HUNTLEY AND ITS OWNERS
Location and Site
Huntley, 6918 Harrison Lane, near Woodlawn Plantation, Fairfax County, Virginia, is currently owned by Colonel and Mrs. Ransom G. Amlong. It is located off the Jefferson Davis Highway (U.S. Route 1), in the Groveton community, on Harrison Lane, between Lockheed Boulevard and Kings Highway (Route 633).
The house is on a plateau, overlooking Hybla Valley, at 150 feet above sea level. To the south, or in front of the house, the ground level drops in three terraces to 130 feet above sea level. To the north or rear there is a sharp rise to 200 feet.
A church and several houses are located directly in front of Huntley, but the vista from the house toward the Potomac River, especially in summer, is relatively undisturbed. The general area is one of intense commercial and residential development. Hybla Valley, through which Barnyard Creek flows from Huntley, constitutes the major part of the view from the house, and much of this land is owned by the U.S. Government.
The Huntley complex consists of:
1. The mansion house.
2. Necessary with flanking storage rooms.
3. Root cellar.
4. Ice house.
5. Spring house.
6. Tenant house.
All the buildings are brick. The house itself is a significant Federal period structure, built during the ownership of Thomson F. Mason, c. 1820, and believed to have been influenced by George Hadfield, architect of Washington's first City Hall and first superintendent of the Capitol's construction.
Origin of the Name
The first known use of "Huntley" as a place name for the Harrison Lane house appears in an 1859 deed of the property by Betsey C. Mason, widow of T.F. Mason, to her sons John Francis and A. Pendleton Mason. The property is described as:
... all that certain tract of land in the County of Fairfax and state of Virginia called "Huntley" and containing about one thousand acres....[16]
It is probable that the plantation was named Huntley before Thomson F. Mason died in 1838, although his will of that year mentions no real estate, or personal property specifically.
If he followed the Mason tradition, the house may have been named after an ancestral home in England, and probably after the home of a maternal ancestor. In writing of Gunston Hall, Helen Hill Miller says:
They called their home "Gunston Hall." The name had come down through several generations of Mason's maternal ancestry: his grandmother was Mary Fowke of Gunston Hall in Charles County, Maryland, and her grandfather was the Gerald Fowke of Gunston Hall in Staffordshire who emigrated to Virginia at the same time as the first George Mason. The habit of naming new homes in America after the old ones in England was general among the planters of the Virginia Tidewater. Mason conformed to this tradition for a second time when he made a gift of a nearby plantation to his son Thomson and called it "Hollin Hall," after the home of his mother's people near Ripon....[17]
If Thomson F. Mason had followed the same procedure he could have used the name "Huntley," which might at any point have had an "e" added. His father was General Thomson Mason of Hollin Hall, who was married to Sarah McCarty Chichester.[18] Sarah was the daughter of Richard McCarty Chichester, whose first wife had been Ann Gordon.[19] The ancestral Gordon home in Scotland was called "Huntley."
In these lands of Strathbogie Sir Adam (Adam the V) fixed his residence, and was the first of the Gordons who removed from the south of Scotland to the North. He obtained from the parliament holden at Perth anno 1311, that his new estate should be called Huntley, as it is still called in writings and public instruments, altho' amongst the vulgar it retains the old name of Strathbogie.[20]
OWNERS AND OCCUPANTS
Mason Ownership
The will of General Thomson Mason of Hollin Hall was written on April 15, 1797, and probated, after his death, on November 21, 1820.[21] That will does not specifically mention real estate, but does:
... give and devise unto my Son Thomason Mason my gold watch and I confirm unto him his right and title to a mulatto boy named Bill, given him by his Grandfather Mr. Richard Chichester and I also give and devise unto him my interest in the Potomack Company....
One reason no real estate is specifically mentioned may be cleared up by a later deed (1823)[22] in which other heirs of General Mason deed to:
Thomson F. Mason of the Town of Alexandria in the District of Columbia, ... a certain tract of land situate in the County of Fairfax and State of Virginia known and called by the name of Hunting Creek Farm....
