Collection open for research.
No physical characteristics affect use of this material.
Exeter Collection (SC0179), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.
Purchased from Lewis Leigh, Jr., Leesburg, VA for Thomas Balch Library by Thomas Balch Library Endowment Foundation, 2020.
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2020.0087
Processed by Colin Morgan, 3 February 2022
Dr. William Cary Selden commissioned the construction of the Exeter plantation's main house in 1796. His son, Wilson Cary Selden, Jr. inherited Exeter after his father's death in 1835. His daughter, Eleanor Love Selden, married John Augustine Washington, great-nephew of George Washington, in 1842. Despite living on Washington's Mt. Vernon plantation, both Eleanor Selden and John Washington involved themselves in the plantation's agricultural business. Eleanor Selden Washington inherited Exeter from her father after his death in 1845, selling it to General George C. Rust three years later. In 1856, General Rust sold Exeter to the Trundle family, who sheltered Confederate cavalries on the property during the Civil War. Until at least 1960, the Trundle family maintained residence at Exeter.
A 1958 survey of Exeter notes that the property was "in need of restoration" but Helmi Carr, the then-current owner, intended to restore and preserve the property. The National Park Service listed Exeter in the National Register of Historical Places in 1973, but subsequently delisted it fifteen years later after a fire destroyed the abandoned household in 1980. After the fire, Richmond American Homes of Virginia developed the Exeter housing development on the land.
The first five folders of the collection contain correspondence, ranging in date from 1835 to 1849, that was either sent to or from Exeter. Correspondence from Wilson C. Selden, Jr., Eleanor L. Selden, and John A. Washington, provide insight in to their personal lives and the business end of the plantation. Washington's letters in particular discuss the selling of Exeter after Wilson Selden's death. Discussions of the plantation's business side frequently reference the enslaved people on the plantation. Correspondence from William Ball, Exeter's overseer, offers a glimpse of the plantation's business expenses and the production of oats, wheat, and corn on the plantation. Pencil-written annotations from a previous owner of the collection, highlights mentions of enslaved people and clarifies vague handwriting.
The Exeter Collection's secondary source materials, several articles on the plantation written between 1960 and 2001, cover the history of the property after 1849. The collection holds a copy of Penelope M. Osburn's 1960 The Bulletin of the Loudoun County Historical Society article, "Exeter: Its History and Architecture." The article provides a detailed overview of Exeter from 1796 to 1867. Newspaper clippings cover an arson attack on the farmhouse in 1990 and a 2001 profile of one of John A. Washington's descendants.
The Exeter Collection's graphic materials showcase the house's exterior a drawing of the front of the house and an undated map highlights the then-present "ruins" of the plantation.
A keyword searchable index is available as a .PDF. See: Exeter Collection (SC 179)
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53-0077, Lewis-Edwards Architectural Surveys (M 011), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.