National Register of Historic Places
Which site was the heritage designation of Woodlawn (Alexandria, Virginia) between Nov 1975 and Jun 1995?
Woodlawn ( Alexandria , Virginia ) Woodlawn is a historic house located in Fairfax County , Virginia . Originally a part of Mount Vernon , George Washingtons historic plantation estate , it was subdivided in the 19th century by abolitionists to demonstrate the viability of a free labor system . The address is now 9000 Richmond Highway , Alexandria , Virginia , but due to expansion of Fort Belvoir and reconstruction of historic Route 1 , access is via Woodlawn Road slightly south of Jeff Todd Way/State Route 235 . The house is a designated National Historic Landmark , primarily for its association with the Washington family , but also for the role it played in the historic preservation movement . It is now a museum property owned and managed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation . History . George Washington planned the house to overlook Dogue Creek as well as be visible from ( and viewing ) Mount Vernon . In 1799 , he gave the plantation ( of land as well as gristmill and distillery ) as a wedding present to Eleanor ( Nelly or Nellie ) Parke Custis ( Martha Washingtons granddaughter who was raised on the Mount Vernon estate ) , and his nephew Major Lawrence Lewis . The President asked architect Dr . William Thornton , who had designed the U.S . Capitol , to design them a house . Construction began in 1800 and was finished in 1805 . President Washington freed his slaves in his will ( though not those belonging to his wife ) , and Nellie Custis Lewis followed his example and became a leading abolitionist in Virginia . The Lewis family operated the farm using about 90 slaves , but Nellie manumitted some slaves , as well as was active in the American Colonization Society . In late 1846 , she sold the property to a group of Burlington County , New Jersey Quakers from outside Philadelphia led by Chalkley Gillingham ( 1807–1881 ) and Jacob Troth . They harvested wood and began subdividing it into smaller farms to demonstrate that a free labor system could work at least as well as slave labor . Jacob Troth deeded the mansion to his son Paul Hillman Troth on March 25 , 1850 . The Quakers founded a cemetery and built a meetinghouse nearby in 1851 ( for the Fairfax Section of the Alexandria Friends Meeting ) . In 1853 , the Quakers sold Woodlawn house and some land to Baptist John Mason , who likewise refused to use slave labor . By 1859 , he and his wife operated a Sunday School on the property . After the American Civil War , his sons Ebenezer E . Mason and Otis T . Mason would found a Baptist church and burial ground across from the Quaker meetinghouse . Eben Mason and Quaker John Hawxhurst were Fairfax Countys two Unionist delegates to the Wheeling Convention of 1861 which established the state of West Virginia . Hawxhurst would become one of Fairfax Countys delegates to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1868 . Woodlawns mansion house has fallen into disrepair several times , but all of its owners , recognizing its historic significance , have worked to preserve its character . Portions of the property were sold for development or merged into Fort Belvoir over the years . Progressive former U.S . Senator Oscar Underwood , one of the last Southern politicians to fight the Ku Klux Klan before World War II , retired to Woodlawn , where he died in 1929 . Only about 160 acres surrounded the mansion house by 1970 , and about 126 acres exist today . Since 1965 , as discussed below , the Woodlawn Estate property is now also the site of the Pope-Leighey House , a Frank Lloyd Wright designed house . Current status . Woodlawn is owned and operated as a museum by the National Trust for Historic Preservation , part of the National Trust Community Investment Corporation . It was the National Trusts first acquisition , achieved in the late 1960s as part of a nationwide campaign that included major donations from philanthropist Paul Mellon . It and the adjacent Pope-Leighey House are open to the public ( admission charged ) Friday through Monday from April until mid-December . The property name is Woodlawn & Pope-Leighey House . It also hosts special events , particularly weddings and an annual Needlework Show,and hosts museum tours . In 1965 , construction on Interstate 66 led to that home built in 1940 by architect Frank Lloyd Wright for Loren Pope to be moved to the grounds of the Woodlawn estate . Four years later , Virginias historic preservation office nominated Woodlawn , then Woodlawn plantation , for listing on the National Register of Historic Places , and such was approved in 1970 . Woodlawn plantation was designated a U.S . National Historic Landmark in 1998 , and the boundaries were increased slightly in 2011 by a donation of land from nearby Fort Belvoir which had been part of the Woodlawn plantation . The Quaker meetinghouse once part of the plantation was added to the National Register in 2009 . Arcadia Farm leases land at Woodlawn to demonstrate sustainable agriculture by the Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture since 2010 . A different plantation with the same name on the Rappahannock River near Port Conway on Virginias Northern Neck is the centerpiece of the Woodlawn Historic and Archeological District , recognized in 1990 .