaped, with a bas-relief female figure carrying a flag. The dates on this marker are the dates of the Revolutionary War, not of Ann Calvert Lindsay’s life (she was born around 1751). Others possibly buried at Laurel Hill include several children who died in infancy, although they were all born prior to Lindsay’s purchase of Laurel Hill in 1787. Some of the children of William and Ann C. Lindsay died as young adults, including Ann/Nancy Lindsay, who died in 1792, a year after her marriage to Mr. Woodrough. Ann Lindsay Woodrough’s burial place is unknown; she may have been buried at Laurel Hill. Several of William and Ann C. Lindsay’s children lived at or near Laurel Hill after their marriages. Some of their grandchildren were born at Laurel Hill, including Anne, daughter of William and Ann’s eldest son George Walter, who died at age three in a fire at Laurel Hill and was likely buried there.

After Anne Calvert Lindsay’s death, “Lot 1” was to be divided between sons Hiram and Thomas. It appears that Ann Calvert Lindsay did not retain her dower right, because Hiram Lindsay sold “Lot 1” to Robert Ratcliffe. Hiram Lindsay died ca. 1813-1814, so this transaction took place soon after William Lindsay’s real estate was divided among his heirs. Robert Ratcliffe then sold the property to Thompson F. Mason. In January 1827, James Dawson purchased “Lot 1” from Mason for $1,000. It is unclear who occupied the Laurel Hill House in the early 19th century, as ownership seems to have fallen out of the Lindsay family in 1813, but grandchildren of William and Ann Lindsay are recorded to have been born at Laurel Hill House in 1815 and 1827. James Dawson, purchaser of “Lot 1” in 1824, is recorded as dying at Laurel Hill in February 1830. He is buried at the Cranford Methodist Church Cemetery, along with his wife Margaret, who died much later in 1885.

No census records were found for James or Margaret Dawson in 1830. The 1840 population census does not list individuals other than the head of household. All others in the household are listed by age, sex, and race groupings. The 1840 population census lists the Margaret Dawson household in Fairfax County as one male between the ages of 5 and 10, one male between the ages of 10 and 15, one female between the ages of 5 and 10, one female between the ages of 15 and 20, and one female between the ages of 40 and 50, presumably Margaret Dawson herself. No slaves were listed with the Margaret Dawson household. Two members of the household were employed in agriculture.

The 1850 population census lists the 50-year-old Margaret Dawson as living with her 26-year-old son James, a constable, her 27-year-old daughter Matilda, 20-year-old daughter Martha, and 30-year-old Richard Wilson, a laborer. Margaret Dawson’s real estate was valued at $766. The 1850 Slave Schedule lists Margaret Dawson as the owner of an 8-year-old black girl.

In the 1860 Census, Margaret Dawson lived alone with her daughter Martha. Margaret was listed as a farmer, with $1,200 in real estate and $50 worth of personal estate. Margaret Dawson owned a 7-year-old black boy in 1860, according to the Slave Schedule of that year. Margaret Dawson’s farm in 1860, “Lot 1” in the division of William Lindsay’s real estate, or Laurel Hill, was a small operation according to the 1860 Agricultural Schedule. Her farm had 10 acres of improved and 168 acres of unimproved land. The total value of her farm was listed as $1000. The only crop produced in the last year for her farm was 60 bushels of wheat. The 162.5-acre property, listed as owned by the James Dawson Estate, had a total value of $650, with buildings valued at $150.

Even though no documentation has been found revealing Civil War events or encampments having occurred on the Laurel Hill property, its location was near the well-traveled Ox and Telegraph Roads. On March 22, 1863, members of the Second Pennsylvania Calvary were camped at the home of Elizabeth Violett, at the intersection of Ox and Telegraph Roads and were surprised by Captain Stringfellow and the Fourth Virginia Cavalry, who captured the twenty Union soldiers, wounding three. Two Confederate soldiers were also wounded.

In 1873, the value of Margaret Dawson’s property had risen to $1787.50, with $300 worth of buildings. It is unclear whether this increase in value is due to improvements or to a higher assessment rate. No population or agricultural census data was found for Margaret Dawson for 1870.

James and Margaret Dawson had a son, John Thomas Dawson, whose second wife was Ann Maria Lindsay, granddaughter of William and Ann Calvert Lindsay. Ann Maria Lindsay was born at the Laurel Hill House in 1810, and likely returned there after her 1850 marriage into the Dawson family. Both John Thomas and Ann Maria Lindsay Dawson are buried at the Cranford Methodist Church Cemetery.

