Mason House

Beginning in 1632 Cecilius Calvert, Second Lord of Baltimore, was granted a land patent over much of the colony of Maryland which included Theodore Roosevelt Island, then known as “My Lord’s Island.” The first colonist to own the island was a man by the name of Capt. Randolph Brandt who was granted the island by the Third Lord of Baltimore as payment for protecting colonists during conflicts with Native Americans.[1] The deed that was placed on the island for Capt. Brandt referred to the island as Barbadoes. That name would not last long though, with maps being made at around this time referring to the island as Analostan. Eventually, ownership of the island would fall into the hands of George Mason III of the Virginian Mason family in 1717.[2]

 

Naming the Island

Analostan was the island’s longest running name, but there were others. A 1670 map by Augustine Herrman shows Analostan spelled Anacostein.[2] This name is thought refer to the nearby Nacotchtanck Indians who had once lived there. Eventually Anacostein would take the name Analostan by maps that followed Herrman’s.

 

Robert King’s 1818 map of Washington, D.C. showing Mason’s Island and extensive gardens on the southern end of the island.

The island remained in the care of the Mason family throughout the 1700s and came to be known by some as Mason’s Island. Although owned by the Masons, no member of the Mason family would live on the island until much later, and the only use reported was the start of a ferry service from Georgetown to the island in 1748. It wasn’t until 1792 that a member of the Mason family would live permanently on the island. It was in that year that John Mason, the fourth son of George Mason IV, would begin planning the construction of a plantation on the island. Beginning in 1793 John Mason posted an advertisement in local newspapers stating his need for “12 to 15 stout young Negro Fellows for a year’s employment in the neighborhood of my Ferry-House opposite Georgetown.”[3] John Mason was seeking enslaved workers to help build a plantation mansion on the island that would come to be known as the Mason House. The Classical Revival style mansion was completed in 1802, built as a one-story house with a basement and an H-shaped floor plan. The house contained a drawing room, bedrooms, dining rooms, a bathroom, and in the basement, kitchen and storage rooms. There were also separate support buildings such as an icehouse, outhouses, and enslaved peoples' lodgings.

The Masons became well known throughout the Washington, DC area for throwing lavish parties. They hosted dinners, picnics, and dances and for guests that included presidents and the future King of France Louis-Philippe in 1798. The island was also used by the Masons as a plantation, using enslaved labor to pursue many agricultural ventures set out by John Mason. John Mason was not a planter by profession but was a businessman by trade. During his lifetime he speculated in many business ventures such as Fenwick, Mason & Company established in 1788 which sold tobacco to European agents.4 John Mason’s agricultural activities on the island included cultivating different colors and textures of cotton and breeding different breeds of sheep after an embargo on wool by the British in the years 1809-1812.[4] These agricultural activities were located towards the northern side of the island where extensive fields dotted the landscape. The Masons were also avid gardeners and dotted the southern end of the island with extensive vegetable gardens and pleasure gardens that played host to many of their parties.

 

1897 drawing of the Mason house titled Analostan.

Little remains of the house today. Some of the support buildings are still visible today like the well and icehouse, but the foundation is barely visible and much different than what would have been found in the time of the Masons. The foundation has changed since the time of the Masons because of a fire that destroyed the east wing of the home in 1806. Thomas Jefferson visited the island after the fire and documented the visit in his journal that day describing damage done to the east wing and the arrest of a servant suspected of starting the fire. The east wing was never rebuilt and the foundation that remains today reflects this.

The Masons lived on the island until 1833 when the island was sold. Some speculated the island was sold to settle debts or that the damming of the Little River on the western side of the island created unhealthy living conditions. The island remained a hot spot for local picnics and even a hot air balloon demonstration in 1834. Some tenant farmers made their homes on the island during this time as well, but the most lasting remnant of the island from the time of the Masons was the continued operation of the ferry from the island to Georgetown. With the coming Civil War though, the island would change forever.

 

Finding Lost Buildings

How do archeologists discover long lost buildings? A combination of looking at old maps and with legal permission by the park conducting a surface survey is one method. A surface survey involves a team of archeologists walking in lines to locate evidence on the ground of previous human occupation.  

 

Sources:

1. James F Duhamel, "Analostan Island," Records of the Columbia Historical Society 35-36 (1935): 133-145.

2. John Bedell, Tiffany Raszick, and Gregory Katz, Analostan: The Archeology of Theodore Roosevelt Island. Volume 1 (Washington DC: WSP USA Inc., 2020).

3. Columbian Mirror and Alexandria Gazette, January 16, 19, and 23, 1793; February 2, 6, 9, and 16, 1793.

4. Jonathan Pliska, Historic American Landscapes Survey, DC-12, Theodore Roosevelt Island, Photographs, Written Historical and Descriptive Data, Reduced Copies of Measured Drawings, Field Records (Washington, D.C.: Heritage Documentation Programs, National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior, 2008), 8-9.