Flap-happy fans and friends of the Lee-Fendall House Museum and Garden on Oronoco Street in Old Town celebrated the tenth annual Sips and Secrets: A Speakeasy Night fundraiser Saturday amid summer’s reprieve and starry skies. This jewel in the crown of Alexandria’s historic treasures throws the party of the season every autumn, raising funds to maintain and restore a home humbly boasting four centuries of diverse history.
Lee-Fendall House Board President Edward Horn has spearheaded many notable projects over the years, in part funded by events such as Sips and Secrets which has raised over $50,000 in ten years. The basement, which housed enslaved workers in the 18th and 19th centuries, was repointed. The chimney was reinforced, the garden upgraded, and most recently the house was repainted from white to a period-specific stunning burnt sienna and buttercream.
The house has historic provenance from the Fendall family, friends of George Washington and other founding fathers who dined but never slept there, plus the 37 members of the Lee family who lived there, to a convalescence home for hundreds of Union soldiers during the Civil War, to the prominent and enterprising (as well as alleged bootlegging) Downham family from 1903-1934, whose descendants are owners of the Highclere Castle in England that’s the setting of Downton Abbey, to legendary labor leader John L. Lewis, the last occupant of the home from 1937-1969.
The Sips and Secrets annual soirée fundraiser pays homage to the legacy of the Downham family. Interpreting their residency invites you to revisit a part of their story and our local history. The Lee-Fendall Board of Directors Secretary Megan Ritter Judt was 1920s fashionably-flapper- bedazzling as emcee for the evening fun and fundraising. The auction action was as-ever totally tempting, highlighted by competive bidding on an “Escape to Elegance: A Luxurious Getaway at the Downham House,” a neighboring property in Old Town donated by Posh Abodes.
Equally elegant, museum manager Jenny Waters and Lee-Fendall historian Madeline Feierstein left no roaring-twenties period detail untapped. The swinging Fidgety Feet, D.C.’s premier Lindy Hop troupe, returned to demonstrate some fancy footsteps while expertly instructing guests how to do the Charleston lickety-split. The jazzmen of the Conservatory Classic Jazz Band kept the party going all night, delighting the tireless toes with an encore of Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World.
And what a wonderful event it was! The fundraising was hosted by the amazing, truly dedicated Board of Directors, including former Vice Mayor Amy Jackson and local historian extraordinaire David Heiby. Devoted staff, volunteers, and supporters of one of Alexandria’s most beloved places in the heart made it a speakeasy night to remember.
Saturday’s event went a long way toward continuing the tradition of preservation and education that makes Alexandria and especially the Lee-Fendall House a landmark to America’s story. Why, even President Wilson attended a sips-soaked but not-so-secret soirée here in 1914.
The Lee-Fendall House Museum and Garden is owned and operated by the Virginia Trust for Historic Preservation. The museum is proud to be a Commemorative Partner of VA250 – Virginia’s American Revolution 250 Commission. While you missed Sips and Secrets: A Speakeasy Night 2025, what better way to celebrate the foundation of our country than by visiting the Lee-Fendall house – where it all began in the cradle of the revolution, Alexandria and Virginia?
The museum and gardens are open Wednesday-Saturday from 10am to 4pm and Sundays from 1-4pm, except for certain national holidays. During the federal government shutdown Lee-Fendall will be offering 50% off general admission for all DMV federal workers and their families on purchases made at the museum – not on the website.
