Sully Historic Site, more commonly known as Sully Plantation, is both a Virginia landmark and

nationally registered historic place The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

Chantilly, Virginia Chantilly is a census-designated place (CDP) in western Fairfax County, Virginia. The population was 24,301 as of the 2020 census. Chantilly is named after an early-19th-century mansion and farm, which in turn took the name of an 18th-century p ...

. The earliest recorded claim to the land was made by the Doeg. Later the

Lee family The Lee family of the United States is a historically significant Virginia and Maryland political family, whose many prominent members are known for their accomplishments in politics and the military. The family became prominent in colonial Bri ...

of Virginia owned the land from 1725 to 1839.

Richard Bland Lee Richard Bland Lee (January 20, 1761March 12, 1827) was an American planter, jurist, and politician from Fairfax County, Virginia. He was the son of Henry Lee II (1730–1787) of "Leesylvania" and Lucy Grymes (1734–1792), as well as a younger b ...

did not build the main house until 1794. Following the purchase by William Swartwort in 1838, Sully was used as a home, a working farm, or both by a series of private owners. Then in 1958, Sully was acquired by the federal government as a part of the area to be used for the construction of

Dulles Airport Washington Dulles International Airport , typically referred to as Dulles International Airport, Dulles Airport, Washington Dulles, or simply Dulles ( ), is an international airport in the Eastern United States, located in Loudoun County and Fai ...

. Today the

Fairfax County Park Authority The Fairfax County Park Authority is a department of the Fairfax County, Virginia county government responsible for developing and maintaining the various parks, historical sites, and recreational areas owned or administered by Fairfax County. Figu ...

operates the site with a specific focus on the Lee family.

History

Pre-Lee period

The land that would become part of Sully was likely controlled by several groups before the Doeg claimed the area.

English settlers The English people are an ethnic group and nation native to England, who speak the English language, a West Germanic language, and share a common history and culture. The English identity is of Anglo-Saxon origin, when they were known in ...

encountered Algonquian language speaking members of the Doeg in modern-day

Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is a widespread region radiating westward and southward from Washington, D.C. Wit ...

. The Doeg are most well known for their raid in July 1675 that became a part of

Bacon's Rebellion Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion held by Colony of Virginia, Virginia settlers that took place from 1676 to 1677. It was led by Nathaniel Bacon (Virginia colonist), Nathaniel Bacon against List of colonial governors of Virginia, Colon ...

. English colonists settling in modern Northern Virginia came into conflict with the Doeg from 1661 to 1664. When diplomatic attempts failed, the governor sent the

Rappahannock County Rappahannock County is a county located in the northern Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, US, adjacent to Shenandoah National Park. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 7,348. Its county seat is Washington. The name "Rappah ...

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

in June 1666. The specifics of that military action are unclear, but later

land grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...

s to English settlers are not disputed, suggesting the English gained control of the area. The English presumptively took control after a violent conflict with the Doeg in 1666. Little is recorded about the disposition of this land from the time when the English gained control of it until the land is patented by the Lee family of Virginia.

Lee period

Originally acquired in 1725 by Richard Bland Lee's grandfather,

Henry Lee I Capt. Henry Lee I (1691–1747) was a prominent Virginia colonist, planter, soldier, and politician, brother of Governor Thomas Lee, grandfather of Revolutionary War hero Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee III, and great-grandfather of Confederat ...

, Sully was inherited by Richard's father

Henry Lee II Col. Henry Lee II (1730–1787) of Alexandria, Westmoreland, Virginia Colony, was an American planter, soldier, and politician, the father of Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee III, and grandfather of Robert E. Lee. Early life Lee was the third ...

of "Leesylvania". At his death in 1787, the land was divided between Richard and his younger brother Theodorick Lee. Being the older of the two, Richard was given the more

alluvial Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...

northern half, having resided there as manager of the property since approximately 1781. During this period the predominant

crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydroponic ...

grown was

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

Richard Bland Lee

Richard severely curtailed tobacco production in favor of more

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

crops, including

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...

, and

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...

. This reduced the

soil depletion Soil fertility refers to the ability of soil to sustain agricultural plant growth, i.e. to provide plant habitat and result in sustained and consistent Crop yield, yields of high quality.

inherent to tobacco production, and allowed for the practice of

crop rotation Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of different types of crops in the same area across a sequence of growing seasons. It reduces reliance on one set of nutrients, pest and weed pressure, and the probability of developing resistant ...

