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Photographer: Library of Congress - HABS
Caption: The Mason Family on Mason's Island
Additional Description: “From 1717-1833 the prominent Mason family of Virginia owned Theodore Roosevelt Island, and during this period it began to be referred to as Mason's Island. Upon his father's death in 1735, George Mason IV inherited the property and later became a wealthy planter and revolutionary statesman, best remembered as the author of the 1776 Virginia Constitution and Declaration of Rights. He did not settle on the Island, but in 1748 established a ferry between Georgetown on the Maryland side of the Potomac and a ferry house on the island's north shore. After George Mason IV died in 1792, the island passed to his fourth son, John Mason, who built a large classical revival-style mansion there ca. 1800. The house, set atop the island's highest point, was the centerpiece of the functioning plantations and pleasure gardens John Mason developed on the site. The northern section of the island held the commercial plantations, and visitors approached the house via a wide alee. The Mason family's personal gardens were located to the south, where they grew food consumed on the property and entertained prominent guests. John Mason also authorized construction of Mason's causeway, which by ca. 1807 connected the island's northwest corner with the Virginia shore. Following a series of financial setbacks, Mason sold the island in 1833, ending his family's tenure.” — HABS (map based on Robert King, "A Map of the City of Washington," 1818)
Submitted: April 9, 2017, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland.
Database Locator Identification Number: p379462
File Size: 1.516 Megabytes

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