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Tal Day, Editor Fall 2018 The Virginia Trust for Historic Preservation and The Lee-Fendall House Museum and Garden: Celebrating Fifty Years Carter B. Refo Introduction the Lee-Fendall House with Harry and the Lee As new social perspectives on American family in Alexandria were reasons, among history have evolved, the Lee-Fendall House others, that she believed the home should be has proven to be an unusually rich resource for saved and should become a historic house mu- understanding how social change and major seum. historic events were experienced in Alexan- John L. Lewis, founder of the United Mine dria.1 Fifty years ago, on July 14, 1968, Jay Workers and one of the most historically sig- W. Johns, a wealthy Pennsylvanian and leader nificant labor leaders in American history, was in preserving eminent Virginians’ homes, then the occupant of the property that is now founded the Virginia Trust for Historic Preser- known as the Lee-Fendall House Museum and vation at the urging of Frances Shively, a do- Garden. Lewis, then 88 years old, was alone cent in the Lee Boyhood Home house mu- and in ill health, estranged from his son, John seum,2 which Johns had previously helped L. Lewis, Jr., the legal owner of the property purchase and establish through his Lee-Jack- subject to his father’s life estate. son Memorial Foundation. Shively feared that the historic property, Francis Shively had over many years de- now acclaimed for its distinctive architecture veloped great admiration for Henry “Light incorporating rural Maryland vernacular, Horse Harry” Lee III, the father of Robert E. Greek Revival and Italianate influences, Lee, and a one-time owner of the land that the would be sold and demolished after Lewis’s Lee-Fendall House sits on. The connection of death. By enlisting Johns’ support for the Carter Refo has been on the VTHP board since 2004. He graduated from St Stephens School and from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1965. During his 30-year career in the Navy, he served as a Naval Aviator, commanding a squadron, airwing and two ships, retiring in 1995. After the untimely death of Dr. Paul Reber in 2015, Carter was asked to be the executive director of Stratford Hall while a replacement was found, a position he held for nearly a year. Carter and Paula, his wife of 53 years, make their home in Warrenton, Va. John Christiansen, the Director of The Lee-Fendall Museum and Garden, has assisted in locating materials in Museum files cited in this article. establishment of The Virginia Trust for His- few part-time assistants helped with tours and toric Preservation as an acquisition vehicle,3 other matters. Shively intended to prevent that. Tours were 50 cents. Only the first floor Thanks to Shively’s initiative and the sup- was open for visitors, and it was essentially port from Jay Johns, the Lee-Fendall House empty of furnishings. All of Lewis’s personal Museum and Garden now exists as a distinc- possessions, including the antiques collected tive and unique resource illuminating both its by Myrta Lewis, his wife, had been shipped to connections with the Lee family and the inter- Milwaukee and sold at auction. ests in broader social issues affecting Alexan- To help furnish the Museum, Shively dria and the Nation that have evolved since reached out to The Society of the Lees of Vir- then. The early history of the Museum is a tes- ginia, the family most closely connected with tament to Francis Shively’s imagination and the home from 1785 through 1903. With the perseverance. With the passage of time since help of the membership, the Museum acquired then, the significance of the home in the saga furniture with Lee Family connections, but in of the Lee Family in Alexandria that was the only a few instances were those connections to original inspiration for the Trust has been en- Lee family members who had actually lived in riched and extended through a growing appre- the home.6 In the years since, the collection ciation for the roles of the home’s owners and was first refined to interpret the home as it occupants throughout national and Alexandria might have been furnished in the early 1850s history. following its purchase and renovation in then fashionable taste by the wealthy Alexandria Acquisition and Early Challenges merchant, Louis Cazenove and his wife, Har- Four years after John L. Lewis’s death in riet Stuart, one of the many residents of the June 1969 and just after the last tenants va- home with Lee Family connections.7 Cur- cated the house, with financial assistance from rently, the Museum is being furnished to en- 4 the Commonwealth and the City, the Trust compass the whole history of the house. acquired the Lewis property with the aim that Adding to the challenge during those early