Va. makes more history with James Monroe's Oak Hill becoming a state park
RICHMOND — Moments after the Senate voted on Monday to make President James Monroe's Oak Hill Farm a state park, Heather Richards received a message from the family that made it happen.
Tom and Gayle DeLashmutt, whose family had owned and preserved the 1,250-acre Loudoun County estate for 77 years, sent a text message to Richards, Virginia state director of The Conservation Fund. The Arlington County preservation organization had bought the property from the family last fall to finish a three-year quest to make it a state park.
"They were very, very happy," she said in an interview.
Oak Hill Farm, the last home of former President James Monroe, is seen on April 13.
The House of Delegates already had voted, 74-14, to adopt a budget amendment that Gov. Abigail Spanberger had proposed last week to accept Oak Hill as a state park, with applause and cheers. But the project had never had an easy path in the Senate, which had blocked its adoption for two consecutive years.
But the Senate voted 31-7 to adopt the amendment as part of the two-year budget that will take effect at the stroke of midnight on Tuesday, ending a saga that required Richards to convince two governors and legislatures that the project was a good deal for Virginia.
The fund said it hopes the new park will open next year, after satisfying the governor and assembly's conditions in a report due to the House and Senate budget committees by Dec. 15.
"It is, hands down, the hardest project I've ever worked on," said Richards, who's worked in conservation for 25 years.
In a public statement on Monday, she called it a "landmark moment" for Oak Hill and the state. "We don't get many second chances to preserve history this important," she said.
The estate includes the early 19th-century manor house that Monroe built during his second term as president, where he worked on the Monroe Doctrine to establish the new nation's dominance in the Western Hemisphere. He retired to Oak Hill at the end of his presidency and lived there for five years before dying in New York on July 4, 1831 — 55 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and exactly five years after Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, two of the country's founding fathers and presidents, died on the same day.
Del. John McAuliff, D-Fauquier, speaks about Oak Hill State Park during Monday's session.
With the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence five days away, Del. John McAuliff, D-Loudoun, asked the House to accept "the last Founding Father's home in private hands and share it with Virginians at absolutely no cost to the Commonwealth."
Still, money was the final obstacle, with Spanberger specifying in her amendment that $47 million in grants and contributions that the Conservation Fund had collected for the project go directly to the state, rather than an endowment, with the nonprofit fund paying for any legal costs to the state. The package specifies $27 million from Loudoun, which represents the $22 million that the Conservation Fund used to buy the property from the DeLashmutts at a deep discount to prevent its development and an additional $5 million that the state wanted from the county in exchange for making it a park.
"It's just a feather in the cap for Loudoun County and the whole state," said Phyllis Randall, chairman of the Loudoun Board of Supervisors, in an interview on Monday.
"We thought the state had a larger reach in terms of marketing and advertising," Randall said. "If they had not done it, we would have had another discussion."
The budget amendment also specifies $6 million from a federal land and water conservation grant that expires next summer, as well as $12 million in private donations and $2 million from the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation.
The Conservation Fund had planned to invest the money in an endowment to earn interest for the operation and maintenance of the new park, which features farm fields and buildings, an extensive garden and other spaces for weddings and special events, the Little River for canoeing and kayaking, and plenty of space for public trails on scenic property along Route 15 south of Leesburg.
"There's going to have to be conversations about how all of the money is managed and how we can best set up the state park for success," Richards said.
Sen. Russet Perry, D-Loudoun, who pushed for the new park in legislation and then the budget, said the state should consider putting the money into an endowment to "responsibly manage the funds," which could become a model for the state park system.
Sen. Russet Perry, D-Loudoun, who pushed for the new park in legislation and then the budget, said the state should consider putting the money into an endowment to "responsibly manage the funds," which could become a model for the state park system.
"It may open up a broader discussion about how we manage our state parks," Perry said after the vote on Monday.
Money was also a concern last year for then-Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a former private equity executive who had to be convinced that the financing package was sound before including the project in his budget, both last year and in the two-year plan he introduced in December before leaving office the next month.
Former Del. Geary Higgins, R-Loudoun, who lost to McAuliff in a close House race last fall, said Youngkin visited the property and spent hours there before agreeing to add the project to his budget last year.
Oak Hill Farm is the home of former President James Monroe, may become a park in Aldie, VA
Legislation to accept Oak Hill as a state park passed the House easily both last year and during the assembly's 60-day session this winter, but each time it failed in the Senate Finance & Appropriations Committee, which also blocked it from being in the budget because of concerns about the long-term cost of operations and maintenance. Senate Finance Chair Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, was the only Democrat to vote against Spanberger's amendment on Monday, along with Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover, and five other Republican senators.
"I'm very happy it got done," Higgins said in a phone interview on Monday. "I was afraid we were going to miss the 250th anniversary because of all of the political foolishness."
So is McAuliff, who said after the Senate vote, "First sigh of relief in six months."
He said he had promised to preserve Oak Hill as a state park in his first term in the House.
"I made good on that promise in time to celebrate America's 250th Birthday," he said in a text.
Michael Martz (804) 649-6964
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