Our tour guide was excellent, presenting a comprehensive account of the history of the plantation and house. One of our objectives for the tour was to satisfy our curiosity. We suspected our current residence had been part of George Washington's Mt. Vernon plantation and knowing a little bit of the history of Woodlawn Plantation, that it had been owned by Washington's nephew, Laurence and his wife, Nelly. Our guide, Sylvia, confirmed these suspicions, a good beginning!
Sylvia pointed out features of the house, such as the holes in the rope bed where the crank was inserted, the archaeological work that had been done to determine the original color of the paint on the walls, and how subsequent owners had cared for and improved upon it. Sylvia interspersed her lecture with opportunities for questions Since there was a lot of standing, we were glad that in each room there were upholsterd side chairs where we could rest our legs. We were not bored!
All in all, it was interesting and informative. We've been on many tours of historic houses and this was high quality. If there were additional tours featuring the more modern sections of the house and grounds, we'd certainly come again.
Notes:
I suspect that the Covid closures severely impacted this place financially. The grounds are in need of care: sumac growing up in the hedges, rose bushes out of control, weeds everywhere.
The website needs updating. The information about 2019-2020 hours needs to be taken down.
We passed on the Pope-Leighy tour because we wanted to keep the two house tours separate. We'll be back!