VIENNA, Va., December 8, 2011 — The beautiful Greek revival style mansion known as Arlington House, former home of Gen. Robert E. Lee and his family, will be decorated for the holiday season and offer programs to heighten the season’s events. This commemoration on Sunday, December 11 and 18, spotlights December 1860, the last Christmas the Lee family ever spent at Arlington House, barely four months before the Civil War would break out.
This Sunday, the Yorktown High School Madrigals will perform seasonal music at 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. Park Rangers will also be on hand to give talks throughout the day about Christmas 1860, against a backdrop of holly, evergreens, flickering candles, and other seasonal decorations.
The celebration will continue on Sunday, December 18 at 3:00 p.m. with a performance by Vox Pulchra, singers with The Capitol Hill Chorale. True lovers of vocal music, the women have joined together for the sheer joy of performing music in small, intimate group settings.
These two Sundays will be special days at Arlington House as the Robert E. Lee Memorial Commemoration hopes to bring hundreds of visitors to the house overlooking the Potomac River. After Lee assumed the general’s position of the Confederate Army, he feared for his wife's safety and was aware of the potential loss of their home and family inheritance. In May 1861, Lee wrote to Mary Anna Lee saying:
"War is inevitable, and there is no telling when it will burst around you…. You have to move and make arrangements to go to some point of safety, which you must select. The Mount Vernon plate and pictures ought to be secured. Keep quiet while you remain and in your preparations…. May God keep and preserve you and have mercy on all our people."
Ante-bellum stereocopic view of Lee's home."
Realizing anew the future would see them never returning to the Custis-Lee Mansion on the hill and deeply regretting the loss of his home at Arlington, Lee later wrote to his wife:
"It is better to make up our minds to a general loss. They cannot take away the remembrance of the spot and the memories of those that to us rendered it sacred. That will remain to us as long as life will last and that we can preserve."
When the Lee family had to hastily leave their home, Mrs. Lee made sure to leave the house keys and instructions with Selina Norris Gray, a trusted household servant, whom she knew would take good care of it. Selina was born at Arlington House and had been a personal maid to Mrs. Lee; the two women were close friends.
After the Union had taken over, the government decided to turn the entire lawn of the beautiful old home into a military cemetery, known today as Arlington Cemetery, vowing that the Lee family would never again be able to live there. Even though Lee descendants went through various legal maneuvers in order to attempt to reclaim their land, they were never able to. And so it stands as an eternal memorial both to Lee and to those who died in service to their country.
This particular program is part of the commemoration of the Civil War Sesquicentennial by the National Park Service, and Arlington House will be conducting numerous programs over the next four years as they mark important occasions and anniversaries relating to Gen. Robert E. Lee, his family, and the large servant group who lived there.
Union soldiers at Arlington House
For those of you unfamiliar with Arlington House, it is actually a unit of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. It remains open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It is accessible by Metro on the Blue line at the Arlington National Cemetery stop. According to the press release, “a fifteen minute, vigorous uphill walk through the north gate of Arlington Cemetery” will bring visitors to Arlington House.
For those wishing to drive, it is accessible from the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Visitor parking is available at the Arlington National Cemetery. Additional information is available on the Internet at www.nps.gov/arho or by calling Rich Moorer, (703) 235-1530, Ext. 229, Monday through Friday.
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