The Collingwood Library and Museum on Americanism

8301 East Boulevard Drive -- Alexandria, Virginia

The Collingwood Library and Museum on Americanism (CLMA) occupies 8.75 acres of land on the banks of the Potomac River, midway between old town Alexandria and Mount Vernon on what was once part of George Washington's River Farm. Collingwood is named for the British Admiral, Lord Cuthbert Collingwood, the hero of the Battle of Trafalgar, who had a friendly relationship in the early 1800's with Tobias Lear, inheritor of a life tenancy to the River Farm in Washington's will. The original building was a two-room, with attic, built by Washington for a Sam Johnson and his family, who, in addition to duties as deputy overseer of the farm, was responsible for operating the ferry across the Potomac at the site and also collecting fees from ship captain's who stopped near the ferry dock to fill their barrels with fresh water from a spring near the bank of the river. The original farm house has been added to over the years and has had a series of owners. In the 1920's, it was the home of Mark Reid Yates and his family who operated a dairy farm on 200 acres extending from the river bank to Fort Hunt Road, 1/2 mile to the west. At that time, the property was divided by a right-of-way for an interurban street car line to Mt. Vernon.

Under President Herbert Hoover, the street car line was converted into the Mount Vernon Parkway as part of the Bicentennial Celebration of Washington's Birthday in 1932. It was following the opening of the Parkway that the farmhouse was converted into a restaurant and gained fame as one of the finer dining places in the Washington area. The restaurant closed for business in 1974 and the current foundation, which was chartered in October 1976, acquired the property in April 1977.

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