Dumbarton House facts for kids
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Dumbarton House
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Dumbarton House in 2022
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 Location in Washington, D.C.
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| Location | 2715 Q St., NW Washington, D.C. |
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| Area | 0.6 acres (0.24 ha) |
| Built | 1800 |
| Architect | Samuel Jackson |
| Architectural style | Georgian, Federal, Adamesque |
| NRHP reference No. | 90002148 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | January 28, 1991 |
Dumbarton House is a historic home in the Georgetown area of Washington, D.C.. It was finished around the year 1800. The house is built in the Federal style, which was popular in the United States from about 1780 to 1830.
The first person to live in Dumbarton House was Joseph Nourse. He was the very first Register of the Treasury for the United States. This job meant he was in charge of keeping track of the government's money.
Today, Dumbarton House is a museum. It shows visitors what a large home looked like in the early 1800s. You can see furniture, silver, and other items from that time. The house and its gardens cover about one acre of land. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The house was a private home until 1928. That's when The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America (NSCDA) bought it. They made it their main office and gave it the name Dumbarton House. The NSCDA also wanted to show what home life was like in Georgetown during the early Federal period. So, in 1932, they opened the main floors as a museum. This was on the 200th birthday of George Washington.
Contents
Building the House
Dumbarton House was built by a merchant named Samuel Jackson. He was from Philadelphia. The house was finished just before the U.S. government moved from Philadelphia to the new capital city, Washington, D.C.
Samuel Jackson and his family didn't live in the house for long. In 1804, Joseph Nourse bought the property. He was the first Register of the United States Treasury. An old advertisement for the house described it in detail. It said the house was a "large two story brick house." It had a hallway through the middle and four rooms on each floor. There were also two smaller brick buildings, called wings, connected to the main house.
In 1813, the Nourse family sold the house to Charles Carroll of Belle Vue. He was a relative of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, who signed the Declaration of Independence. Charles Carroll was also a friend of President James Madison and his wife, Dolley Madison.
Dolley Madison's Visit
Dumbarton House played a small part in a famous event during the War of 1812. On August 24, 1814, British soldiers burned the "President's House" (now the White House). Dolley Madison wrote a famous letter about that day. She mentioned her "kind friend, Mr. Carroll." He came to tell her to leave the house quickly.
Dolley insisted on waiting to make sure a large painting of George Washington was safe. It had to be unscrewed from the wall. Once the painting was secure, Dolley came to Dumbarton House. Mr. Carroll told her the President wanted her to wait there for more news.
People Who Lived and Worked There
Records show that between 1785 and 1840, many people lived and worked at Dumbarton House. This included both enslaved people and free people of color. At least 10 to 13 enslaved or indentured people worked on the property. Some of their names are known. These include Dinah, Bacchus, Jane, Juba, Frank, and Fran. Others mentioned were Betsy, Polly, Will, and "Black Peter."
The 20th Century
A very interesting event happened to Dumbarton House in 1915. At that time, the areas of Georgetown and Washington had become one city. But they were still separated by a stream called Rock Creek. To make it easier for people to travel, a new bridge was planned. This bridge would connect Q Street on both sides of Rock Creek.
The problem was that Dumbarton House was in the way! It was about 50 to 60 feet south of where it is now. This meant it was right in the middle of the planned Q Street. The owners had to choose: move the house or tear it down.
Moving the House
Since the main part of the house had a basement, it could be moved. Workers used jacks to lift the house. Then, they put it onto rollers. A single animal, either a horse or a mule, was used to pull the house slowly backward. It was moved to a new foundation. The two side wings of the house didn't have basements. So, they were taken apart and then rebuilt in the new location.
When Dumbarton House first opened as a museum in 1932, it had furniture from the late 1700s and early 1800s. Today, the museum is changing its displays. They want to show what the house looked like when the Nourse family lived there from 1804 to 1813.
In 2006, the Dumbarton House Board studied what the Nourses owned. They looked at family letters and Joseph Nourse's old account books. They also used information from other homes of that time, old newspaper ads, and paintings. This study helps them decide how to furnish the house today.
Gardens and Events
In the 1950s, the Belin family, who owned the next-door estate called Evermay, gave some land to the NSCDA. This land was next to Dumbarton House. A famous landscape architect named M. Meade Palmer designed the East Garden there. Later, in 2010, another landscape architect, Guy Williams, created an herb garden within the East Garden.
Today, Dumbarton House offers tours where you can explore the house yourself or have a guide. They also host concerts, talks, special exhibits, and other cultural events. The house has a large ballroom that opens onto a walled patio. This space can be rented for weddings or other special gatherings.
See also
- List of the oldest buildings in Washington, D.C.