This deed reaffirms settlements made by General Mason during his lifetime on January 1, 1817, and includes the land on which Huntley is located.
Thomson F. could have begun Huntley at any time after January 1, 1817. On the 29th of January 1818, he paid Alexander Baggett $37.79-1/2 for, among other things:
40 Ft. Double Architrave
18 Ft. Jamb lining
1 Carpet strip
2 pr hinges put on
1 mortice lock put on
2 Flush Bolts
135 Ft 4/4 clear boards
locks, hinges, bolts, nails, and Springs....[23]
Also included is one item labeled "folding doors" (double doors). No double doors have been located at Huntley, although Mason is not known to have been building elsewhere at this period. During the latter part of 1819 he was still building and paid $28.00 for:
Sept 20—20 bushels plaster
Sept 22—20 bushels plaster
Oct 10—10 bushels plaster....[24]
There was probably a structure at Huntley by 1823, for in February of that year Mason sent "to his farm by surry ten bushels shoots and six bran...."[25]
By 1826 the house must have been substantially finished, for in that year Mason's Grandmother Chichester wanted:
to spend a few days at Mr. T.F. Mason's farm, but was deterred from doing so by the apprehension that, as Mr. Mason resided in Town, and there was no other white person on the farm but the overseer ... she would not be secure.[26]
By implication there was a dwelling at Huntley ready for her occupancy.
Another letter written to Mason on August 18, 1827, now incomplete and in poor condition, suggests finishing some construction work and notes that the writer, whose name is missing:
... had understood you had only rented the place by the month, tho the man has a little crop on the land growing and if the season proves good at the end of the year may be worth ... [the rest is missing][27]
Almost a year later the Alexandria Gazette, on Thursday morning August 5, 1828, had an advertisement offering:
$25 Reward/ran away from the farm of Thompson F. Mason/Fairfax County on the night of 2d instant negro/BOB. He is about 6 feet high, stout made, very black/and about 45 years of age; has a stammering in his/speech; his right leg sore. Had on when he eloped,/brown linen shirt and trowsers and took with him/blue coat, white linsey trowsers, and black fur hat-/I will give $10 for taking him so I get him again if in the County. If taken out of the County/or District of Columbia, $25/Slighter Smith, Agent for Thompson F. Mason/Fairfax County, State of Virginia/August 5.
Mr. Smith had been replaced as Overseer at Huntley by 1832 for in that year Price Skinner wrote:
... being moved to your house last friday—we are in a bad fix—I want you if you please to ride out to see what you will have don—if I was you I wood have the floor layed down with the plank not used—the whole of the cappenders work may be made in less than one day—and I ast John Parsons what the cappenders work wood be worth—he said about fourty dollars—and forty cents I believe wood be anough there is but three suns [?] worth—to lay the floor and weather bord the shed Sir you will please to ride out....[28]
Mason had already acquired Colross, in Alexandria (see Appendix A.), by 1833, for in March of that year an estimate was submitted by Thos. Beale for:
Labour and Materials, for repairs on the large Building North of the Town of Alexandria....
The estimate included plastering, painting, brickwork, erection of porches and porticos, and fencing of the property.[29] It is Colross with which Thomson F. Mason's name is normally linked. He died December 21, 1838, and was buried there.
Figure 3. Detail from Map of Eastern Virginia and Vicinity of Washington, Arlington, January 1, 1862, Bureau of Topographic Engineers, Record Group 77, National Archives. Copy by Stuart C. Schwartz.
His will was probated on February 4, 1839,[30] with Mrs. Mason as executrix, though it was not recorded until February 18, 1839.[31] Seven days before his death Mason had written in his will:
... I devise all my estate real and personal in possession remainder or reversion or in expectancy to my beloved wife B.C.M. for her maintenance and support of our children during her life and widowhood.... For any aid or assistance which my wife may require in the management of my estate, I recommend her to my brother Richard C. Mason, and my most excellent friends Benjamin King and Bernard Hooe....
