Green
Spring Manor House
Alexandria, Virginia
#NC-06150-HM - Notecards
#PR-06150-HM - Open Edition Print
John Moss
built the eight-room, central hall manor house around 1760 near
the natural springs that flowed on his 540-acre farm. The Moss
family raised livestock and cultivated crops here for eighty years.
The house was also a meeting place for a Methodist congregation.
Alfred, grandson of John, sold the farm in 1839.
Fountain Beattie
owned the property from 1878 to 1917. The farm specialized in
dairy products and had 50 acres of orchard. Little River Turnpike,
one of Virginia's finest rural roads, gave Beattie access to Washington
markets. Civil War Colonel John Mosby (the Grey Ghost) was a life-long
friend of Beattie and frequent visitor to the farm.
Michael and
Belinda Straight purchased the house and 33 acres in 1942. They
significantly renovated the structure and landscaped the property.
The Straight's wish for a public horticulture park was set in
motion in 1970 when they deeded their home and 16 acres to the
Fairfax County Park Authority.
Subsequently,
11 acres were purchased and today Green Spring Gardens Park has
twenty theme gardens, two ponds, a wooded stream valley, and a
horticulture center with a greenhouse. The manor house is open
Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Teas and garden tours
are scheduled and botanical artwork is on display. The house grounds
and catering kitchen may be rented for private use. The gardens
are open to the public daily from dawn until dusk.
Text
© 1997 Dianne Harrah, Drawing © 1997 Bill Harrah
.
. . HISTORIC HOMES . . . (Click on an image to
see the actual notecard size)