Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-24
$4,000 IS SOUGHT
FOR KENMORE FUND
Plan to Convert Betty Wash.
ington's Home Into Ma
tional Shrine.

The campaign for $4,000 fund with
which to restore Kenmore, the home of
Betty Lewis, wife of Col. Fielding
Lewis, sister of George Washington, and
convert 1t into a national monument
with some of its original furnishings,
has been more than one-third COM
pleted, according to the Kenmore Asso-
citation. which is conducting the drive
on Nationwide scale.
The furnishings of the Colonial man.
sion Is under the supervision of Charles
O. Cornelius, associate curator Of deco
rative arts at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art and an authority on early
American furniture. Mrs. Robert N.
Littlejohn Of New York is national
chairman of the Kenmore Association,
which hopes to have the Kenmore re-
stored in time for the Washington BIZ
centennial in 1882.
Kenmore. located at Fredericksburg,
Va, was built by Col Lewis Revolu-
tionary patriot and was purchased in
1922 with voluntary contributions at a
time when demolition or remodeling
threatened the historic dwelling. The
mansion, rich in associations with
Washington'S youth and early manhood.
Is described as a rare example of
Colonial architecture and decoration.
Became Bride at IS.
The Washingtons had their family
seat at Fredericksburg in 1746. when
Col. Lewis arrived with his wife to farm
large tracts of land which his father
owned in the neighborhood. Lewis
wife died in l749, however, and the
young widower soon thereafter laid suit
p "a NJ Af nAkk Id
mannerly maid" then Is years old.
Their marriage was celebrated Nav 7.
1850, George Washington, then IS years
old, giving his sister away in the cere-
mony.
1t was said that Mrs. Washington
made Lewis promise not to take her
daughter away and also that Lewis
promised his bride that he would build
a worthy home for her. The land on
which 1t was built, 86l acres, survey
made goth Of February. 1852, by George
Washington" was purchased from Rich
ard Wyatt Royston.
Washington, according to records.
spent much Of his time at Kenmore
and took deep interest in the land
scape gardening of his sisters home
Some Of the shrubs and trees planted
at the time still survive. He brought
his mother to Fredericksburg later and
Installed her in cottage near Kenmore.
Opens Gun Mandatory.
Col. Lewis became embroiled in the
dispute between Virginia and the rep
resentatives Of England in the Colony
and is said to have written at Kenmore
q fiery resolution, later adopted at
Fredericksburg by 600 men of the Col
ony, indorsing Patrick Henry's resist
ance to Gov. Dunmore's seizure of
certain stores of powder. Three months
later Col. Lewis was named a commits
sioner to operate mandatory of
small arms at Fredericksburg, as pro-
vided for by an ordinance passed in
the Virginia Assembly. The commits
sioners soon had the small plant In
operation.
The commissioners soon had the fac
tory built and operating, but the APP
preparation was found insufficient, and
they were forced to use their own funds
to carry on the enterprise Col. Lewis |
put in $1,000 of his own money and
borrowed more than 100000 in addition |
to keep the factory going and supply |
ing the Revolutionary forces with arms. |
His health was wrecked by the arduous
work, and he died in January, 1882,
leaving Kenmore heavily mortgaged
Betty Lewis faced the task to raise
funds for the education of her children
so Kenmore was sold piece meal. The
mansion and its contents were sold In
1895 and Mrs. Lewis died the follow
ing year. From that time until it was
purchased in 1922 through the initia-
tive Of the Daughters Of the American
Revolution, Kenmore has been the prop
erty Of successive private owners.
Walls Two Feet Thick.
The walls of Kenmore are two feet
thick with heavy inside shutters and
Holy Lord" hinges, and the doors are
provided with crosses to keep the
witches away. The interior wood work
possesses an exquisite refinement of de-
tail, and in the dining room there is
paneling and the Washington crest
over the fireplace.
The finest artistic feature is repre-
scented as being the succeed ceilings
and over mantles, done by a person
whom Washington referred to as that
Frenchman." The over -r1antel In the
great room, however, is said to have
been done by Hessian prisoners after
designs by Washington Of characters
in Aesop's fables. The background is
the church, the fortress and the home.
The ceiling in the dining room has
as its center a head of Louis XIV Of
France, surrounded by sun rays. The
library has a fruit and flower piece
for over mantel. The motif for the
ceiling is the four seasons. The CELL
ings Of the great room and the hall
are conventional.