Though Thomson F. Mason had built Huntley, it never served as his permanent residence. It was occupied by a succession of renters, overseers and farmers. Mason's "excellent friend Benjamin King," a doctor, was to have a more personal connection with Huntley, however.
King Ownership
In November of 1859, Betsey C. Mason, having been authorized:
... by deed or will, to dispose of all or any part of his estate to their children or any of them, at such times and in such proportions as she may think just and prudent, and whereas, the said Betsey C. Mason deems if just and prudent to dispose of a portion of said estate to her said sons [John Francis and A. Pendleton] ... all that certain tract of land in the County of Fairfax and state of Virginia called "Huntley" and containing about one thousand acres....[32]
At the same time Mrs. Mason transferred to her two sons:
... eighty five negroes, slaves for life, which said negroes are particularly mentioned and set forth in the scheduled annexes to this deed ... Daniel Humphreys and his wife Rachel and their son Daniel, now living at Huntley ... and Priscilla, their daughter and her child named Thomas, the last two being at Huntley ... Sandy living at Huntley....[33]
Of the 85 more than six may have lived at Huntley, but only these six are specified.
Exactly one month later, the two Mason boys, being:
... justly indebted to the said Benjamin King the just sum of thirteen thousand dollars, lawful money of the United States, to be paid to the said Benjamin King on the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and sixty two....
transferred as security for a debt to John A. Smith:
... that certain tract or parcel of land ... known and commonly called Huntley ... containing one thousand acres, more or less ... together with all and singular its appurtenances ... for the following purposes and none other, that is to say to permit the said John Francis Mason and Arthur Pendleton Mason, their heirs or assigns to retain possession of the said tract or land, without account of rents or profits, until a sale become necessary under this deed and if the said John Francis and Arthur Pendleton Mason, shall fail to pay the sum of thirteen thousand dollars, as the same shall become due according to the conditions of the said bond ... the said John A. Smith shall upon the request of the said parties entitled to said payment proceed to sell at public auction, to the highest bidder for cash, the said tract or parcel of land or as much thereof as may be necessary ... after having given at least 30 days notice of the time and place of sale in some newspaper printed in the town of Alexandria....[34]
Figure 4. Survey, Huntley, prior to May 15, 1868. Fairfax County Deed Book 1-4, p. 240. Copy by Stuart C. Schwartz.
There the ownership remained until the Civil War. A map of that era (1862) shows "Huntley Pl—Mrs. Mason's". The overview is labelled "Wide fertile Valley with but little Timber."[35] This map also labels Kings Highway the "Gravel Road," a term used in many of the Huntley deeds.
Why the Masons became indebted to Benjamin King is not known, but on June 12, 1862, the property was transferred from Smith to King. According to the deed they did:
... advertise the said property in the Alexandria News, a paper published in the City of Alexandria, for upwards of thirty days for sale at public auction and wheras pursuant to said advertisement the said John A. Smith did on Thursday, the 12th day of June, 1862, at 12 o'clock a.m. in front of the Mayor's office in the City of Alexandria, offer at public sale to the highest bidder ... several bids having been made therefor, the said property was struck off to Benjamin King at and for the sum of thirteen thousand dollars ... that certain tract of land known as "Huntley" ... together with all and singular the appurtenances thereto....[36]
As nearly as can be determined no Alexandria News was being published at the time, and the property was not advertised in the Gazette. The transaction was noted in its "Local News";
... the property known as "Huntley" in Fairfax County, containing about 1,000 acres, was sold today at public auction by John A. Smith, esq., Trustee. It was subject to a lien of about $10,000, and was purchased by Dr. Benjamin King, subject to said lien, for $13,000 cash.[37]
Evidently King either already had moved to Huntley, or did at that time. He next appeared in the Gazette when he was leaving the property in 1868.
