Lee-Fendall House

Discover three centuries of Virginia and American history at the Lee-Fendall House Museum. Located in historic Alexandria, the museum interprets the experiences of the people who lived and worked on the property from 1785 to 1969. Explore the stories of everyone who left their mark - politicians and merchants, enslaved and free African Americans, housewives and actresses, liquor dealers and labor leaders.

The People of Lee-Fendall House

The Lee-Fendall House was built in 1785 as a home for Philip Richard Fendall and his wife Mary Lee. The first child born in the house was their son, Philip Richard Fendall II. Young Fendall would grow up to become a lawyer and politician during the tumultuous decades leading up to the American Civil War. Fendall and his contemporaries, like John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay, wrestled with issues like slavery and the power of the federal government. 

Fendall served as assistant secretary for the American Colonization Society, a group whose mission was to send former slaves to Africa to live in the colony of Liberia. The Society believed slavery should end, but unlike the abolitionists, they believed it should happen gradually and that the best solution to slavery in America was colonization, not coexistence. 

In 1841, Fendall was appointed District Attorney of Washington, D.C., a position he served under various administrations throughout the 1840s and 1850s. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, it forced hard choices on the Fendall family. Unlike his first cousin, Robert E. Lee, Fendall remained loyal to the Union. One of Fendall's sons fought for the Confederacy while two fought for the Union. During the war, Fendall's childhood home, the Lee-Fendall House, was turned into a Union Army hospital where many soldiers suffered and died. 

The Politician

Louis Casenove was born into a wealthy Alexandria merchant family of French descent. As a senior member of the family shipping firm Casenove and Co. and as a City Council member, Louis sponsored an expansion of the local railroads and was instrumental in promoting Alexandria banking institutions. 

After marrying Harriot Tuberville Stuart (the great-granddaughter of Richard Henry Lee, a Virginia signer of the Declaration of Independence), Louis purchased the Lee-Fendall House in 1850 for $3,000 and proceeded with extensive renovations. He modernized the house, proclaiming he wanted it to be "second to none in Alexandria." 

 Louis installed central heat, gas lighting, and marble mantlepieces. He elongated the windows, raised the roof to create a third story, put in plumbing in the kitchen, and added a call bell system to summon the enslaved and free servants who worked in the house. Tragically, Louis died suddenly in 1852, shortly after the house renovations were completed. 

The Merchant

It is rare that photographs like the one of an unknown woman above exist. When they do, the African American child nurses were not the subjects of these images, which were taken to feature the white children in their care. Due to their lack of inclusion in photographs and records, little information is known about these women. 

Malvina Harris was a child nurse and freedwoman who worked for Louis and Harriot Casenove while they lived in the Lee-Fendall House. She is listed in the 1850 census as a “mulatto” (mixed-race) woman, 30 years old, who could not read or write. 

Unfortunately, we do not know much about Malvina or how she became free. Was she born to free parents? Did she purchase her freedom? Was her father a white enslaver who manumitted her? There are also many possible explanations as to why she was working alongside enslaved people in the Casenove house. As an illiterate woman, there were limited options for employment. It is possible Malvina was married to someone who was enslaved nearby and wanted to remain close. 

Working for the Casenoves may also have provided Malvina with a degree of protection. Although Alexandria had a sizeable free black population, it was also a central slave market in 1850. Slave traders made money by selling enslaved men and women to plantations further south, sometimes even kidnapping free African Americans to sell. 

The Free Woman

Robert Downham grew up down the street from the Lee-Fendall House. In the early 1900s, he had set his sights on marrying the beautiful Mai Greenwell. Mai was close friends with Myra Lee Civalier, who was about to move out of the Lee-Fendall House and deeply wished that Mai could be the next occupant. Knowing this, Robert promised to purchase the house for Mai if she would marry him. She said yes.

Robert Downham inherited his father's business of selling liquor. In 1914, the Downhams hosted President Woodrow Wilson for a reception following that year's George Washington Birthday Parade. Legend has it that the party was so successful Downham had to open up his private stock of liquor to serve his thirsty guests.


After Virginia passed state prohibition in 1916, Downham tried to make a living by opening a haberdashery (a store selling men's clothing and accessories) on King Street. However, he struggled to compete with Washington, D.C.'s large department stores. In the 1920s, Downham and other Alexandria business owners purchased an ad in the Alexandria Gazette encouraging people to support their local businesses. Unfortunately, it did not prevent Downham from having to close his shop. By 1929, Downham was forced to downsize and move his family to a smaller home. 

The Liquor Dealer

Myra Lee Civalier, Maude Downham, and Mai Greenwell

1890 to 1920 was a time of great change for women, both politically and socially. Women had greater access to employment and education, and they began to play a more active role in the world around them. The end of this period was marked by women winning the right to vote. Three women lived through this era at the Lee-Fendall House: Myra Lee Civalier, Maude Downham, and Mai Greenwell.