. He also planted fruit

orchards An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...

, including

peach The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-fu ...

and

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

trees, which he used to produce

spirits Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...

. In 1801 Richard constructed a

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

, which ran primarily under the

supervision Supervision is an act or instance of directing, managing, or oversight. Etymology The English noun "supervision" derives from the two Latin words "super" (above) and "videre" (see, observe). Spelling The spelling is "Supervision" in Standard E ...

of his wife Elizabeth Collins Lee. After his election to the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

in 1789, and for most of the next five years, Richard turned day-to-day management of his estate over to his brother Theodorick, who supervised spring planting and fall harvest. Theodorick also managed the collection of rent from

tenant farmer A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...

s and the construction of the large house Richard had planned for the estate, on which construction had begun in 1794. Before he left for Congress in 1789, Richard had chosen the name "Sully" for his estate. By 1811, having been drawn into heavy debt trying to aid his brothers, Henry Lee III and Charles Lee, extricate themselves from severe financial difficulties, Richard Bland Lee decided he could no longer sustain ownership of Sully. Accordingly, he decided to sell the

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

to raise cash to pay some of the debt. He sold Sully for $18,000 to his second cousin, Francis Lightfoot Lee II, son of

Richard Henry Lee Richard Henry Lee (January 20, 1732June 19, 1794) was an American statesman and Founding Father from Virginia, best known for the June 1776 Lee Resolution, the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence from ...

Francis Lightfoot Lee II

For several years after his purchase of Sully, Francis Lightfoot Lee II, called F. L. by his family, was able to realize an annual profit of $1,500 to $2,500. At least part of that success was due to the "judicious system of

husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, starti ...

" employed by F. L.'s wife Jane Fitzgerald Lee. Then in 1816, due to complications during the delivery of their fifth child Frances Ann Lee, Jane Fitzgerald Lee died. Four years later in 1820, F. L. had either a

nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

. Unable to care for himself, he was committed to the

Pennsylvania Hospital Pennsylvania Hospital is a private, non-profit, 515-bed teaching hospital located in Center City Philadelphia and is part of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Founded on May 11, 1751, by Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond, Pennsylv ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

in 1825. Following the breakdown, Sully was placed under the administrative care of F. L.'s nephew Richard Henry Lee II. Richard Henry Lee II's management was marked by

negligence Negligence (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as a ...

and apparent

apathy Apathy is a lack of feeling, emotion, interest, or concern about something. It is a state of indifference, or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation, or passion. An apathetic individual has an absence of intere ...

towards the dishonesty of managers who were

embezzling Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

money from the estate:

… mismanagement, having allowed an estate clear of debt, well stocked, well arranged under a good system as it had been for years' according to 'the universal belief and opinion of all friends, connections and neighbors' to be 'wasted and the debts lost.' ... Colonel W.C.B. Butler replaced Richard Henry Lee as the 'Committee' for the Estate on January 1, 1827, but Butler also proved unsatisfactory. On June 23, 1830 the county court ordered his removal and, 'for the safekeeping and good management' of the estate ...

Control of Sully was next placed in the hands of Colonel George Washington Hunter in 1830. Gamble claims, "in no hands ... would Sully fare as well as when it had been assiduously maintained by a single, devoted, industrious proprietor." After their father's move to the Pennsylvania Hospital during the summer of 1825, F. L.'s children (with the exception of Samuel Philips Lee who had entered the Navy), were under the care of William Brent, Jr. and Winifred Brent. The Brents were relatives who had moved to Sully to care for the Lee children and to start at Sully, a "select

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

" for boys and girls. During subsequent years, as the Lee children grew older they began to leave Sully. Samuel Phillps Lee had entered the Navy, and John Lee went to

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

. Arthur Lee moved west to the Ohio country, while his oldest daughter Jane Elizabeth Lee married Henry Tazewell Harrison in a sunrise ceremony at Sully on February 6, 1834. With his brothers-in-law absent from the estate, Harrison took over representing their interests with the appointed administrator, Colonel Hunter, whom he replaced on July 18, 1836. Finally, in 1838, after a bizarre period, in which the estate had ostensibly been sold to a buyer who was arrested in England prior to completing the purchase, Sully was sold to merchant William Swartwort.

