Huntley: A Mason Family Country HouseWrenn, Tony P.
History
Huntley: A Mason Family Country House
Wrenn, Tony P.
Huntley (Va.)
[Illustration: Figure 5. Detail, G.M. Hopkins, =Atlas of Fifteen Miles
Around Washington=, Philadelphia, 1879. p. 71.]
[Illustration: Figure 6. Rear facade, c. 1890. Courtesy Mrs. Ransom
Amlong. Copy by Wm. Edmund Barrett.]
[Illustration: Figure 7. Rear facade, c. 1900; Courtesy Mrs. Earl
Alcorn. Copy by Stuart C. Schwartz.]
In May, 1892, the _Gazette_ reported another meeting of the Woodlawn
Farmers' Club at Huntley, though the column was a little garble, noting
that the Club:
... met at Huntley, the residence of Mrs. Pierson.... The farm of
our hostess consists of about 300 acres and is part of the estate
formerly owned by Mrs. Thomson Mason. A new cottage has been built
overlooking a fertile valley, and giving a fine prospect including
the Potomac River, Mt. Vernon, Woodlawn and Belvoir estates and is
carried on by Harry Pierson, son of our former President.[44]
The Pierson House may be the structure directly across Harrison Lane
from Huntley. It has the same outlook and general location as Huntley,
and is located on part of the original Huntley tract.
Albert W. Harrison, to whom Huntley had passed in 1868, died in 1911.
The _Gazette_ noted that:
Mr. Albert W. Harrison, an old, well known and esteemed resident of
Fairfax County, died at his home "Huntley" in the Woodlawn
neighborhood at 7:30 o'clock last night. The deceased was 80 years
old. He leaves four children, a son and three daughters. Mr.
Harrison was a native of Montclair, New Jersey, but moved to
Fairfax County in 1869. His frequent visits to this city for more
than forty years made him as well known in Alexandria as any
resident of the City. Mr. Harrison was a member of the Second
Presbyterian Church. His funeral will take place Saturday afternoon
at the residence. The interment will be in Alexandria.[45]
On April 5, 1911 the married daughter, Margaret N. Harrison Gibbs, and
her husband J. Norman Gibbs, deeded:
... all of their right, title and interest, legal and equitable in
and to the personal estate of said Albert W. Harrison, deceased,
except his watch, and also to hold as tenants in common, the
following described tract of land containing three hundred fifty
eight and three quarters (358 3/4) being part of "Huntley" so
called and known ...[46]
to Clara B. Harrison, unmarried; Mary C. Harrison, unmarried, and Albert
R. Harrison, unmarried. The part of the Huntley tract transferred
contained the house.
For the next 19 years neither the Harrisons nor Huntley seem to have
made the news. Then in 1930, a full page _Alexandria Gazette_ article
appeared entitled "Nation's Greatest Air Center."[47] The rest of the
headline read:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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