Since its transformation into a historic site, Kenmore has drawn its share of prominent and recognizable visitors including a vice president, a congressman, and numerous First Ladies of the United States. Indeed, the ladies of the Kenmore Association, who worked to save, restore, and operate the historic home during the 20th century, made it a point to reach out to First Ladies and, in turn, several of those First Ladies visited the auspicious brick home of Patriot merchant Fielding Lewis and wife Betty Washington Lewis, sister of George Washington. For that matter, even during the days that Fielding and Betty lived in the home during the late 1700s, important figures in colonial Virginia and of the Patriot cause occasionally came to Kenmore. Here is a list of “Ten Well-Known Visitors to Historic Kenmore.”
10. Louise du Pont Crowninshield (1877-1958)
Louise du Pont Crowninshield surrounded by other members of the Kenmore Association.
Louise du Pont Crowninshield was president and chairman of the board of trustees of the Kenmore Association from 1940 to 1954. An active historic preservationist, she was also a founding trustee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Mrs. Crowninshield was born into the prominent Du Pont family and grew up at Winterthur, the family estate in Delaware. The home is now a museum and holds some of most important collections of Americana in the United States. She helped save and restore Kenmore and visited many times during her term as president.
Sol Bloom in 1923. Credit: Library of Congress / Wikipedia
9. Sol Bloom (1870-1949)
Sol Bloom was an entertainer, music publisher, and congressman from New York. He was the biggest producer of sheet music in the U.S. before taking up politics. Bloom was associate director of the United States George Washington Bicentennial Commission and came to Kenmore for a luncheon with Emily White Fleming and the Kenmore Association. In 1936, Bloom made a $10,000 bet with Walter “Big Train” Johnson, former Washington Senator’s star pitcher, that Johnson could not throw a silver dollar across the Rappahannock River as legend said George Washington had done. Bloom lost but refused pay the money.
Elizabeth Monroe, unknown date and artist. Public domain. Credit: John Vanderlyn / Wikipedia
8. Elizabeth Monroe (1768-1830)
Elizabeth Kortright Monroe was First Lady of the United States from 1817 to 1825. Elizabeth was born in New York City and married James Monroe in 1786. She spent time in France and Britain during her husband’s ambassadorship and was even invited to be part of the American delegation that attended Napoleon Bonaparte’s coronation. Mrs. Monroe actually lived at Kenmore shortly after her marriage to James. Her husband left town on business and, since they had not yet set up a home in Fredericksburg, she stayed with Betty Lewis until James returned.
Edith Wilson. Credit: Library of Congress / Wikipedia
7. Edith Wilson (1872-1961)
Edith Bolling Wilson was the second wife of President Woodrow Wilson and served as First Lady of the United States from 1915 to 1921. Some historians argue that Mrs. Wilson became the de facto president after her husband’s stroke in 1919. She did, it seems, act as the only conduit to and from the president and decided which matters important enough to bring to her husband’s attention while relaying his decisions to those who needed to know. Long after her time in the White House, Mrs. Wilson came to Kenmore for a luncheon in October 1946.
6. Elizabeth Virginia “Bess” Truman (1885-1982)
Bess Truman in front of the fireplace in Kenmore’s dining room with Robert Porterfield, founder of the Barter Theatre, and an unidentified woman.
Elizabeth Virginia “Bess” Truman was First Lady of the United States from 1945 to 1953. Elizabeth Wallace was born in Independence, Missouri and had known Harry Truman, her future husband, since they were children. They married in 1919. Mrs. Truman detested the lack of privacy and disliked the social and political scene of Washington, D.C. She was relieved to move back to Missouri. Mrs. Truman visited Kenmore multiple times and was pictured in front of the mantel in the Dining Room with Robert Porterfield, founder of Barter Theatre, the State Theatre of Virginia, in Abingdon.
5. Lou Hoover (1874-1944)
Lou Henry Hoover was First Lady of the United States from 1929 to 1933. Lou Henry was born in Iowa in 1874 and married Herbert Hoover in 1899. She majored in Geology at Stanford University, was fluent in Chinese and Latin, assisted in the Belgian relief during WWI, and worked a great deal with the Girl Scouts of America. Mrs. Hoover, as First Lady, toured Kenmore in September 1930.
4. Colonel Sanders (1890-1980)
Colonel Harland David Sanders founded the restaurant chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in 1930. Sanders was born in Indiana in 1890 and, after a number of jobs, he started selling fried chicken at a roadside restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky during the Great Depression. The restaurant, Kentucky Fried Chicken, was a success and, in 1952, he started franchising across the country. In 1964, Sanders sold the company and used his stock holdings to create several charitable organizations. He promote these organizations as well as KFC by touring the country dressed as the Colonel. He came to Kenmore and took a tour in the summer of 1977.
Calvin Coolidge (left) enjoys gingerbread at Kenmore.
3. Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933)
Calvin Coolidge was born in Vermont in 1872. After college, he became a lawyer and went into politics becoming the governor of Massachusetts from 1919 to 1921. He was the 29th vice president under Warren Harding and the 30th President of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Vice President Coolidge came to Kenmore in July 1922 to launch a fundraising campaign aimed at raising money to purchase the house and make it a historic site. He enjoyed some gingerbread during his visit.
Eleanor Roosevelt in 1932. Credit: Library of Congress / Wikipedia.
2. Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)
Eleanor Roosevelt was First Lady of New York from 1929 to 1933 and First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She was born in New York City to the socially prominent Roosevelt and Livingston families and married Franklin D. Roosevelt in March 1905. After her time in the White House, she chaired the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in the late 1940s and early 1950s and John F. Kennedy’s Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. When she was First Lady of New York, Mrs. Roosevelt visited Kenmore on several occasions with various groups who came from the New York state capital of Albany.
1. George Washington (1731-1799)
Bust of George Washington (c. 1786) by Jean-Antoine Houdon and based on a life mask of Washington. Public domain. Credit: Dallas Museum of Art / Wikipedia.
George Washington was the first President of the United States (1789-1797) and the older brother of Betty Washington Lewis. Construction of Kenmore was complete late in 1775. George would not stay in the house until 1784. Including this 1784 visit, Washington stayed at Kenmore at different times during the years 1785, 1787, 1788, and 1791. The final visits in April and June 1791 were the only times he stayed at Kenmore while serving as president.[1]
Heather Baldus
Collections Manager
[1] Paula Felder, Fielding Lewis and the Washington Family: A Chronicle of 18th Century Fredericksburg. The American History Company, 1998: 216.
