Pope-Leighey House, Mt Vernon, Arlington Cemetery to Rockville, MD – 3/18/2017

March 18, 2017 (Saturday)

We had a really busy day today. First off, we checked out of our “home” in Williamsburg a day early, before 8:00 AM. We decided to leave a day early because we wanted to see more things in the Washington DC area. We opted to get a hotel for the night (Priceline for under $70.00) in Rockville, Maryland, a Radisson. The weather was grey and a little chilly. We stopped at a 7-11 for coffee, and Subway for breakfast. before heading out of Williamsburg. The drive into Washington DC was almost 140 miles and a little over two hours.

We drove to the Woodlawn Mansion and got our tickets for the Pope-Leighey House, built by Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1940’s. We figured if we could take a tour right away, it would work out great. If we couldn’t get a tour right away, we would just get the tickets ahead of time for a later tour after we toured Mt. Vernon (because we had already purchased our tickets for an 11:30 AM tour). We were able to get an immediate tour and we were the only people on the tour so it was great and we got special attention from Chris, our tour guide.

It was an okay drive and we were glad to be close, hoping to squeeze much in today.
We went past Fort Belvoir.
The Washington connection.
Odd census.
Lovely mansion.

This particular home was designed to be for the “regular folks” and cost something like $7,000.00 when it was built. It’s been moved twice and the last time it was moved it cost over $750,000.00. It’s almost a tiny home, even though it has about 1,200 square feet. So lovely. Our tour guide, Chris, is a real Frank Lloyd Wright (FLW) lover and has booked an overnight stay at a small Frank Lloyd Wright place in Wisconsin for her 60th birthday. How fun. Frank Lloyd Wright had such a vision and his ideas are brilliant! Loved the house for its usefulness and cuteness.

Like FLWs lights. Low and not in your eyes.
We wanted to see this because it looks so much like a tiny house.
The wood siding is Florida Cypress. They were draining the swamp and the wood was plentiful and cheap. Easily transported by rail up from Florida. The siding is FLW’s attempt at a log cabin structure appearance.
Cantilevered carport. FLW felt that a garage is based on a barn for horses and carriages.
Chris points out the cantilevering with 3 levels.
The decorative windows are a repeating pattern; horizontal or vertical. Much cheaper than stained glass.
He insisted that the vertical mortar be flush with the bricks and dyed red to match the bricks.  And the horizontal mortar a light grey to accentuate the horizontal lines.  He always wanted to emphasize the horizontal when he reasonably could.
Compression and release. We get compressed in the entry and released in the dining/living area.
Fair to say it was an efficiency kitchen. Shopping was done almost daily.
The table could be moved to the living room and be combined with all the other tables and chairs to make a huge dining table.
The corner windows throughout the house open out without support, great ventilation through all the windows and doors.
All the storage any family needs for dishes.  All horizontal, nothing vertical.
Beautiful wood and release from the compression.
Table and chair could be used with the dining table.
Chris explaining about the house on our private tour.
Minimalist fireplace.
Exterior wall construction. Plywood, tar paper on both sides, tongue and groove cypress planks and strips.
FLW’s son designed Lincoln logs.
FLW liked hidden corners that held mystery.
FLW loved trains, the hallway is patterned after a train car hallway.
Feel like you are walking into a closet.
It turns out to be a bedroom.
FLW chose the bedspread too. Windows are repeating pattern only vertical.
FLW.  I thought he was a tall man, turns out he was 5’9″ and insisted all photographs be taken from a low perspective.
Mr. Wright’s thoughts.
I am fascinated by FLW’s insistence that every screw be in the horizontal orientation once set. I have driven many a screw and I really need to find a cabinet maker to find out how they did this throughout the entire house. They could find no contractor to build this house. They finally found a cabinet maker that agreed to build the house.
Small study in the house.  Table fits niche in wall.
Master.
Chris reports that the last owners never hit their heads on the shelf.
The drawers were designed by Mr. Leighey and approved by FLW
I like the mirror holders.
Such beautiful wood.
Chris did a wonderful job.
The only restroom. I was desperate and asked if there was a public restroom. I was allowed to use this one because: 1) There was no one else on the tour and 2) They have to flush it every now and then to keep it working properly. For me, it was a wonderfully moving experience that took a real load off my mind.

We left the Pope-Leighey House and headed a few miles down the road to Mount Vernon. Can’t believe all the people here today. You can tell it must be Spring break because lots of kids around.

Entrance to the entrance.
Has the feel of a Presidential Library.
Myth busted.
Nice stained glass display just inside the Visitor’s entrance.
People give size perspective.
For Hamilton fans.
Nice motto.
Nice wall of Washington quotes.
It is 8,000 acres, we walked 4,000 of them and they were all uphill!

We got through and watched a film about George Washington in the main entrance. Fascinating guy. Didn’t realize he never had kids of his own, just the two step kids from his wife, Martha. Also, they ended up raising two of her grandchildren. There was a very long line to go into the actual home.  While waiting we got to talking to a really nice young couple from Texas. Made the time pass and had fun visiting.

