Oatlands Plantation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oatlands Plantation (261 acres) is a historic estate located at 20850 Oatlands Plantation Lane, Leesburg, Virginia, and now a National Trust for Historic Preservation site and National Historic Landmark. It includes a mansion, rolling farmland, and gardens and is open March 30 through December 30; an admission fee is charged.
Oatlands Plantation was established by George Carter in 1798 on 3,408 acres of farmland. It started as a wheat farm, but expanded to include other grains, sheep, grain and timber mills, and a vineyard. In 1804 Carter began construction of a Federal mansion, which he expanded in the 1820s and 1830s. He also built a terraced garden and numerous outbuildings.
In 1897 the Carters sold the mansion with 60 acres to Stilson Hutchins, founder of the Washington Post newspaper, who never lived on the property but sold it in 1903 to Mr. and Mrs. William Corcoran Eustis. Mrs. Eustis restored the gardens from neglect, adding boxwood-lined parterres to the terraces, statuary, rose garden, bowling green, and a reflecting pool. Today her plantings include mature specimens of Buxus sempervirens `Arborescens’ and `Suffruticosa’, Larix decidua, and Quercus robur.
After her death in 1964, her daughters donated the mansion, furnishings, and estate grounds to the National Trust.
