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AHF Provides Air Conditioners to Keep Visitors Cool, Site Open
August 1
When high summer heat and humidity potentially endangers the health and safety of visitors, volunteers and Rangers touring or working inside a National Park Service (NPS)-managed building, the building may be closed temporarily. That was the decision Rangers at Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial, faced in late July when inside the historic home air temperatures approached 95 degrees and humidity approached unhealthy levels. The heat and humidity were more than the building's air conditioning system could handle. Still, the Rangers were reluctant to close the building and thus prevent visitors from learning about the site's displays and historic collections.
But thanks to a timely donation of four high-capacity portable air conditioning units by the Arlington House Foundation (AHF), the Rangers didn't have to close Arlington House. When told of the need to provide cooling relief for visitors, within 24 hours, the AHF secured and delivered the units. Subsequently, NPS staff installed the units, including one in the Center Hall. Despite the continued high temperatures, the air conditioning units cooled the building's public areas to a level comforting to all.
The AHF is pleased to have supported the needs of both visitors and the NPS.
Kitchen Garden Alive with Activity
June 10
The summer growing season is in full swing and there is lots of activity in the Kitchen Garden. Recently, volunteers finished planting the squash, harvested coriander seeds, and installed bamboo and chicken wire to protect the bean poles. To help with with control and water retention, the rows were mulched.
Volunteers Prepare Kitchen Garden for Growing Season
March 17
Volunteers prepared the historic Kitchen Garden for the growing season by planting more than 200 potatoes, weeding the asparagus bed and installing a protective cover of the beet plants. The volunteers selected March 17th - St. Patrick's Day - to open the growing season, in part, to recall George Washington Park Custis's support for the "rights and liberties" of Ireland and his opposition to the discrimination encountered by Irish immigrants to the United States in the early Federal period.
The Arlington House Foundation supports the Kitchen Garden through the purchase of garden materials and the coordination of volunteers. The garden's yield will be donated to an Arlington-area food pantry. |
Program Celebrates Lafayette’s 1824 visit to Arlington House
October 14, 2024
The Arlington House Foundation, partnered with the American Friends of Lafayette, together sponsored on October 14, 2024 an educational program celebrating the bicentennial of the visit of the Marquis de Lafayette to Arlington House. The event was hosted by the National Park Service (NPS) at Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial. The program included a presentation by Elizabeth Reese, author of “Marquis de Lafayette Returns: A Tour of America’s National Capitol Region, ” informative displays about Lafayette, and opportunities to talk to “Lafayette” himself, interpreted by the American History Theatre’s Ben Goldman.
The program was part of more than one hundred events planned in locations visited by Lafayette during his 1824-1825 tour of the United States. For more information, see here. Lafayette visited Arlington House on October 15,1824 as the guest of George Washington Park Custis.
Gilbert du Montier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834), the last surviving general the American Revolution, was welcomed to the United States in 1824 with universal affection and gratitude. Designated by President James Monroe as an official “Guest of the Nation,” Lafayette’s thirteen-month tour took him to or through 24 states. Lafayette met citizens of every background and station, recalling in remarks the purpose for and the leaders of the American Revolution. As he did so, he advocated for the human rights of enslaved persons, for religious freedom and for equality for women.
The Arlington House Foundation promotes the restoration, preservation and advancement of research and education activities of Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial. The Foundation partners with the NPS to help provide authentic and transformative visitor experiences leading to a more inclusive national culture. The American Friends of Lafayette is an historical and patriotic society dedicated to the memory of Lafayette and to the study of his life and times in America and France.
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