Leesburg in Loudoun County, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)
Rokeby
National Register
Of Historic Places
by the United States
Department of the Interior
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Notable Buildings • War of 1812.
Location. 39° 4.336′ N, 77° 35.46′ W. Marker is in Leesburg, Virginia, in Loudoun County. Marker is on Gleedsville Road (Virginia Route 650) 0.2 miles south of Oak Marr Lane, on the right when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 19669 Gleedsville Road, Leesburg VA 20175, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 3 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Royal Palm Turkey (approx. 0.8 miles away); Saving the Declaration of Independence / The War of 1812 (approx. one mile away); First Mt. Olive Methodist Episcopal Church (approx. 1.6 miles away); Martin Buchanan, USCT (approx. 1.6 miles away); Mt. Gap School (approx. 2.1 miles away); Sycolin Community Cemetery (approx. 2.2 miles away); Oatlands (approx. 2.4 miles away); The Enslaved at Oatlands (approx. 2˝ miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Leesburg.
Regarding Rokeby. “The house also reputedly is one of the places where U. S, Government documents, including the Declaration of Independence, were stored when the British occupied Washington, D. C. in August and September of 1814. The interesting cellar vault is believed to be where the papers were hidden.
…
At the direction of Secretary of state James Monroe, Stephen Pleasonton, a clerk in the State Department, took the documents to a mill outside Washington. He thought them unsafe there so he loaded the papers into wagons and moved them again. ‘I preceded with them to the town of Leesburg, a distance of 35 miles, at which place an empty house was procured, in which the papers were safely placed, the doors locked, and the key given to the Rev. Mr. [John] Littlejohn, who was then, or had been, one of the collectors of the internal revenue,’ he wrote 34 years later.” – National Register Form.
Credits. This page was last revised on August 5, 2020. It was originally submitted on November 27, 2017, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland. This page has been viewed 886 times since then and 41 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on November 27, 2017, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland. 7. submitted on December 4, 2017, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.