Post-Lee period

Starting in 1838 Sully was used as a home, working farm, or both by Swartwort, then Haight, Haight, Barlow, Shear, Shear, Miller, Poston, Thurston, then Nolting. The federal government acquired the property in 1958 to construct

. A campaign to save the site began almost immediately afterwards. Those involved included previous owners of the property, Lee descendants, and a neighbor, Eddie Wagstaff, who later endowed the Sully Foundation that still provides support for the site. This campaign ended in 1959 when President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

signed

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolled bill, enrolling, enactment of a bill, enacting, or promulgation, promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous Government, governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law i ...

making Sully a national historic site. The

agreed to operate the site as a county historical park, and has since acquired an additional to bring the total size of Sully Historic Site to approximately . The site's historic period of significance encompasses the ownership of Richard Bland Lee and Francis Lighfoot Lee (1787–1838). Interpretation at the site reflects the ownership of its founder Richard Bland Lee, which explains the park authority decision to have Sully "completely furnished with antiquities from the

Federal period Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...

Chain of ownership

HABS Drawings

1960

Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

Drawings File:Sully,_3601_Sully_Road,_Chantilly,_Fairfax_County,_VA_HABS_VA,30-CHANT.V,1-_(sheet_8_of_17).tif File:Sully,_3601_Sully_Road,_Chantilly,_Fairfax_County,_VA_HABS_VA,30-CHANT.V,1-_(sheet_6_of_17).tif File:Sully,_3601_Sully_Road,_Chantilly,_Fairfax_County,_VA_HABS_VA,30-CHANT.V,1-_(sheet_9_of_17).tif File:Sully,_3601_Sully_Road,_Chantilly,_Fairfax_County,_VA_HABS_VA,30-CHANT.V,1-_(sheet_2_of_17).tif File:Sully,_3601_Sully_Road,_Chantilly,_Fairfax_County,_VA_HABS_VA,30-CHANT.V,1-_(sheet_3_of_17).tif File:Sully,_3601_Sully_Road,_Chantilly,_Fairfax_County,_VA_HABS_VA,30-CHANT.V,1-_(sheet_4_of_17).tif

Outbuildings

Kitchen / Laundry

The kitchen / laundry building is divided in two by a large double fireplace. One fireplace faces the kitchen on the side nearest the main house, the other fireplace faces the laundry. Both fireplaces are served by the large chimney that comes through the center of the roof. The kitchen building was built at the same time as the main house. 1960

drawings of the Kitchen File:Sully,_3601_Sully_Road,_Chantilly,_Fairfax_County,_VA_HABS_VA,30-CHANT.V,1-_(sheet_17_of_17).tif File:Sully,_3601_Sully_Road,_Chantilly,_Fairfax_County,_VA_HABS_VA,30-CHANT.V,1-_(sheet_16_of_17).tif

Stone Dairy

Built by

around 1801 - 1802. The thick stone walls would have helped keep milk cool. This building is notable for the unusual " galleted" or "garneted" masonry. The small stones pressed into the mortar joints is seldom seen in North America. 1960

drawings of the Dairy, identified as a "Patent House". File:Sully,_3601_Sully_Road,_Chantilly,_Fairfax_County,_VA_HABS_VA,30-CHANT.V,1-_(sheet_13_of_17).tif File:Sully,_3601_Sully_Road,_Chantilly,_Fairfax_County,_VA_HABS_VA,30-CHANT.V,1-_(sheet_15_of_17).tif File:Sully,_3601_Sully_Road,_Chantilly,_Fairfax_County,_VA_HABS_VA,30-CHANT.V,1-_(sheet_14_of_17).tif

Schoolhouse

This log schoolhouse was originally from Antioch Farm, in

Haymarket, Virginia Haymarket is a town in Prince William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,552 as of the 2020 census. History Haymarket is on land that was a hunting ground of the western Iroquois nations, who came from the New York and Penns ...

. It was moved to Sully Historic Site in 1963, for preservation.

Slave Cabin

This replica of an enslaved worker's cabin was built in 2001. Location and construction details were based on historical records and archeological data.

Notes

References

# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # {{National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Museums in Fairfax County, Virginia Lee family residences Historic house museums in Virginia Plantations in Virginia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Houses in Fairfax County, Virginia Houses completed in 1799 National Register of Historic Places in Fairfax County, Virginia