This set of intricately carved rosewood furniture was believed to have been sent by the Empress Dowager of China to the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis before arriving at Twin Oaks
THE EARLY YEARS
The land of Twin Oaks was once owned by Uriah Forrest, an American general in the Revolutionary war, a member of the first Continental Congress, and one of Maryland’s first delegates to the U.S. Congress.
In 1888, prominent Washingtonian Gardiner Green Hubbard purchased the land from one of Forrest’s descendants. Hubbard, founder and first president of the National Geographic Society, intended to build a summer home for his family on the 17.6 acres of gently sloping
hilltop land – they lived in Dupont Circle at the time. He commissioned Paris-trained architect Richard Allen for the job, and Allen designed and constructed a 26-room mansion in the early Colonial Revival style, modeling it after a New England frame summer house. It is the last remaining example of this architectural style in the city.
My father, David T. Lee, was just buried at Ft. Lincoln Part just outside DC.
He is buried in the shadow of the one remaining of the “twin oaks” there,
where Lincoln and his generals made many of their biggest decisions.
My father was the liaison officer between China and the US during the war.
As a child I was taken to many of the grand banquets of the fabulous Wellington Koo and am writing a short story called “Twin Oaks.”
My father also was a founder of Chinese Refugee Relief and created the Empress restaurants. Nixon and Kissinger has many secrete dinners at the Empress in the months leading up to their “opening up of China.”
Thanks for the article.
Kelly Lee
I don’t agree with all your thoughts, but you do have good point of view.