Friday, October 7, 2022

Friday, October 7, 2022

Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2003. I thought 2004 was our first time taking Mattie to a Fall Festival, but I was wrong. We started early, in 2003. Mattie was a year and a half old. Ironically on our journey today, we passed this festival location in Leesburg. Back then Mattie had a close encounter with a goat and other farm animals. Which was how I nick named him "farmer Brown."

Quote of the day: If our condition were truly happy, we would not seek diversion from it in order to make ourselves happy. ~ Blaise Pascal

This morning I had a conference call, which I was fortunate enough to make happen. My dad went to his memory care program and Peter and I took my mom and his parents to Leesburg, VA, to visit Oatlands! This may sound like an everyday occurrence, but I haven't done anything other than intense caregiving for ten months straight. This was my first time doing something different, but of course I wasn't free to truly absorb what was around me because I was responsible for my mom and her safety. 

This is Oatlands Historic House and Gardens. It is an estate located in Leesburg, Virginia. Oatlands is operated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark. The Oatlands property is composed of the main mansion and 415 acres of farmland and gardens. The house is judged one of the finest Federal period country estate houses in the nation. On the property, in addition to the Mansion, are a number of outbuildings, including the Carriage House, Bachelor's Cottage, several barns and farm buildings, and a greenhouse, built in 1810, said to be the oldest standing greenhouse in the South.

Oatlands was established by George Carter, a great-grandson of Robert "King" Carter, in 1798 on 3,408 acres of farmland. It started as a wheat farm, but expanded to include other grains, sheep, a gristmill and a saw mill, and a vineyard. In 1804, Carter began construction of a Federal mansion, which he expanded in the 1820s and 1830s. A terraced garden and numerous outbuildings were added during this time.

George Carter's widow, Elizabeth Grayson Lewis Carter, inherited the property after her husband's death in 1846. In 1861, fearing that a battle between Union and Confederate forces was imminent nearby, Elizabeth Carter fled to another of her properties, Bellefield. The Carters' eldest son, George Carter II, reopened the mansion with his wife, Katherine Powell Carter, in 1863 and inherited the property when his mother died in 1887.

In 1897 the Carter family sold the mansion with 60 acres  for $10,000 to Stilson Hutchins, founder of The Washington Post newspaper, who never lived on the property.

Hutchins sold Oatlands in 1903 to William Corcoran Eustis and Edith Livingston Morton Eustis. Mrs. Eustis restored the gardens from neglect, adding boxwood-lined parterres to the terraces, statuary, a rose garden, a bowling green, and a reflecting pool. 

The house was also upgraded with modern amenities including indoor plumbing, heating and gas lighting, along with pine floors placed over the original Carter flooring, an elevator, and a custom first floor bathroom for childhood friend, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Due to their prominent political stance in Washington, D.C., the Eustises had many famous friends including General George C. Marshall, Henry Cabot Lodge, President Harry S. Truman and Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.

After Mrs. Eustis' death in 1964, her daughters, Margaret and Anne, donated the mansion, furnishings, and estate grounds to Margaret's husband, David E. Finley, founder of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Look closely! I spotted this as soon as I walked in the room. Do you see the two horse hoofs? These were memorials to the Eustis' favorite horses. These are the actual horse hoofs by the way, not a model or replica! Not sure I ever saw anything like this, but I understand all too well how close we can get to our animal friends. 

We had an hour long tour of the house with a docent named Laura. Peter's dad sat outside on the veranda during the tour, as he has trouble with his eyes, which makes walking around difficult. 

With regards to my mom, she had a death grip on my hands and arms the whole time. Her walking is a major, major concern for me and I notice when she is in an unfamiliar setting she is extremely anxious about moving around. 

Though I wanted to see the gardens, I did not get to do that because there was no way I could walk these paths with my mom. 

After our tour, we took everyone to Shoe's Cup and Cork restaurant for lunch. It was 77 degrees today, so we sat outside in their secret back garden. The place was filled to capacity and I am so glad I made reservations ahead of time!

This restaurant building was constructed in 1880 and was everything from a post office, car dealership, to shoe repair store. In fact, during construction from a shoe shop to a restaurant, they noticed the heel of a shoe sticking out from the rubble of a wall, with a tag that had a due date of December 31, 1928, and a repair fee of $1.00 for a new heel that seems to have been completed. Their jokes is when the rightful owner shows up with the claim tag, the storage fee, and $1, they will gladly return it. Until then, it is the centerpiece of their Café chandelier. The restaurant is known for its locally produced goods including vegetables, fruit, beer, wine, bread, and more.