Loudoun’s Historic Homes and Gardens
This tour takes you through Loudon’s three historic homes.
Begin your visit at Oatlands Historic House and Gardens, a property of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Take a guided tour of the stately 22-room Greek revival home that was once the center of a thriving 3,400-acre plantation. Then, continue your tour through the four acres of formal terraced gardens. The site also boasts two gift shops featuring unique gift and gardening items.
Historic Morven Park is not really a park at all, but a 1,000 acre historic estate featuring a Greek Revival Mansion that was the home of World War I-era Virginia Governor Westmoreland Davis. It recently underwent 4 years of extensive restoration. The home features artifacts collected by Governor Davis from his trips around the world, including a 15th century Persian tapestry and a Tiffany lamp. Also on the property is the Winmill Carriage Collection, which displays more than 50 of the 120 restored 19th century horse-drawn carriages in the collection, the Museum of Hounds and Hunting, intricate boxwood gardens, and replica log huts that tell the story of the Confederate camp that was built on the property during the winter of 1861-62.
Dodona Manor, the recently restored home and gardens of General George C. Marshall, best known as the author of the Marshall Plan which laid the groundwork for post World War II European recovery. Marshall was also Special Ambassador to China, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and Nobel Peace Laureate. Ninety percent of the furnishings and memorabilia are original to the Marshall period of residency, from 1941-1959. The home is situated on four acres in downtown Leesburg. Marshall was also an avid gardener; the home’s gardens are currently under restoration.
