GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF VIRGINIA--1991 SESSION HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 475 Expressing the sense of the General Assembly on the preservation of Abingdon Plantation House. Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 1, 1991 WHEREAS, the Abingdon Plantation House ruin, near the Potomac River on the grounds of Washington National Airport, is one of the most treasured relics of Virginia's history, reflecting associations with the Alexander family, who built Abingdon and for whom Alexandria County (now Arlington County) and Alexandria City were named; and WHEREAS, the Abingdon Plantation House ruin, dating to 1746 or earlier, is the oldest known relic of a building on its original site in an area encompassing Arlington, Alexandria, and the District of Columbia; and WHEREAS, the Abingdon Plantation House was associated with important historical figures, including George Washington, who frequently visited there and was a party to its property transfer; John Parke Custis, who was the son of Martha Dandridge Custis Washington and stepson of George Washington, and who died at the battle of Yorktown, Virginia; John's son, George Washington Parke Custis, whom George and Martha Washington adopted and raised and who built Arlington House, for which Arlington National Cemetery and Arlington County are named, and who became father-in-law to Robert E. Lee; John's daughter, Eleanor Parke "Nelly" Custis, who was born at Abingdon and who was similarly adopted and raised by George and Martha Washington; Dr. David Stuart, George Washington's physician and business associate, who, while living at Abingdon, served on the Commission that named our nation's capital and supervised its design and early development; and WHEREAS, Virginia's legislative bodies have been honorably served by personages associated with Abingdon, including Gerrard Alexander, a member of Virginia's colonial House of Burgesses and of Alexandria's first Board of Trustees; George Washington; John Parke Custis, a member of Virginia's Senate during the Revolutionary War; and Alexander Hunter II, a member of Virginia's state legislature in 1879; and WHEREAS, the ruin of the Abingdon Plantation House has the potential to yield priceless information regarding the lives of these individuals of great prominence in the Commonwealth and pertaining to the character of life on the great plantation that formerly graced the Potomac's shore at that location; and WHEREAS, the site of the Abingdon Plantation House has the prospect of serving as an educational exhibit of exceptional value for citizens of the Commonwealth and the multitudes drawn hereto by Virginia's illustrious history; and WHEREAS, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is considering a plan which would obliterate the Abingdon Ruin; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly find and declare the Abingdon Plantation House ruin worthy of preservation and hereby request the Commonwealth's appointed representatives on the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, and all other agencies, organizations and instrumentalities of the Commonwealth, to take all steps necessary to facilitate and insure the preservation in place, the study, and the interpretation to the public of the Abingdon Plantation House ruin; and, be it RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, the Governor of Maryland, and the Mayor of the District of Columbia, and their respective appointees on the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, who are hereby memorialized and entreated to the end that the Abingdon Plantation House ruin be-preserved in place, studied, and interpreted to the public. A. Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act "[T]he Secretary [of Transportation] shall not approve any program or project (other than any project for a park road or parkway under [23 U.S.C. § 204]) which requires the use of [1] any publicly owned land from a public park, recreation area, or wildlife and waterfowl refuge of national, State, or local significance as determined by the Federal, State, or local officials having jurisdiction thereof, or [2] any land from an historic site of national, State, or unless (1) there is no feasible and prudent alternative to the use of such land, and (2) such program includes all possible planning to minimize harm to such park, recreational area, wildlife and waterfowl refuge, or historic site resulting from such use. 23 U.S.C. S 138 (Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1968, as amended 1987) (emphasis added) 49 U.S.C. S 303 (DOT Act of 1966, as amended 1987) (formerly 49 U.S.C. § 1653 (f); recodified in 1983 with no substantive change) LETTERS TO THE EDIellie Custis Paving Over the Past A National Airport advisory Only foundations, walls, a well Abingdon's earliest known resi- J. P. Custis, the principal heir Washington's physician and While residing at Abington, Dr. Stuart named the site across the river "The City of Washington in the Territory of Columbia." George Washington Parke Custis, the son of J. P. Custis, lived at Abingdon as a child. After being adopted and raised by the Washingtons at Mount Vernon, he built and named Arlington House (the "Custis-Lee Mansion" now in Arlington Cemetery), preserved George Washington's memorabilia and, in the early 19th century, became a leading citizen of the area and father-in-law to Robert E. Lee. His sister Nellie, born at Abingdon, received the now historic Woodlawn Plantation as a wedding gift from Washington, who had adopted her also. George and Martha Washington often visited Abingdon while their family and associates lived there. Washington eventually returned the plantation to the Alexanders to settle family debts while acting as guardian to the young G. W. P. Custis. During the 19th Century, Alex- BERNARD H. BERNE |