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Woodley House

The House and Grounds.

[[Image:[62.5 woodley_1916]] The house commonly refered to as Woodley is a Federal style house built in 1801, the year Thomas Jefferson assumed the Presidency. In those days, the land was cleared between the Woodley site and the Potomac River beyond which meant that Woodley residents had a panoramic view of the incipient capital in the low lands below. For a century and a half Woodley would house a series of prominent Americans including at least two Presidents, two Secretaries of War, and a Secretary of the Treasury, a Secretary of State, Senator, a Judge, and Admiral and General George Patton, "Old Blood and Guts" himself" In 1950 the house and 8 adjoining acres were purchased by Maret School.

Every American house and family reflects both local and national conditions. Woodley, because of its location and the extraordinary procession of prominent families who have lived here, reflects more aspects of history than entire towns. In fact, it is the contention of Maret’s Woodley Society* that, with the exception of the White House, Woodley is the most historically significant house in America. There are houses that are far more architecturally prepossessing, far more beautiful, and far more interesting in terms of their contents; however, no other private house in this country can boast at least two Presidents, a Midnight Judge, two Secretaries of War, a Secretary of the Treasury, a Secretary of State, a German baron, a Senator, an admiral, and General George Patton, “Old Blood and Guts” himself.

Pre-1650

The site of Woodley and its environs are the hunting grounds of the Nacotchtank Indians whose village is on the far side of the Anacostia River.

1668

Lord Baltimore awards to Henry Darnell a land grant that extends from the Potomac River into what is now Montgomery County. Woodley's grounds comprise a small piece of the grant.

1703

Woodley, as a part of the 795-acre Rock of Dumbarton tract, is patented to Colonel Ninian Beall.

1757

Birth of Philip Barton Key

1776

The Declaration of Independence is signed.

Woodley Lodge, an English manor house in Barkshire wasa built in 1777 by James Whebble. There is strong evidence that Phillip Barton Key visited the house while he was studying law in London and later used both the name parts of the design when he built his own Woodley overlooking the new Federal capital.

1783

The Treaty of Paris ends the American Revolution.

1787

The Constitution is signed.

1792

The cornerstone of the White House is laid. A 998-acre tract of the Rock of Dumbarton (including Woodley) is transferred to Revolutionary War General Uriah Forrest and Benjamin Stoddert, first Secretary of the Navy.

1798

Uriah Forrest sells 250 acres to Philip Barton Key that will one day become Woodley.

1800

President and Mrs. John Adams move into the White House.

1801

Philip Barton Key and Ann Plater Key move into Woodley.

1803

President Thomas Jefferson buys the Louisiana Territory.

1814

British troops capture and burn Washington. Woodley would have provided a spectacular vantage point to view the conflagration.

1820

The Missouri Compromise

1836

Texas wins its independence from Mexico. Martin Van Buren is elected President.

1837

Martin Van Buren moves into Woodley for the summer.

1846

The Mexican War

1856

Lorenzo Thomas purchases Woodley.

1861-1865

The Civil War

1862

Lucy Berry and her two sons are manumitted at Woodley.

1866

Robert J. Walker purchases Woodley.

1867

The United States buys Alaska from the Czar. Robert J. Walker plays a key role.

1876

Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone.

1890

Francis Newlands buys Woodley.

1893

Depression begins. Grover Cleveland assumes the Presidency for a second time. Grover and Frances Cleveland move into Woodley.

Woodley as pictured in 1893 just after it had been extensively modernized with electricity and state-of-the-art plumbing and heating systems to make it a suitable summer house for President Grover Cleveland and his family.

1916

General John J. Pershing, a future guest of honor at a Woodley dinner, rides into Mexico after Pancho Villa but returns empty-handed.

Woodley c. 1916 where Colonel Edward House carried on secret negotiations with the Germans prior to the United States declaration of war.

1917

The United States enters World War I.

1921

Woodley is purchased by Sally Long Ellis.

Woodley back portch and lawn during Sally Long Ellis residence.

1925

F. Scott Fitzgerald, a direct descendant of Philip Barton Key, publishes The Great Gatsby.

1928

General George Patton rents Woodley.

1929

The Stock Market collapses signaling the beginning of the Great Depression. Henry Stimson buys Woodley.

1933

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ushers in the New Deal.

1939

The Nazi-Soviet Pact is signed. Whittaker Chambers visits Woodley to inform Adolph Berle of the extent of Communist infiltration in the State Department.

Woodley c. 1940 in its final incarnation as a private house as the residence of Henry S. Stimson, Secretary of State under President Hoover and Secretary of War under both Presidents Roosevelt and Truman

1941

Pearl Harbor is attacked. The President's first call is to Henry Stimson who was having lunch at Woodley. The United States enters World War II.

1946

Henry Stimson gives Woodley to Philips Academy, and it ceases to be a private home.

1950

Maret School purchases 7 and 3/4 acres of the Woodley property including the house.

Uriah Forrest Philip Barton Key Inns of Court .