Temple Hall 2.51

Temple Hall is an early 19th-century Federal-style mansion and working farm near the Potomac River north of Leesburg in Loudoun County, Virginia.HistoryTemple Hall was constructed in 1810 for William Temple Thomson Mason (24 July 1782 - 1862), a son of Thomson Mason and his second wife Elizabeth Westwood Wallace of nearby Raspberry Plain, and nephew of George Mason. The estate became a hub of Leesburg society and was visited by Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette during his grand tour of the United States on 9 August 1825. Lafayette was accompanied by President John Quincy Adams and former President James Monroe, who was then residing at his Oak Hill plantation in southern Loudoun County. The three gentlemen witnessed the baptism of Mason's two youngest daughters at Temple Hall with Lafayette serving as godfather for Mary Carroll, and Adams and Monroe serving as Maria Louisa’s godfathers. Altogether, Mason and his wife, Ann Eliza Carroll, raised ten children at Temple Hall. In addition to the Mason family, approximately twenty enslaved African-Americans resided on the property. Under Mason's management, the Temple Hall estate was a modestly successful farm. Mason cultivated orchards and raised corn, wheat, and livestock.