1956 Arlington House Candlelight Tour - Arlington Historical Society

Preserving the Past: How a 1956 Candlelight Tour Launched Arlington’s Historical Movement

In November 1956, the newly established Arlington Historical Society held its first county-wide meeting, marked by an evening candlelight tour of the Custis-Lee Mansion—known today as Arlington House. Just two months after the society’s formal establishment on September 14, 1956, the event became a foundational milestone for local preservation efforts during a period of rapid suburban development.

The mid-1950s brought unprecedented commercial and residential expansion to Arlington County. Fearing that rapid modernization would erase the area’s physical heritage, a group of local citizens met earlier that year at the home of Laszlo Ecker-Racz and Cornelia B. Rose, Jr. Under the leadership of founding president C. Harrison Mann, Jr., the group formed the Arlington Historical Society to document and protect endangered landmarks.

The November gathering at the historic hilltop mansion was designed to generate public interest in this new preservation mission. Agnes Downey (later Agnes Downey Mullins) led the specialized tour of the antebellum estate and served as the National Park Service (NPS) resident site historian. A founding member of the Arlington Historical Society, Downey was already becoming a central figure in the mid-century Washington-area historic preservation movement.

Her career with the National Park Service was distinguished by rigorous, foundational research into regional architecture and curation:

Arlington House Authority: Alongside researcher Murray Nelligan, Downey conducted the extensive, definitive primary source research used to map out how the mansion looked and functioned in the mid-19th century.
The Arlington House Furnishing Plan: She later authored the site’s critical 1979 historic furnishing guidelines, dictating how the estate’s artifacts are treated and displayed to this day.
The Old Stone House: Demonstrating her versatility across regional historic preservation, Downey also went on to serve as the very first curator for The Old Stone House in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.

During the 1956 event, Downey guided attendees through the mansion using only candlelight to replicate the building’s authentic historic atmosphere.

Drawing on her ongoing research, she detailed the house’s structural evolution and shared insights into the daily lives of its former residents, including the Custis and Lee families. The unique presentation style let members experience the historic site as it appeared before modern utilities, highlighting the educational, immersive approach the society aimed to bring to the county.

The success of the candlelight tour established a precedent for the society’s future programming. In the decades that followed, the Arlington Historical Society expanded its efforts and eventually established the Arlington Historical Museum at the Hume School in 1963. Today, the 1956 visit remains a key chapter in the story of how citizens successfully organized to safeguard Arlington’s historic landmarks.

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