Oak Hill

About this property

Oak Hill is a mansion and plantation located in Aldie, Virginia that was for twenty-two years a home of Founding Father James Monroe, the fifth U.S. President. It is located approximately nine miles (fourteen kilometers) south of Leesburg on U.S. Route 15, in an unincorporated area of Loudoun County, Virginia just north of Gilberts Corner (the intersection of 15 with U.S. Route 50). It is a National Historic Landmark. It was sold in November 2025 to the Conservation Fund. The main mansion of the property was constructed from 1820-1822 by enslaved laborers for James Monroe. Before that, Monroe's residence at the estate was the clapboard building known in recent years as the Monroe Cottage. Monroe subsequently split time between this estate and another home at Monroe Hill on the grounds of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia after his term as the nation's fifth president. Oak Hill was Monroe's only residence for three years, from 1827 to 1830, and it was one of his residences during 22 years. The architecture is distinctive for "its unusual pentastyle portico." It is suggested that Thomas Jefferson, his close friend, may well have drawn plans for Oak Hill; the construction was supervised by James Hoban, designer and builder of the White House. Aside from the main house, other structures remaining from Monroe's time include the cottage, a smokehouse, springhouse, blacksmith's shop, a square barn, the stone Stallion Barn, and possibly the Brick House. The estate is a designated U.S. National Historic Landmark. Monroe and his uncle Joseph Jones jointly purchased 4,400 acres (18 km2) of land in Loudoun County in 1794. When Jones died without direct heirs in 1805, Monroe gained sole possession of the property. However, Monroe continued to live primarily at Highland, his residence in Albemarle County—until 1826, when he was forced to sell that property to pay debts he had incurred while serving as president. He also attempted to sell the land in 1825, but failed to receive an acceptable bid both times. In 1822, Monroe began construction on the main house, a two-story brick mansion in the Federal style. He hired James Hoban, the designer of the White House, to serve as architect. Monroe's longtime friend and political mentor Thomas Jefferson offered many design suggestions. Monroe and his wife, Elizabeth Kortright Monroe, retired to Oak Hill after he finished his second term as president in 1825. In August 1825, the Marquis de Lafayette and President John Quincy Adams were guests of the Monroes there. Elizabeth Monroe died at Oak Hill on September 23, 1830. After her death, Monroe moved to New York City to live with his younger daughter and remained there until his own death on July 4, 1831.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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