Myra Lee Civalier was a member of the prominent Lee family of Virginia. The Lee-Fendall House was her home from 1881-1902. At a time when more women were beginning to enter the work force, Myra had a career as a celebrated actress, travelling to perform in cities from New York to Texas. 

Maude Downham attended a preparatory school for girls in Norwalk, Connecticut. Women of the era were becoming more involved in sports and athletics. Maude's school boasted a "gymnasium" with wooden dumbbells like the ones above and a designated time in the school schedule for exercise.

Mai Greenwell married Robert Downham (brother of Maude Downham) in 1905 and moved into the Lee-Fendall House. Mai continued her career as a singer, performing with the local group "Sharps and Flats," and offering music lessons. Maude was also a supporter of women's suffrage; she signed her name to a petition asking Virginia politicians to pass legislation granting women the right to vote. 

The New Woman

John L. Lewis was one of the most powerful labor leaders of the twentieth century. He helped transform the lives of many working-class Americans. Born into a poor, immigrant family in Iowa, Lewis began working in coal mines as a teenager. He rapidly rose up through the ranks of the United Mine Workers of America to become the union's president. He also founded the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). In the 1930s, Lewis moved to Washington, D.C., and lived with his family in the Lee-Fendall House. 

Sometimes the tactics Lewis used were controversial, particularly his call for coal strikes in the middle of World War II, which many Americans considered unpatriotic. Protestors frequently gathered outside his home. And yet, Lewis was a hero to many workers and their families. In 1964, Lewis was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon B. Johnson. 

The Labor Leader

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Explore the Lynchburg Museum System's two sites ~ The Lynchburg Museum at the Old Court House and Point of Honor, Dr. George Cabell's 1815 house overlooking the James River and downtown Lynchburg.

Lynchburg Museum System

Explore Salem Museum's Exhibits and Grounds

The Salem Museum

The Taubman Museum of Art is part of the lively metro mountain mix of arts, culture and outdoor fun in the heart of downtown Roanoke, Virginia.

As you enjoy your visit, you will notice internationally renowned architect Randall Stout took special care to honor naturalistic elements of the Roanoke region.

Taubman Museum of Art

In 1818 the Lexington Arsenal was created in Lexington, Virginia to store weapons intended for use by the state militia. In 1839 the Virginia Military Institute was founded as the first state-supported military college in the nation. Small at first, the institute grew and is currently home to approximately 1,700 cadets. VMI offers four year undergraduate degree programs in liberal arts, science, engineering, and social sciences requiring its students to maintain an academically and physically rigorous schedule that is intended to prepare them for roles as citizen soldiers.

Virginia Military Institute

George C. Marshall: He won the war. He won the peace. Learn about the man known as World War II's "Organizer of Victory," and Nobel Peace Prize winner for the Marshall Plan. Marshall is the Virginia Military Institute's most famous graduate (Class of 1901) and its only five-star general. 

The independent, non-profit George C. Marshall Foundation preserves and perpetuates Marshall's legacy through the George C. Marshall Museum & Library and offers a wide range of programming and resources for use by the general public, amateur historians, scholars and students of all ages. We are located on the Parade Ground at VMI.

George C. Marshall Museum & Library

A National Register Historical Landmark and one of the oldest, most original operational grist mills in the country located in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. This water-powered grist mill was built in 1782 in an area that would become the quaint village of Millwood. 

The Burwell-Morgan Mill…come marvel at the unusual and immense interior water wheel..come see, feel, and listen to the power of the turning wooden gears, shafts, bins, and old millstones, while the dedicated miller explains the process of grinding wheat and corn just as it was done over 200 years ago. Freshly ground flour, corn meal , and grits are available for sale at the mill.

The Historic Burwell-Morgan Mill

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Lynchburg Museum

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Point of Honor

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Second oldest working capital in the United States

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Built in 1813, the Governor’s Mansion is the oldest in continuous use.

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If you're looking for a party, River North is the place to be.

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View Chicago is a tribute to Daniel Hudson Burnham, whose 1909 Plan of Chicago envisioned an organized city, defined by beauty and open space. In the early 1900s, when he looked at a chaotic city with a lakefront jammed with railway cars and industrial waste, he proclaimed, "The lakefront by right belongs to the people." Working with Edward H. Bennett and Chicago’s civic community, he build the most remarkable downtown lakefront in the world that would soon become a place for people to play. Walk the View Path, experience the history of the lakefront, explore Daniel Burnham’s vision for Chicago’s front yard and see the ultimate view of the city’s skyline – the Burnham View.

View Chicago is a tribute to Daniel Hudson Burnham, who proclaimed, "The lakefront by right belongs to the people.” Walk the View Path, experience history, explore Daniel Burnham’s vision for Chicago’s front yard and see the ultimate view of the city’s skyline – the Burnham View.

The Chicago Skyline

“The Insider's Guide” Of Where To Go And What To Do In Chicago

The People of Lee-Fendall House

The Politician

The Politician

The Merchant

The Merchant

The Free Woman

The Free Woman

The Liquor Dealer

The Liquor Dealer

The New Woman

The New Woman

The Labor Leader

The Labor Leader

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