it operate as the Lee-Fendall House Museum years was that the Museum, notwithstanding and Garden. It opened to the public one year its historic significance, was not listed on the later, in 1974.5 National Historic Register. Ultimately with From the beginning, the Museum experi- help from Clement Conger, a member of the enced unexpected challenges. When the Trust Trust board and curator of the White House was established, it was understood that Johns and the State Department Diplomatic Recep- intended to endow the upkeep and operations tion Rooms, the necessary paperwork was of the Museum. Johns died, however, without eventually submitted to the Department of In- having executed the necessary codicil to his terior, and the Museum gained its listing, will; and the Trust received nothing from his in 1979. estate. The Museum accordingly was forced The application narrative,8 substantially from the outset to operate on a financial basis drafted by Frances Shively, noted the promi- that was austere, even for house museums. nent role of Philip Richard Fendall in Federal The first director of the Museum was Period Alexandria as a friend and attorney for Frances Shively. She served without compen- George Washington, a founder of the Bank of sation and lived in what had been John L. Alexandria, and a Director of “Washington’s Lewis’s home office, on the second floor. A Potomac Canal Company,” and brother-in-law of Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee. The 2 narrative particularly noted that it was in The Lee Family in Federalist Alexandria Fendall’s home that Harry had written the In April 1789, in the home of his good farewell address to Washington from his fel- friend and cousin, Philip Fendall, Harry Lee low-citizens of Alexandria that was then deliv- wrote out the farewell address to George ered when Washington left Mount Vernon to Washington from his Fellow Citizens of Alex- be inaugurated as the Nation’s first President andria that was later delivered at Wise’s Tav- in April 1789. ern on the eve of Washington’s departure from In addition to noting other Lee family con- Mount Vernon to be inaugurated as the Na- nections with the home during the years tion’s first President under the new Constitu- through 1903, the applica- tion.9 Fendall had built the home tion noted the sale to Robert four years earlier on one of three F. Downham, “of a promi- half-acre lots purchased in Alex- nent Alexandria family,” andria by Harry on November and the sale in 1937 to 13, 1784. It was only three “Mrs. John L. Lewis.” The weeks later that he sold one of narrative omitted mention the lots purchased from Baldwin of seizure of the home dur- Dade, an Alexandria merchant, ing the Civil War and its to Philip Fendall, on December conversion into a Union 4, 1784. hospital. Alexandria’s growing econ- With its entry onto the omy may not have been the only National Historic Register, impetus for the Fendalls’ move the Museum at last became to Alexandria from Stratford eligible for grants from Hall. In 1784, Philip Richard sources that had previously Fendall and Elizabeth Steptoe denied assistance to the Mu- Fendall, the widow of Philip seum during those early Ludwell Lee, were living at years of especially difficult Stratford Hall together with her Figure 1. Francis Shively in the Lee-Fendall struggle. As with other House. Credit: Washington Star daughter, Matilda, and her hus- house museums that are not Photographer Ray Lustig band Harry. Philip Richard operated by government en- Fendall was a grandson of tities, support for the Museum’s operations Philip Lee, an older brother of Thomas Lee continues to come from tour admissions, rent- and Henry Lee I. He and Harry were second als for private events, and a modest gift shop. cousins. When Harry married Matilda, Fendall However, without grant support and member- became his father-in law.10 Setting up a sepa- ship donations, the Museum would be unable rate household may have had great appeal, and to continue to operate. In this respect, as its Alexandria’s economy was growing.11 programs evolve to reach new generations and Philip Ludwell Lee, son of Thomas Lee, incorporate new understandings of the history the builder of Stratford Hall, had died intestate illuminated by the Museum, the Lee-Fendall in 1775 with unsettled debts, which had com- House Museum and Garden shares the chal- plicated settlement of the estate and transfer of lenges of most historic house museums nation- title to Stratford Hall. Sometime during 1783- wide. 84, Harry and Matilda had reached an agree- ment that Stratford Hall would be transferred to them conditioned on their assumption of 3 debts that had entangled the property since significantly; by 1787 the number of slaves well before 1750.

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