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Home – Virginia Politics & News – James Monroe’s Estate Transforming Into a State Park

James Monroe’s Estate Transforming Into a State Park

Virginians have reason to hope that a new “era of good feelings” has begun for Oak Hill estate in Loudoun County. This year, the General Assembly voted to acquire the estate and turn it into a state park.

The iconic property was the retirement home of James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States, and the last member of the founding generation to occupy the White House.

Monroe inherited Oak Hill in 1808 and eventually built a mansion on the property, which also included 10 additional buildings. After the former president died in 1831, the property remained in private hands until last year. It had been controlled by the DeLashmutt family for eight decades until it was sold to The Conservation Fund for preservation in 2025.

“Oak Hill has the chance to be permanently protected and open to the public, for recreation, for historic preservation, and for future generations,” Heather Richards, vice president and mid-Atlantic regional director at The Conservation Fund, said at the time her organization acquired the property.

Now the work of turning the property into a public facility can begin. Brenda Hafera studies history as assistant director and research fellow in the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies.

She told the Daily Signal that, as state curators transform the property into a park, they ought to “follow the model of Mount Vernon instead of Monticello or Montpelier. They should seek to comprehensively articulate the........

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