Renovation & Restoration
Project: Oatlands Plantation
Background | Greenhouse
Restoration Project
As the jewel of historic homes in the Virginia
Piedmont area, Oatlands Plantation serves as a reminder of
two important periods in U.S. history-the Civil War and the
early 20th century. Oatlands shows the architectural style
of the early 1800s, and the influence of its builder George
Carter, great-grandson of Virginia's famed grower Robert "King"
Carter.
The mansion's interior reflects its most recent owners, the
William Corcoran Eustises, who furnished it as a traditional
English-style country house of the 1920s and 1930s.
The mansion was built in 1803, and in 1816 Carter added a
gristmill on nearby Goose Creek. A miller's residence, brick
manufactory, blacksmith shop, store, school and church soon
followed as Oatlands quickly grew into a 3,000-acre working
plantation. Prosperous and newly-married during the 1840s,
Carter made interior changes that echoed the popular Greek
Revival style of the time.
During the Civil War, Loudoun County literally saw brother
fighting brother, and endured the burden of feeding the men
and horses of both armies as they marched across the same
routes. As times became increasingly difficult, Oatlands fared
well compared to many other plantations, and was even bypassed
during a massive burning raid by Union troops.
After the fighting ended, the plantation became a refuge for
relatives, friends, and emancipated slaves left homeless by
the war. Beset by dependents and mounting debt, George II
and Kate Carter began operating Oatlands as a summer boarding
house, a country retreat for affluent Washingtonians.
This didn't produce the income needed to sustain
a great home like Oatlands, and in 1897 they were forced to
sell. The new owner, Stilson Hutchins, a founder of the Washington
Post, never lived on the property, and a new era began in
1903 with the sale of Oatlands to William Corcoran Eustis
and his wife Edith.
Oatlands' new owners came from Washington families well known
for philanthropy- he, William Corcoran, from the Corcoran
Gallery of Art family; she, Edith Morton, from the well connected
Levi Morton political family. Instinctive preservationists,
they restored Oatlands to its former splendor while the grounds
allowed them to indulge a passion for fox-hunting. They were
well known for breeding champion Old English sheep dogs.
Oatlands' interior furnishings reflect Mrs. Eustis' love of
French and English antiques. She also was the soul behind
the restoration of the four-acre walled garden.
During the 1920s and 1930s, Oatlands became a focal point
for prominent Washingtonians. Country weekends, garden parties,
and visits from such political leaders as Franklin D. Roosevelt
and General George C. Marshall were common.
Mr. Eustis died in 1921. Mrs. Eustis stayed on at Oatlands
until her death in 1964. Their daughters, Mrs. David E. Finley
and Mrs. Anne Eustis Emmet presented the 261-acre estate,
house, and furnishings to the National Trust for Historic
Preservation in 1965. Oatlands was designated a National Historic
Landmark in 1972.
Oatlands' gardens were designed by George Carter, who constructed
ingenious connecting terraces which, by sheltering the area
from wind, extended the growing season to supply food for
the plantation. Structures built by Carter include the stone
and brick staircases and walls, a smoke house, a brick greenhouse
with a hot-water heating system, and a granary.
The gardens slipped into disrepair during the
Carters' post Civil War economic misfortunes, but after the
property changed hands in 1903, Mrs. William Corcoran Eustis
enlarged the flower beds, extended the boxwood parterres,
designed a rose garden and added statuary and ornaments.
In 1920, the classical-style tea house was built, opposing
the reflecting pool and connected by the boxwood bowling allee.
A shrine near the pool, "La Vierge d'Autumn" (a copy of a
15th century French Madonna), was placed as a memorial to
her daughter Edith, who died in 1936.
Another life began for the gardens when the Eustis daughters
passed the property to the National Trust for Historic Preservation
in 1965. The Carter and Eustis records were researched. The
boxwood was pruned and restored, the rose garden was redesigned,
and the flower beds once again were graced with the soft pinks,
blues and whites preferred by Mrs. Eustis. A formal herb garden
was added, a section of the original garden wall was restored,
and a memorial garden in honor of Mrs. Anne Eustis Emmet was
constructed.
Background | Greenhouse
Restoration Project
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