POST-LINDSAY FAMILY OWNERSHIP (1873 – 1914)

In March 1873, the heirs of James Dawson—his widow and six children—sold “Lot 1” to Theresa Dexler for $2,462.44. Theresa Dexler was born in Germany, and married J. Mason Kilby around 1877. The Kilbys lived at Laurel Hill and continued to farm the land. The 1880 Population Census lists this household as Mason Kilby, a 47-year-old farmer, his wife, Theresa, and 21-year-old Eugene Terrell, a farm worker. The Agricultural Census for the same year describes the property as having 60 acres of tilled land and 104 acres of woodland. The farm was valued at $800, including buildings. The Kilbys had $50 worth of farm implements and livestock worth $75. Their livestock included two milk cows, producing 75 pounds of butter in 1879, and twelve barnyard poultry. Their tilled land included 8 acres of Indian corn, and 1 acre of wheat.

In 1889, the Laurel Hill House was described as being built of North Carolina pine, sited on “moderately high” ground, “reached by a serpentine carriageway of gradual ascent.” Some of Ann Calvert Lindsay’s rose trees, originally planted in the early nineteenth century, were said to have survived into the mid-19th century, as well as “a bed of notable cactus.” The house originally faced southeast, towards what is now Lorton Road, and a picket fence is depicted in the front yard in an 1880s sketch. There was a garden at the rear (north) of the house and the family burial ground was also located to the north of the house. According to the 1900 Population Census, the Kilbys continued to farm in the Lee District of Fairfax County. No farm laborer is listed as a part of their household.

Washington, D.C., lawyer Howe Totten and his wife Priscilla purchased the 164-acre, 26-pole property from the Kilbys in March 1906. Howe Totten worked in Washington, D.C., and may have maintained an additional residence there, but he lived with his wife and children lived at Laurel Hill, where he bred championship Great Danes and thoroughbred horses. Outbuildings on his property included kennels and stables. The 1910 Population Census for the Lee District in Fairfax County lists the Howe Totten household as including 40-year-old Howe, a lawyer, his 35-year-old wife Priscilla, and their two young children, Elinor, age 2, and Enoch, age 11 months. An early-20th century photograph shows a large Spiraea x vanhouttei on the south side of the house.

In April 1910, the District of Columbia municipal government purchased 1,155 acres along the Occoquan River for use as a Workhouse to house the city’s prisoners convicted of non-violent crimes with sentences of less than one year. This parcel adjoined Howe Totten’s property along his southeastern boundary. The first prisoners arrived at the D.C. Workhouse in August 1910 and were originally housed in tents. The Workhouse was a Progressive institution that followed an open-air policy. Prisoners were housed in open dormitories and worked outdoors, constructing buildings, making bricks, and farming. The Workhouse is noted on a 1915 soil map of Fairfax County, prior to the construction of the Reformatory.

The open-air system led to friction between Howe Totten and his institutional neighbor. In a letter published in the Fairfax Herald in March 1911, Totten complained that the proximity to the District Workhouse at Occoquan made the neighborhood dangerous. He also mentioned the “unguarded manner in which the inmates are permitted to go about,” and the fact that convicts escaped repeatedly and trespassed on his property.

D.C. PENAL INSTITUTIONS PROGRESSIVE ERA (1914 – 1962)

Totten did not get the relief that he sought—greater restrictions on the movements of the convicts held at the Workhouse—but in January 1914, 153.68 acres of his property were condemned for use as the D.C. Reformatory. The remaining 10.09 acres of Totten’s property were purchased by D.C. for expansion of the Reformatory in March 1919 for $490.50. The D.C. Reformatory was also an open-air institution, like the Workhouse. It housed prisoners who had longer sentences than those at the Workhouse, but were deemed “hopeful cases,” capable of being reformed. Prisoners at the Reformatory worked under a program of industrial production and vocational training. The first prisoners arrived at the Reformatory in the winter of 1916.

In 1916, oversight of the design and construction of all buildings at D.C. Penal Institutions, temporary and permanent, was placed under the authority of the D.C. Municipal Architect, a position then held by Snowden Ashford. A plan of the Reformatory from ca. 1918 shows the Laurel Hill House and temporary buildings associated with the D.C. Reformatory. After the remainder of Howe Totten’s property was purchased by D.C. in 1919, the entrance road to Laurel Hill was changed to its present configuration.

