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Trustee Emeritus Award for Excellence in the Stewardship of Historic Sites
In November
2000, the National Trust for Historic Preservation presented this
prestigious award to
The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America "for acquiring,
restoring, and interpreting a collection of historic properties that offer
invaluable opportunities to experience the rich variety of America's
heritage."
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NSCDA National
Headquarters in Washington D.C. |
DUMBARTON HOUSE
(1800)
Address:
2715 Que Street N W,
Washington, D. C. 20007
Telephone:
(202) 337-2288
Open:
Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00
a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Hourly guided tours at 10:15 a.m., 11:15
a.m., 12:15 p.m. and 1:15 p.m.
Closed:
All Federal holidays.
Website:
www.dumbartonhouse.org
Gift Shop:
www.nscda.org/dhgiftshop.htm
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Photograph by Erik Kvalsvik
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| Dumbarton House, headquarters of
The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America and a fine example
of Federal period architecture, offers visitors to Washington, D. C., an
opportunity to enhance their appreciation of early American history.
Closely connected to the first years of the American Republic, the house
has stood on the heights of Georgetown for over two centuries.
The Federal government and its many
civil servants moved to the City of Washington in 1800. Relocating
with the government, Joseph Nourse, first Register of the U. S. Treasury,
came to Georgetown and acquired the house and 4 1/2 acres of property four
years later. Nourse completed construction of "Cedar Hill" and resided
there until 1813. That year Charles Carroll purchased the property
and renamed it "Belle Vue," the name retained until its purchase by The
National Society. It was on Carroll's invitation that the house served
as a refuge to Dolley Madison on August 24, 1814, during her flight from
the burning White House and advancing British invaders.
Listed in the National Register
of Historic Places, Dumbarton House displays fine examples of late 18th
and early 19th century American and European furniture, paintings, textiles,
silver and ceramics. Of particular interest is the growing collection
of Quaker Farmer pattern Chinese export porcelain, Nourse family manuscripts
and archives, artifacts belonging to George Washington and family, and
a portrait of the Benjamin Stoddert children by Charles Willson Peale, painted
in Georgetown in 1789.
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
ACCREDITED: NSCDA MUSEUM
PROPERTIES |
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