Morven Park: History And Nature
You can tour this beautiful Virginia mansion or just walk the grounds.
Past Lane Plus is an extension of Past Lane Travel, with pictures telling the story.
I finally made my way to Morven Park in Leesburg, VA for a few new photos.
This historic mansion is located adjacent to the Marion DuPont Scott Equine Medical Center, where I worked as a veterinary technician in the 80s.
Built in 1781 by a prominent Alexandria lawyer, the magnificent Greek Revival house started as a tiny fieldstone farmhouse.
It was expanded by succeeding owners including Thomas Swann, who was a former Maryland governor, U.S. representative and founder of the B&O Railroad.
Westmoreland Davis, governor of Virginia from 1918 to 1922, purchased the Morven Park mansion property in 1903. He and his wife Marguerite Davis filled the home with unusual antiques from their world-wide travels, many of which remain today.
The Morven Park Gardens
The Morven Park mansion grounds encompass more than 1,000 acres of lawns, fields, boxwood gardens and wooded areas.
The public is encouraged to enjoy the outdoors with the mansion property’s walking trails, gardens and vast swaths of open land.
The gardens have many features including a reflecting pool, boxwood allées (pathways), quiet sitting areas, and a sundial surrounded by seasonal flower beds.
The Lion of the South Novel
The Morven Park mansion has witnessed a lot of history, including serving as a camp for Confederate troops during the Civil War. Between the summer of 1861 to March of 1862, the large, sweeping lawn in front of the mansion was used as a parade and drill grounds.
I fell in love with the house the moment I saw it, and featured the mansion on the cover of my Civil War novel, The Lion of the South.
The Barn and Coach House
The Coach House Complex at Morven Park is composed of a stone barn, a carriage house, and four wood-frame towers arranged around a courtyard.
The stone barn, which dates to around 1820, remained in continuous use until Westmoreland Davis’s death in 1942.
Special Event Venue
With a backdrop of the magnificent Morven Park Mansion and other historic buildings, Morven Park makes a stunning wedding venue or place to hold other special events.
From gardens of magnolia, holly, and boxwood to the expansive lawn that opens up to views of a forested ridgeline and horse pastures, the property offers lots of photographic opportunities.
If you have a historical destination you would like to see featured here, email Jessica James at writefromthepastATyahoo.