For sale on Tuesday the 19th instant at 10 o'clock a.m. at "Huntley" the residence of Doctor B. King, all his HOUSEHOLD and KITCHEN FURNITURE consisting of sideboard, chairs, tables, bedsteads, bureaus and glasses, wash stands, toilet sets, and c. Also stock and farming utensils, horses, cows, plows, harrows, corn cob and crushers, horse power and threshers, cauldron, kettles, and c. with all articles usually found on a farm. Terms at sale, my 11—1 w.[38]
Harrison-Pierson Ownership
Dr. King sold Huntley to Albert W. Harrison and Nathan W. Pierson of New Jersey. The instrument of sale provided:
... the tract hereby conveyed containing eight hundred and ninety and one half acres, more or less, known as and commonly called "Huntley"....[39]
The deed more specifically noted that the courses in this deed had been so changed as:
... to make them conform to the ancient surveys of the land, and being the same land which was surveyed by George and others to Thomson F. Mason, by deed dated October 1st, eighteen hundred and twenty three ...
Accompanying the deed was a survey which was accomplished for Dr. King by Thomas W. Carter, "formerly surveyor, Prince William County." The survey was received by the County Clerk on May 15, 1868. The "Gravel Road" was shown as running north of the "Mansion House," and the "South Branch Little Hunting Creek" east of the house. The Huntley part of the purchase was shown as a plot of land with 682 acres, 0 rods and 30 poles, containing the "Mansion House."
The "Journal of Records of Huntley Farm," covering the period between 1868-89, is currently in the possession of Mrs. Earl Alcorn of Alexandria. It details the purchase, subsequent division between Pierson and Harrison, payment of liens, etc., on Huntley. The Journal indicates that the farm was actually purchased on March 1, 1868. Dr. King was probably given time to settle his affairs, as the transfer was not recorded until November of that year. At any rate, the Journal entry for March 1, 1868, reads:
956 acres at $32.50 per acre31,070.00
Paid down each $5,00010,000.00
————
21,070.00
The Harrisons obviously entered into community affairs, for by May 1870:
The regular monthly meeting of the Woodlawn Farmers' Club was held on Saturday last pursuant to adjournment at Huntley, the residence of A.W. Harrison. The President being absent, Courtland Lukens was appointed Chairman pro tem. Twenty four members were present. Theron Thompson was admitted as a member. The report of the committee on vegetables and a supplement for March last was called for, again read, and discussed at some length. The committee on cereals presented their report on the condition of things about the farm and premises of Huntley, which was a good one and rather commendatory of Mr. Harrison as a practical farmer, and elicited several pertinent questions and answers. Some discussion ensued as to the best method of ridding farms of garlic. E. E. Mason produced several "pips" taken dexterously with the thumb nail from under the tongue of young chickens. The "pip" is a little boney substance similar to a fish scale, a negative of the tongue, and prevents the chick from eating unless it is removed. A conversational style of discussion ensured on the subject of poultry. An invitation to supper, as usual, was unanimously accepted without debate. The club then adjourned to meet one month hence at Edward Daniels' [Gunston Hall].[40]
In the 1870 census Harrison was recorded as being 36 years old, having four daughters, real estate worth $28,000 and personal property worth $8,000.[41]
Harrison became a well known citizen. The Alexandria Gazette reported on March 3, 1870, that "Mr. Harrison's horses ran away," causing great excitement in the city.
