For my birthday, my son asked me where I’d like to go.
Wanting to see the Custis ruins at Reagan National Airport, I also wanted to find the secret gate with a different view of Mount Vernon, outside the property.
ABINGDON PLANTATION RUINS
As we parked at Reagan National Airport, we saw the Potomac River on the one side, paralleling the landing of the airplanes, and we found the ruins of an 18th century plantation on the other side.
NORTHERN NECK PROPRIETARY
Originally part of the 1649 Northern Neck Proprietary, this land was part of a 6000 acre land grant gifted to Robert Howsing in 1669 for bringing one hundred twenty people to settle Virginia.
Soon after, Howsing sold the land to John Alexander in return for 6,000 pounds of tobacco, which during this age of mercantilism, bound Colonial America economicaly to Britain.
ALEXANDRIA
Alexander’s new land took on his name, of Alexandria, which at that time extended from the current southern boundary of the town at Hunting Creek, to the northern boundary of today’s Arlington National Cemetery.
As the land grant passed through the Alexander family, by 1746 the northern part of the parcel was owned by Gerrard Alexander who built a large house on the land, north of Four Mile Creek.
After Gerrard’s death, each of his three son’s inherited one-third of the land.
JOHN PARKE CUSTIS – SON OF MARTHA WASHINGTON
Wanting to live near Mount Vernon, John ‘Jacky’ Parke Custis, grandson of Martha Washington, sought to buy the entire northern parcel from the Alexander brothers.
While Jacky contracted the southern portion (Abingdon) and purchased the northern portion (Arlington) in 1778, he never obtained the central portion.
After obtaining this land, Jacky was elected delegate from Fairfax County to the Virginia General Assembly and Jacky’s wife, Eleanor, gave birth to their third daughter, Eleanor ‘Nelly’ Parke Custis.
After Jacky passed away in 1781 from camp fever at Yorktown, George and Martha Washington adopted the two youngest children, Nelly and George Washington Parke Custis, to help their mother who continued to raise the older two children at Abingdon.
STUARTS LIVE AT ABINGDON
A couple of years later, Eleanor married Dr. David Stuart, a friend of George Washington, who served as delegate for Fairfax County and oversaw the planning of the nation’s capital by President Washington’s appointment.
Eleanor and David Stuart had sixteen children together.
After over ten years of heavy litigation regarding the contracted Abingdon purchase with compound interest, the southern land of Abingdon was returned to the previous owner, Robert Alexander.
ARLINGTON
Meanwhile the northern portion of Arlington, bought with cash, remained with the Custis’, which George Washington Parke Custis inherited when he came of age.
Building Arlington House as a memorial to his adopted grandfather whom he adored and was named after, George Washington Parke Custis bequeathed to his only child, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, Arlington House and all the George Washington Memoralia, which would then pass down to his eldest grandson, George Washington Custis Lee.
Her husband was General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate Army.
Arlington Plantation became Arlington Cemetery.
ABINGDON SITE PRESERVATION
After passing through more owners, the house was abandoned by 1928, then destroyed by fire in 1930
In 1941, a national airport was built next to the plantation.
When plans were announced of building plans for a parking garage atop the site of Abingdon Plantation house, an uproar from the public resulted in the preservation of the site.
PICNIC LUNCH OVERLOOKING MOUNT VERNON
Driving down the Washington Memorial Parkway from the airport, we arrived at Riverside Park on the Potomac which overlooks Mount Vernon land, to enjoy our picnic.
SECRET GATE TO MOUNT VERNON
After assessing the most logical acess for the secret view of Mount Vernon, we found it, and took lots of pictures.
What a fun day of explorations!