During the 1910s, houses already existing on the prison property were renovated to house staff, and new houses were also constructed. The General Superintendent of Penal Institutions, Charles C. Foster, requested construction of five new houses for prison staff in 1918. He recommended that the houses “be erected on sites affording garden space, keeping in view desirable location, comfort, and harmonious appearance.”

The house at Laurel Hill last owned by Howe Totten also became a residence for on-site prison staff. The first occupant of the Laurel Hill House after the District purchase was Morris Macy Barnard, assistant superintendent in charge of the Reformatory from 1916 to 1923.

Both the Annual Reports and Operations of the Engineer Reports produced by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia from 1913-1921 provide details regarding repairs and improvements made and features constructed at the Laurel Hill House and its surrounding property during these years.

In 1916-1917, minor repairs cost a total of $104 and included work on the water main, a water closet, and the electrical system. Two days were also billed for designing a new garage to replace one that existed when the Tottens owned the property. More repairs were made to the house in 1917-1918, totaling $752.76. A sewage tank was constructed and prison laborers (costing $917.49) graded the road to the house.

Work on the Laurel Hill House in 1918-1919 included paint, plaster, plumbing, electrical work, and carpentry at a total cost of $448.09. A small amount of time was also charged for brick and cement work, but not enough to signify major brickwork. Minor work continued in 1919-1920 and 1920-1921 did not involve brickwork.

However, from 1921-1922, documents indicate that most improvements focused on brickwork, using 1,000 bricks and 358 days of prison labor; this could have included the construction of the retaining wall along the entrance road corridor, southeast of the house. Work at the house in 1922-1923 did not include further brickwork.

Later Engineer Department reports do not include such specific information on construction projects for the Laurel Hill House or site. No other records pertaining to building and grounds improvements have yet been found in the Annual Reports of the Reformatory or in the plans and maps on file at the D.C. Archives. USGS quadrangles from 1925-1927 do, however, depict workhouse and reformatory buildings.

In 1921, Albert Harris was appointed Municipal Architect for the District of Columbia. Harris studied architecture at George Washington University, began his career in the Chicago office of Henry I. Cobb, and returned to D.C. and joined the firm of Hornblower and Marshall. While with Hornblower and Marshall, Harris assisted with the design of the Baltimore Customs House, and the U.S. National Museum, now the Natural History Museum. As Municipal Architect, Harris designed schools, firehouses, and other public buildings. He also contributed to the comprehensive plan for George Washington University, creating the quadrangle, University Yard. While Municipal Architect, Harris recommended the “development of landscape gardens in connection with new school buildings, in line with present effort of Washington School authorities to surround children with all possible cultural influences rather than to make school a prison-like experience for the young.” Harris may have had a role in encouraging similar projects, such as the Terraced Garden at the Laurel Hill House, as part of progressive efforts within D.C. Penal Institutions. This is not documented but might be an informative approach for additional research.

On October 25, 1936, the Fairfax County Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) dedicated a marker at the grave of William Lindsay as part of a project to find and mark the graves of Fairfax County Revolutionary War patriots. The graves of William and Ann Lindsay were originally marked with sandstone slabs, but, by the 1930s, these had worn away. The graveyard was found when Mrs. Theresa Davis, a woman who had lived on the property as a child, returned for a visit in 1925. An article in the Washington Post described how Mrs. Davis, although nearly blind at the time, walked to a group of trees on the edge of a knoll and identified the graveyard. The low fence around the Lindsay marker, brick pillars with a pipe railing, appears in a photograph of this ceremony.

In September 1937, the grounds of Laurel Hill were described as follows: “aside from the very beautiful and ancient box, there is little left of the old garden. There are still a few trees which may have been there when the house was built.” This description mentions nothing of the extensive terraced garden that appears to have been under construction in the 1937 aerial photograph. A local resident, Irma Clifton, recalls a large group of boxwood located on the north side of the house that was destroyed in the 1980s, but these do not appear on the 1937 or 1953 aerial photographs

On November 11, 1951, a plaque for Ann Calvert Lindsay, wife of William Lindsay, was placed at the Lindsay Cemetery at Laurel Hill by the Fairfax County Chapter of the D.A.R. The Laurel Hill House continued to serve as a residence for Reformatory superintendents and their families until the late 1960s. For a while afterward, the house was used as quarters for Reformatory visitors.

