Over the last few months, the entire DMV has channeled their energy and resources into creating celebratory programming intended to highlight our nation’s complex history. Lee-Fendall and Alexandria are no exception, welcoming a nation-wide celebration into our backyard.
Through months of meticulous planning and execution, Alexandria kicked off the festivities with Sails on the Potomac, which spanned three days over a scorching June weekend. Thunderstorms and 100° temperatures were no match for the thousands of participants who poured into Waterfront Park to get a glimpse of the tall ships and community booths. The Kalmar Nyckel, a replica of the original 16th century colonial ship, loomed over the river, with the Swedish and Danish flags flapping in the warm wind. The Sultana and Gazela wowed crowds on board alongside Alexandria’s very own tall ship, the Providence. Over the three day festival, thousands of participants toured the ships as they were serenaded by the simultaneously occurring Jazz Festival.
Lee-Fendall had its own booth in Waterfront Park’s 250th Village, allowing staff and volunteers to educate thousands of people on the house and the work we do within it. Alongside a trivia giveaway and donation drive, Lee-Fendall had a variety of activities – the message in a bottle being a crowd favorite. By the 19th and final hour of tabling, we were confident Lee-Fendall had expanded its reach, just in time for our 250th exhibit to launch.
In honor of Independence Day, Museum Director, Jenny Waters, curated and unveiled an exhibit entitled At Home with Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee. Open starting July 5th, the installation provides visitors with a more in-depth exploration of the Revolutionary War hero and original owner of Lee-Fendall’s land.
As part of our 250th programming, Lee-Fendall will be hosting Dr. Richard Bell for a book talk at 2pm on August 22nd, during which he will be discussing his most recent publication, The American Revolution and the Fate of the World.
Throughout his lecture, Bell “traces the far-flung reverberations of the war through the lives of the people it displaced, empowered, or destroyed. Participants will encounter a Native matriarch struggling to preserve a transatlantic military alliance, a Prussian officer reinventing himself in a foreign army, and a Boston schoolteacher shipwrecked thousands of miles from home. Along the way, Bell explores how the Revolution stirred a transoceanic refugee crisis, ignited antislavery activism, and inspired uprisings from Ireland to India. The program offers a bold new framework for understanding the Revolutionary War not as a tidy founding moment but as a sprawling, high-stakes struggle fought on land and sea, shaped by commerce, diplomacy, propaganda, and contingency. This is the American Revolution as you’ve never seen it before: complex, global, and astonishingly relevant to the modern world.”
Be sure to check out our Eventbrite, and Instagram, @leefendallhousemuseum, to stay up to date with our upcoming programs and lectures!
Headline Photograph (L-R): Linda Winger, Ed Horn (Board President), Jenny Waters (Museum Director), and Sophie McCarthy (Program Manager) at the weekend-long Sails on the Potomac event.