This Dupont Mansion Houses a Patriotic Society, Exquisite Art, and a (Free!) Revolutionary Exhibit

Like so many of DC’s older mansions once owned by entertaining elite, Dupont’s Anderson House (2118 Massachusetts Avenue, NW) now serves as host to a membership club.

The Society of the Cincinnati may sound like something you’d read about in a popular fiction novel, but it actually has it roots in the American Revolution.  This “oldest patriotic organization” is the nation’s first hereditary association, and it’s as alive today as in the days George Washington resided at Mount Vernon.

Continental Army officers and their French counterparts founded the Society in 1783 to perpetuate the memory of the American Revolution. Famous members include Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, John Adams and Charles Pinckney to name but a handful. Today, members’ descendants carry the torch, and you may have the chance to run into one at Anderson House.

One of the city’s most fashionable mansions when it was built in 1905, the owner Larz Anderson was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati.  When he died in 1937, his widow gifted the house — and its entire contents — to the Society. The house remains almost exactly as it was then, an exceptional architectural and artistic specimen, worthy of a tour when you find yourself in Dupont.

In addition to serving as the headquarters for the American Revolution Institute and hosting visiting Cincinnati members during their time in DC, the house also contains a great collection of books and manuscripts illuminating the history of the War for Independence and hosts museum-quality exhibitions… like the Revolutionary Reflections: French Memories of the War for America showcase, on view now through October 27, 2019.

Timely, and recommended to all in advance of the July 4th celebrations, the exhibit brings together journals, memoirs, and portraits of French officers who served in the American War of Independence, whether as idealistic volunteers or resolute soldiers of King Louis XVI. Caught up in the turmoil of their generation, this was an adventure for the ages! And these amazing documents reflect their impressions of Revolutionary America, their memories of service to king and country, and their thoughts on the cause of American independence.

Among the treasures of the exhibit are the original manuscript memoir of General Rochambeau, who commanded the largest French army sent to America, along with his family’s annotated copy of the published work.

Visitors will also marvel at the long-lost portrait of the marquis de Saint-Simon, who commanded 4,000 French troops at Yorktown, together with Saint-Simon’s manuscript journal of the Yorktown campaign.  The portrait was long owned by the marquis’ descendants, but was hidden during the Spanish Civil War and then long forgotten. The American Revolution Institute acquired it and is displaying it in its first formal exhibition in the United States. The journal—yet to be published in English—has never been displayed anywhere.

How that for some hidden history?!  It’s tucked away among the embassies and impressive hotels, but don’t miss out on touring Anderson House or seeing the many treasures inside.  Visitors are welcome Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m.