Portions of some of the old mansions of the Northern Neck found their way into museums. An instance of this is a room from Marmion, a Fitzhugh home of King George County. The Marmion Room in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, is described in the museum literature as follows: "Of all the rooms we have gathered together, possibly the most extraordinary and impressive is the one from Marmion." Stratford Hall in Westmoreland County had been lost to the Lee family in 1820. Many years later, in 1929, the Robert E. Lee Memorial Foundation, Incorporated, was organized to acquire, restore, furnish and preserve the Stratford plantation. After a great deal of dedicated effort by a great many people this goal was finally achieved. Under the painstaking guidance of the ladies of the Foundation Thomas Lee's mansion was restored to its original splendor. The garden was restored by the Garden Club of Virginia. Stratford Hall and plantation is now a restored working colonial plantation open to the public. The restored mill grinds meal. Virginia cured hams hang in the smokehouse, and jellies and preserves are made by old recipes. Thoroughbreds stand again in the stables. The fields are worked by modern machinery, but the 1,164-acre estate is run as nearly as possible as it was in the days of Thomas Lee. Stratford Hall is pronounced "of prime architectural importance" by the American Institute of Architects. George Washington referred to his birthplace as "the Popes Creek home" or the "ancient mansion seat in Westmoreland County." The name Wakefield seems to have been given the plantation about 1773 by the Washington heir who lived there at that time. The name is said to have been suggested by Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield." The original house at Popes Creek was destroyed by fire. It is believed to have burned on Christmas Day, 1779. Thirty-six years passed before the birthsite of George Washington was marked and then it was only by a simple stone which bore an inscription. In 1881 Congress authorized the construction of a monument to mark the birthsite, but fifteen years passed before the granite shaft was erected. A group of patriotic women were not satisfied. They dreamed of the plantation as it was when George Washington was born, and they planned to bring it alive again. In 1923, under the leadership of Mrs. Josephine Wheelright Rust, they organized the Wakefield National Memorial Association. Their goal was to restore the Wakefield plantation and make it a shrine for all people. The Association acquired land which adjoined Government property, and Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., purchased additional acreage of the old Wakefield plantation and transferred it to the Federal Government. An act of Congress granted the Association authority to erect a building on the birthsite "as nearly as may be practicable, of the house in which George Washington was born."