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Woodlawn Mansion and the Pope-Leighey House have a new executive director who wants visitors to explore how American life—and people’s capacity for change—can be understood through the two historic homes.
Ruki Neuhold-Ravikumar began leading the southeastern Fairfax County property on Jan. 26. Asked about the challenges of managing the site, she described them instead as “opportunities.”
Neuhold-Ravikumar previously served as designer-in-residence at Iowa State University. She was also the Smithsonian Institution’s first undersecretary for education, working across its 19 museums with educators, interpreters, schools, scholars and visitors. Earlier in her career, she led the Kansas City Art Institute as its president.
The 126-acre Woodlawn complex, once part of a plantation, became the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s first historic site in 1949.
Two homes tell contrasting stories
Woodlawn Mansion and the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Pope-Leighey House offer sharply different views of American domestic life.
George Washington separated 2,000 acres from his Mount Vernon estate and had Woodlawn built in 1805 for his step-granddaughter, Eleanor “Nelly” Custis, and her husband, Lawrence Lewis. The couple belonged to the era’s wealthy gentry class.
Neuhold-Ravikumar said Woodlawn reflects “a level of opulence,” while the mid-20th-century Pope-Leighey House represents the kind of home ordinary families could afford. Together, she said, they reveal how people’s needs, ambitions and ways of living changed over time. Even the floor plans can illustrate shifts in women’s roles.
The Pope-Leighey House is one of roughly 100 Usonian houses Wright designed between 1936 and 1959. The homes were intended to be efficient, practical and affordable for middle-income residents.
Original owners Lauren and Charlotte Pope expected construction to cost $5,500—the equivalent of about $86,000 today—but ultimately paid $7,000.
The house holds particular interest for Neuhold-Ravikumar, a longtime Wright enthusiast who has visited one of his homes each year for many years.
Woodlawn’s free-labor experiment
Neuhold-Ravikumar also plans to highlight the Quaker community established at Woodlawn during the 19th century.
In 1846, members of the Religious Society of Friends purchased 2,000 acres of the Woodlawn tract. They sought to build a farming community shared by free African Americans and white settlers, demonstrating that agriculture could prosper without enslaved labor.
The experiment stood in contrast to Virginia’s plantation system. Lawrence and Nelly Lewis had enslaved about 100 people of African descent, while George and Martha Washington had enslaved more than 300. Free African Americans in the Quaker community, unlike enslaved people, could own property.
Neuhold-Ravikumar believes Woodlawn can help visitors examine the nation’s evolution, including how formerly enslaved people pursued freedom, property ownership and sustainable lives.
Born in India, she moved to the United States to study graphic design at Iowa State, where she earned a Master of Fine Arts. She received her bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Stella Maris College in India and continues to teach online design courses for the Maryland Institute College of Art and Iowa State.
Historic places matter, she said, because they function as “tools for democracy,” preserving distinct stories that can help people use the past to shape the future.
Upcoming programs
The 63rd Annual Needlework Show will run March 1 through March 31, with more than 600 entries. It will be open daily except Tuesdays.
An exhibit about the Quakers at Woodlawn is planned for June as part of America’s 250th anniversary.
Beginning in April, Woodlawn will also hold Coffee and Conversation programs every third Saturday. The discussions will feature experts including John Garrison Marks, author of “Thy Will Be Done.”