On January 1, 1925 — one hundred years ago — a group of well-dressed women in hats and long fur coats assembled at Kenmore to hand over the final $1,000 payment and gain full possession of the house and land.  This meeting was the culmination of thirty-two months of persistent work and determination by the ladies of The Kenmore Association to save the historic property from destruction.

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This crusade began four years earlier with a brief notice in the Fredericksburg Daily Star from Mr. E. G. Heflin, the owner of the Kenmore property.  The announcement stated: “I have decided to build at once…6 or more modern up-to-date residence [sic] on Kenmore.”  Built on a section of the plantation property, these houses prompted concern among many local citizens at the thought of further loss to the historic site.

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By 1922, the destruction of the old Lewis home seemed imminent.  Mr. Heflin placed an advertisement for the sale of the house itself and cut up much of the original estate into smaller building lots to be sold to developers.  If the house was sold, it might be remodeled into apartments or just razed to the ground.  This escalation increased the alarm even more and some tried to raise funds to purchase Kenmore.  This attempt proved unsuccessful and the house did look to be lost.  However, salvation appeared in the form of Kate Waller Barrett and the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).

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In March of that year, Mrs. Barrett, Virginia Regent of the DAR, came to Fredericksburg with the purpose of organizing a new chapter in the town.  She asked Emily White Fleming to lead the proposed chapter, which would work to save Kenmore.  Mrs. Fleming was 68 years old and, though seemingly small and fragile, she, in reality, had a tenacious and determined spirit.  She accepted the position and with the help of her daughter Annie Fleming Smith, known as “Miss Annie,” began their campaign to save the old Lewis house from destruction...

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Read more about how Emily White Fleming and her daughter, Annie Fleming Smith, founding members of the Washington-Lewis Chapter, helped Save Kenmore in this series of articles entitled Lives and Legacies: Stories from Historic Kenmore and George Washington's Ferry Farm - Kenmore’s New Beginning: How the Ladies of the Kenmore Association Saved the Lewis Family Home AND Slides that Saved Kenmore written July 10, 2024 

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