National House of History
Washington Heirlooms Fill Tudor Place

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Imagine what it would be like to live in the same house your grandparents and great- grandparents did when they were your age. How do you think the house and furnishings would have changed over time?

Tudor Place, in Georgetown, was home to the Peter family for 178 years, from 1805 to 1983. The house is important not only for the delightful walk through time it represents, but also for historical reasons.

Martha Custis Peter and her husband, Thomas, were the first owners. Martha was the granddaughter of Martha Washington and the step-granddaughter of George Washington. More than 100 items that belonged to the Washingtons were enjoyed by Peter family members for six generations.

There's a camp stool that General Washington used during the Revolutionary War and a tea table and porcelain punch bowl that his wife used when entertaining guests at their Mount Vernon estate. There's also a miniature 1795 portrait of George Washington that Martha Custis requested when she became engaged, which prompted our first president to say, "I could never believe the wish dearest to a young lady's heart on the eve of her marriage was to possess an old man's picture."

Tudor Place also has one of only three existing letters George Washington wrote to his wife. It's dated June 1776 and tells of his sadness at being away from his family as he took command of the Continental army before the Revolutionary War and the sense of duty he felt in taking that position.

But Tudor Place is more than a collection of old objects; it's one family's story of how people and life changed during two centuries. From the British attack on Washington in 1814 through the Civil War and into modern-day Georgetown, Tudor Place stirs the imagination.

-- Ann Cameron Siegal

The Garden

Tudor Place has more than five acres of gardens, equal in size to four football fields. In the 1800s, a visitor would have seen hayfields and grazing sheep and cows. Many of the trees and boxwoods there today are 200 years old. There's an 1875 pecan tree. The sago palms are descendants of those purchased by Martha Peter in 1813. Palm leaves were placed on caskets during funerals at Tudor Place.

The Statuary

Interesting statues are tucked into cozy places around the property. Two stone whippets -- dogs resembling greyhounds -- look out over the bowling green, a grassy area where the Peters family and friends played games. There's a statue of Cupid holding a dolphin and one of a boy holding bunches of grapes. A curved bench bears the initials of two family members.

The Architecture

Tudor Place is a five-section neoclassical house, inspired by the architecture of Ancient Greece and Rome. People often say "Wow!" when they first step inside because the huge circular portico (like a porch) with its curved wall of windows makes the outside and interior of the house blend together.

Communication

In the early 1800s, pull cords in each room were attached to a series of bells. Each bell had its own tone, which let servants know where in the house their services were needed. By the 1900s, an early intercom system called an annunciator was in use. Today's young visitors seem most fascinated with the dial telephone and a 1920s typewriter in an office.

Servants

It takes a lot of help to run a house this big. The Peter family's household help included slaves (before the Civil War) and Irish and English immigrants (in the 1900s).

Lighting

Why do you think the windows are so large? Consider how indoor lighting has changed: from candles to gas lamps and then electric lights.

Toys and Other Fun Stuff

Generations of Peter family children played with toys you would recognize. There's a 1906 baseball bat, mask and catcher's mitt; a small, handmade model of the Wright brothers' plane; dolls; stuffed animals; a pair of early 1900s roller skates; and a 1930s Parcheesi game.

There is also a 1919 Pierce Arrow Roadster car that was owned by the last of the Peter family members to live in the house.