Harrison Ownership
Pierson and Harrison divided the Huntley tract on March 11, 1871,[42] and by the time the Hopkins Atlas was published in 1879, the house was listed clearly as "A.W. Harrison, 'Huntley'."[43]
In 1875 "A.F.B.", evidently a correspondent for the Syracuse (N.Y.) Journal, visited Huntley, and on July 25th filed a dispatch to the Journal. The story indicated much about life at Huntley during the era, including the marks left by the Civil War and the life of the Northerners who had moved to the South:
To come to Huntley you take the steamer from Washington to Alexandria. The cars run hourly or nearly so, but the river ride is more pleasant. If you have been to Alexandria at any time since the century opened, you will recognize the place. Many things change in three score years and fifteen, but Alexandria is not one of them. It is the same yesterday and today. Your hospitable friends at Huntley will meet you on the wharf, and you shall have a charming ride through the Fairfax fair fields for four miles, until you reach the Old Dominion plantation of Judge Mason. It joins on the south Mt. Vernon, which is plainly visible from the ancient family residence of the Masons, now the home of an enterprising eastern gentleman, who has a fondness for agriculture on a grand scale. The house stands boldly on a hill spur, looking over broad acres of corn, rye, wheat, oats, and fertile meadows—a sight to see. Beyond, in plain vision, rolls the Potomac. Vessels of many kinds—by sail and by steam—are going to and from the city of Washington.... We took a walk today over the great farm. I dare not say how many were the acres of corn standing eleven and twelve feet high, with tasseled ears. Our host had us through the meadows, going like Boaz of old among his men. He speaks well of the ex-slaves, and of their service. Among them I met a Washington and an Andrew Jackson....
As we walked on into shady woods we came upon an old encampment of our Union Forces in the war. If fruit and berries were as abundant then as now, the boys in blue had a good time in their season. Nor could the weather have been peculiarly trying. At night we get the west winds from off the Alleghanies, and at times the delicious coolness of the sea-side is rivaled. I counted as many as thirty open graves here from which the forms of those who had been buried had been taken away. Trees are growing in the places of the tents, and time is fast sweeping away the marks of war.
The Southern people are not considered by these northern farmers especially unfriendly. There is little social intercourse, however, because the women got so thoroughly mad, that they will never get over it in this world.... Nevertheless, there is such a sprinkling of Yankees in these parts that life here has its social attractions.
The farmers' clubs meet statedly to picnic, to discuss, and to prove that the lines have fallen to them in pleasant places. And a better home for a farmer can scarcely be imagined. The winter is short; the spring early; the summer not oppressive, and the autumn continuous, rich and glorious. The people catch the inspiration and are "given to hospitality." One could do much worse than to live at Huntley. As for us, we are coming again.
Figure 5. Detail, G.M. Hopkins, Atlas of Fifteen Miles Around Washington, Philadelphia, 1879. p. 71.
Figure 6. Rear facade, c. 1890. Courtesy Mrs. Ransom Amlong. Copy by Wm. Edmund Barrett.
Figure 7. Rear facade, c. 1900; Courtesy Mrs. Earl Alcorn. Copy by Stuart C. Schwartz.
In May, 1892, the Gazette reported another meeting of the Woodlawn Farmers' Club at Huntley, though the column was a little garble, noting that the Club:
... met at Huntley, the residence of Mrs. Pierson.... The farm of our hostess consists of about 300 acres and is part of the estate formerly owned by Mrs. Thomson Mason. A new cottage has been built overlooking a fertile valley, and giving a fine prospect including the Potomac River, Mt. Vernon, Woodlawn and Belvoir estates and is carried on by Harry Pierson, son of our former President.[44]
The Pierson House may be the structure directly across Harrison Lane from Huntley. It has the same outlook and general location as Huntley, and is located on part of the original Huntley tract.
Albert W. Harrison, to whom Huntley had passed in 1868, died in 1911. The Gazette noted that:
Mr. Albert W. Harrison, an old, well known and esteemed resident of Fairfax County, died at his home "Huntley" in the Woodlawn neighborhood at 7:30 o'clock last night. The deceased was 80 years old. He leaves four children, a son and three daughters. Mr. Harrison was a native of Montclair, New Jersey, but moved to Fairfax County in 1869. His frequent visits to this city for more than forty years made him as well known in Alexandria as any resident of the City. Mr. Harrison was a member of the Second Presbyterian Church. His funeral will take place Saturday afternoon at the residence. The interment will be in Alexandria.[45]
On April 5, 1911 the married daughter, Margaret N. Harrison Gibbs, and her husband J. Norman Gibbs, deeded:
... all of their right, title and interest, legal and equitable in and to the personal estate of said Albert W. Harrison, deceased, except his watch, and also to hold as tenants in common, the following described tract of land containing three hundred fifty eight and three quarters (358 3/4) being part of "Huntley" so called and known ...[46]
to Clara B. Harrison, unmarried; Mary C. Harrison, unmarried, and Albert R. Harrison, unmarried. The part of the Huntley tract transferred contained the house.
