On occasion the old house took on some of the gaiety which marked its pre-museum days. Although Ann Lee's entertaining may have been limited due to her semi-widowhood and straightened financial circumstances, the Home did see much entertaining during the Fitzhugh residence. Indeed, on one occasion its two great front rooms served as the final site for the dancing which ended an evening of progressive partying among the town's social elite.
One of those instances of modern gaiety would have been when the Museum hosted a wedding. This was, of course, very appropriate since the Home had been the site of the 1804 wedding of Mary Lee "Molly" Fitzhugh, daughter of the then owner, William Fitzhugh, and George Washington Parke Custis, grandson of Martha Washington, and step-grandson of George Washington. Their only daughter, Mary, became Mrs. Robert E. Lee.
Another notable resident wedding was that of Mimi MacLeish who was married in the house on July 12, 1945 to Endiga Karl Grimm. Most of the wedding guests were friends of the family. They included Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, the British Ambassador Lord Halifax, Secretary of Interior Harold Ickes, assistant to the Secretary of State Adlai Stevenson (later twice Democratic candidate for President of the United States), and Edward Stettinius, U.S. Delegate to the United Nations. The wedding cake was cut with a Revolutionary War sword brought by Secretary of State Dean Acheson. The bride was resplendent in a very elaborate wedding dress encrusted with pearls.
Rentals for weddings, rehearsals and receptions made up a sizeable portion of the Museum's revenues. For sometime after its sale inquiries were received as to the home's availability for weddings. The Lee Boyhood Home is now a private residence and no longer available for rental, however, there are countless persons whose fond memories rest with this house. The photos below of a typical wedding remind us of this fact.
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Thank you, Virginia.
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