You Are Here : Home / Government/ Project Types / Dawson Bailey House (Rio Vista)

Dawson Bailey House (Rio Vista)

About

Date: c. 1856

Historic Designation: Local Historic District, July 11, 1998

Current Use of Property: Community Center and Park

The Dawson House is the only surviving stone structure in the county dating to the 18th or 19th century. It’s a unique, recognizable and tangible piece of Arlington’s past. The home belonged to Thomas B. Dawson.

The Dawson House contains the only know portion of a tenant house remaining in Arlington. It is also the only building still standing that was within Arlington’s many Civil War fortifications. Most of the other farmhouses along the river were destroyed by the northern soldiers to make way for the forts established under the Defenses of Washington. Fort Bennet was constructed on a portion of the original estate of Rio Vista.

Stone was not commonly used as a construction material by English settlers along the Potomac, but the nearby Potomac Palisades provided an abundant source of stone.

Architectural Features

Dawson House is a two-story stone house with interior gable end chimneys and a five- bay front porch. The foundation and walls are made of stone and the roof is of asphalt shingles. There is a modern addition at the rear of the historic property.