The District of Columbia reorganized their penal institutions in 1946 with the creation of the Department of Corrections. In the 1950s, the Lorton facilities became overcrowded, a situation that would continue through the remainder of their operation. The period of significance associated with today’s D.C. Workhouse and Reformatory District, which began with the District of Columbia’s purchase of property for a workhouse in 1910, ended at this time. The last building constructed under the program of progressive prison reform, a chapel, was built in 1961. Through the mid-twentieth century, the District of Columbia prison facilities in Fairfax County tried to follow the progressive ideal of a balanced experience for the prisoner. From their inception, the Workhouse and Reformatory included religious and recreational activities, as well as work, in prison life. It was after the reorganization into the Department of Corrections that a separate building for religious services was built. This inter-denominational chapel was dedicated in 1961 and was the end result of a series of progressive social reforms that attempted to meet all of a prisoner’s physical and mental needs.

PRISON INTO PARK (1962 – PRESENT)

In 1966, a court decision ruled that public intoxication was a public health problem rather than a criminal offense. This led to a large decrease in the population at the Workhouse, which was then converted to use as alcohol rehabilitation centers. Beginning in the late 1960s and continuing until the closure of the prison facilities, tensions between inmates and staff increased, with several incidences of riots and hostage-taking. Some blamed the openness of the system for the easy availability of alcohol and drugs in the complexes and thus the disciplinary problems. Fairfax County officials and local residents began attempting to close the D.C. Penal Institutions in Fairfax County in the 1970s, based upon the argument that they were unsafe and dangerous, to both the inmates and the neighboring residents.

Ultimately, the closure of the District of Columbia’s prison facilities in Fairfax County was not due to legal action brought by Fairfax County, but rather by the National Capital Revitalization Act of 1997. This federal order was passed by Congress to aid the District in improving its financial standing. It required the closure of the Fairfax County facilities by the end of 2001. The maximum security facility closed on January 31, 2001, and the central facility closed in November 2001. By this time, suburban growth around Washington, D.C., had spread to the Lorton area, changing the character from one of open space and scattered houses to one of dense housing developments and commercial areas, a condition clearly apparent in the 2002 aerial photograph of the study area.

Very little about the Laurel Hill House site in particular was documented after it ceased to serve as a residence sometime during the late 1960s to early 1970s. Photographs of the house taken during the 1970s show it to be in good condition at that time. During the 1980s and 1990s, various organizations sponsored work days to clean up the area, including a 1997 Eagle Scout clearing project in the Terraced Garden.

On July 15, 2002, Fairfax County received title to 2,324 acres of the former prison facility at a cost of $4.2 million. This land acquisition represents one of the most ambitious planning efforts ever undertaken by Fairfax County. In addition to establishing guidelines for the adaptive reuse of buildings associated with the former prison, the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan provides a strategy for optimizing natural resource areas, promoting recreation, and preserving open space and heritage resources.

The D.C. Workhouse and Reformatory National Register Historic District is significant for its building complexes and landscape areas associated with a Progressive-era penal institution. The Laurel Hill House functioned as the Superintendent’s residence for the institution during the period 1914-1961. The Laurel Hill House was listed as a contributing feature in the district’s 2005 National Register Nomination (the district was listed on the National Register in 2006). The ca. 1962 garage described in the nomination as a non contributing feature has been demolished. Other contributing features on the Laurel Hill House site include the Laurel Hill Entrance Drive, a two-lane un-striped asphalt road that retains its historic alignment; the brick retaining wall along the entrance drive, which runs for approximately 250 feet along the road edge; the Lindsay Cemetery; and the Terraced Garden. The landscape in the immediate vicinity of the house consists of approximately two acres of yard north and south of the house and the Terraced Garden that occupies a half-acre to the southeast. Designed in the neoclassical style, the Terraced Garden is comprised of a series of outdoor rooms and walks, organized along a primary and secondary axis and featuring parallel terraces. The garden includes brick walls and steps, brick-paved walks, the remains of a rectangular reflecting pool (filled in with soil and inoperative), remnant ornamental plantings, brick-edged planting beds, and the remains of what was likely a rock garden, with a surviving pedestal fountain (also inoperative). The brickwork has been identified as characteristic of that constructed by prison labor throughout the historic district, but much of this brickwork is presently obscured by overgrown vegetation and accumulated soil.

The Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan recommends that the Laurel Hill House and its associated Terraced Garden be designated a heritage resource area. While the Fairfax County Park Authority does not own the house, the plan recommended that they provide technical assistance in a public-private partnership to develop the Historic Structure Report for the Laurel Hill House and this Cultural Landscape Report as components of a phased historic preservation plan.