For the next 19 years neither the Harrisons nor Huntley seem to have made the news. Then in 1930, a full page Alexandria Gazette article appeared entitled "Nation's Greatest Air Center."[47] The rest of the headline read:
George Washington Air Junction Tract Found Ideal for Trans-Atlantic Terminal for Airships of Zeppelin and R-101 types without Interfering with Thousand-Acre Airport for Planes—Admiral Chester Shows That Historic Ancestral Lands of George Washington and George Mason, First Selected by War Department 12 Years Ago for Army Aviation Field, Afford Only Tract Ideal for Great National Air Center.
The "only ideal tract" was the valley in front of Huntley. Admiral Chester was reported as saying that the War Department in 1916-17, made an investigation:
... of all possible sites for an Army Aviation field near Washington, and found that the Air Junction site was the only ideal site for a large air center.
Figure 8. Hindenburg disaster, Lakehurst, New Jersey, May 6, 1937. Photo published in New York Times, National Archives print.
Public Relations men for the Air Junction certainly used local history as a promotional gimmick:
It will be a twentieth century aeronautic, scientific and historic center, but retaining the gorgeous 18th Century pastoral setting, including beautiful groves that teem with birdlife ... a dozen bubbling springs that have been making for centuries the sparkling Little Hunting Creek and Dogue Creek.... There are many other alluring surprises that one would not dream of finding within only nine miles from the Capital, such as Mason's poetic "Huntley," a gem of colonial architecture, surrounded by stately trees. George Mason's "Huntley" and "Okeley" are both part of the George Washington Air Junction. These estates ... had been forgotten, due to the lack of signs on the Washington-Richmond Highway to make known that a modest lane led to them. The lane has now been widened into a 50 foot gravel road and has become the entrance to the Air Junction.
As the visitors drive into the Junction, past the historic Little Hunting Creek, about 3,000 feet westward, they behold "Huntley," a gem of colonial architecture, which graces one of the hills on the north side of the Washington Air Junction Drive and overlooks the Thousand Acres Airport. It is surrounded by stately trees, and its sides are screened by vines and picturesque thick bushes of lilacs, roses and other flowers.
"May I carry it away?" is the usual query from visitors, as from the distance "Huntley" looks small enough to carry away. Failing to obtain permission to remove this colonial gem, the visitors feel happy in being photographed on the quaint porch and steps....
The writer had apparently convinced himself of at least one thing, for under the photograph of Huntley, which accompanies the article, the house is again called "a gem of colonial architecture."
Air Junction promoters invited the Graf Zeppelin and subsequent airships to make their base here rather than at Lakehurst, New Jersey. The same invitation went to the British and to others, but the accidental burning of the Hindenburg at Lakehurst on May 6, 1937, seems to have put an end to dreams of a great airship junction at Huntley, though there was an operative airport there. Such names as Lockheed Boulevard, Fairchild Drive, Piper Lane, Beechcraft Drive and Fordson Road still survive.
Later Owners
Albert R. Harrison, still unmarried and last of the Harrison children, died on March 24, 1946, and in September his executors sold Huntley to August W. and Eleanor S. Nagel.[48] For some reason the Nagels had Edward M. Pitt, an Arlington architect, do seven sheets of drawings of Huntley that same year.[49]
Less than three years later the Nagels sold the house to the present owners, Colonel and Mrs. Ransom G. Amlong.[50]
Chapter 2 Notes
Figure 9. Huntley, front view. 1969. Photo by Wm. Edmund Barrett.
Figure 10. Huntley, rear view. 1969. Photo by Wm. Edmund Barrett.