The mansion.
Literally, his death bed.
Much darker in person.
Some of that expensive paint.
Metal was hard to come by so the knobs are tiny.

The house was nice and had a spectacular view of the Potomac River. They wouldn’t let us take pictures inside the house, which was a bummer. Part of the tour showed us the bedroom and bed where George died at age 67 of a throat infection (probably due to his horrible teeth).

Edie obeyed the letter of the law. No photos allowed inside. She was trying to capture the bright light green paint. Very expensive in its day.
View of Potomac from side of mansion.
Opposite side.
From back porch.
Back porch further along.
Standing folks are on tour. Seated folks are enjoying view.
Kitchen, separate building due to heat in summer and fear of fire in main building.
Line waiting for mansion tour. We bought tickets on line for 11:35. We did not understand that meant to be in this line at 11:35. We were at the front, watched the film, walked leisurely and then learned we were very late.
Pretty woman.

When we got through the home, we walked down to the tomb where George, Martha, and a bunch of his relatives are buried. While waiting in the short line to pay our respects, we heard some beautiful flute music and headed that way when we had finished at the tomb. The flute music was coming from the slave memorial and it was coming from a man dressed in period costume and playing a period flute. So neat!

There is a period dock on the river and they give boat rides and tours from there.

George on the right, Martha on the left.
The flute player was excellent and really set the mood.
These are always just sad stories.
Slave Memorial

We walked back up and around the farm and headed out. All exits lead through the gift shop.  The whole estate is 8,000 acres and we felt like we walked most of it.

Third time we have seen this iteration of Washington.
Estate map inlaid in floor.
Floor map.

At the exit.

We took the George Washington Memorial Parkway (which is lovely) into Washington DC to see the Lincoln Memorial. While we were driving around we got to see a couple other things we hadn’t seen before, like the Peace Institute – which we could use right about now; and the Jefferson Memorial.

Nice drive.
Lovely with paths and bike trails along the river.
Picturesque bridge.
Interesting

Jefferson Memorial.

United States Institute of Peace. They need to work harder.

Lincoln Memorial
Beautiful railing on the FED building.
Federal Reserve.

Just like Mount Vernon, Washington DC was packed. So many people. We saw the War Memorials and the Memorial Bridge, which we went over a few times.

We went back onto the Memorial bridge and headed into the Arlington National Cemetery. We were hoping to get there in time to watch the changing of the guards. We didn’t appreciate how huge the cemetery was. Mostly up hills. So massive.

Intricate and beautiful memorial statue just outside the Visitor’s Center.
They need milepost as well as signposts.
Edie spotted this and we just had to look it up when we got back. The daughter was 16, driving in a construction zone on a Florida highway and lost control of the car. The Colonel died at the scene and the daughter two days later. God Bless this family.

A somber place.

Time was running out in getting to the changing of the guard, but we got to see Kennedy’s eternal flame, and then we headed to the Unknown Soldier and were able to see the ending of the changing of the guard.

JFK eternal flame.

We decided to wait for the next change and were pleasantly surprised in that they did something special and we got to see two processions where they change the flower arrangement and play taps. Beautiful.

Memorial
Crowd watching changing of the guard.

The dark trails on the concrete are paths the Honor Guard walks. My theory is that the metal cleats they wear on the bottoms of their shoes leave little particles of steel and the iron portion rusts, leaving the marks.
Every hour on the hour.
Wonderful ceremony to watch.
High school group laying a wreath at the tomb.
The previous wreaths.
An academy group laying another wreath.

We went into the memorial hall and looked around. Found out that the guard walks 21 steps, waits 21 seconds, and then walks again. It’s symbolic for the 21 gun salute.

The complex is quite large.

Great detail.
Picture on the wall and appears to have every uniform the Armed Services has ever worn.
Another great picture of a flyover. The headstones look like crops below the planes. The whole picture is full of graves.
Aerial of the tomb and memorial building.
Interesting facts.

By this time Michael and I were exhausted. We were so glad that the walk back to the car was downhill. Michael’s fitbit started going off – which means we had walked over the 10,000 steps – and we had many more to go.

In Maryland again, headed to Rockville.

We drove the George Washington Memorial Parkway again to our exit to get to Maryland (about 20 miles from the cemetery).

George Washington Memorial Parkway is a really pleasant drive on s sunny Sunday afternoon.

We got to the Radisson but drove around and found a place to have dinner before we checked in, a local Chipotle.

A Radisson tonight.
Public art near our hotel, very nice.

We discovered that this area is quite lovely. We checked into our room and it’s comfortable and spacious, plus the bed is very comfortable. Looking forward to sleeping in late.

Registration lobby.
Interior restaurant and little did we know that we were also looking at our bedroom window on the second floor.
Bath
Everything worked well.
Comfortable room, killer internet speed.
Nice TV, big room.

That was our busy day. Hope yours was great!