Woodlawn (Historical Marker)

Here follows the inscription written on this roadside historical marker:

Woodlawn:
Originally part of the Mount Vernon estate, Woodlawn was built in 1800-1805. George Washington gave the plantation, as a wedding gift to Eleanor Parke "Nelly" Custis and her husband, Lawrence Lewis, respectively Martha Washington's granddaughter and George Washington's nephew. The two were married at Mount Vernon on 22 Feb. 1799, George Washington's last birthday. Designed by Dr. William Thornton, the first architect of the U.S. Capitol, the crisply detailed, beautifully crafted five-part mansion displays the elegance and refinement so admired in the Federal style. In 1951, Woodlawn became the first historic site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Marker Erected 1999 by Department of Historic Resources. (Marker Number E-66.)


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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:

Woodlawn was built on a site selected by George Washington and on land willed by him to Lawrence Lewis, his nephew, and to Lawrence's wife, Nelly Custis Lewis, Washington's foster granddaughter.

Woodlawn Mansion is of five-part construction -- a central portion with flanking wings and connecting hyphens. Beyond them are a smokehouse and a dairy, linked to the wings with brick walls penetrated by solid wooden doors. The bricks for the mansion were burned on the place, and local Aquia stone trims the exterior. The river facade is noteworthy for its handsome portico with columns, marble floor and double stairway leading to the garden. The main entrances on the east and west facades of the central hall are surmounted by fanlights. The roof of the central block has clipped gables and is pedimented above the east and west entrances. A modillioned cornice is supported by a narrow frieze. The hyphens were raised to one and a half stories in height between 1902 and 1905, at which time the dormers were added. Within, high-ceilinged rooms are enhanced by fine imported mantelpieces of carved marble. The woodwork is handsomely detailed and well-proportioned. The original paint colors and graining on the doors were established after careful research. Many Mount Vernon and Lewis family furnishings and heirlooms are on display.

Woodlawn's guests over the years have included the Marquis de Lafayette of France and Queen Mother Elizabeth of England. Among its residents have been Paul Kester, New York playwright; Senator and Mrs. Oscar Underwood of Alabama; and the Secretary of War and Mrs. Henry H. Woodring. The extensive formal gardens were restored by the Garden Club of Virginia in 1959.

Woodlawn is one of four Fairfax County structures listed by the National Trust as being of national importance.