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Description:
The Moyaone Reserve Historic District encompasses a residential landscape of roughly 1,320 acres that spans parts of two southern Maryland counties, Prince George’s and Charles. The historic district, which is comprised primarily of single-family houses situated on large, wooded lots, is located entirely within Piscataway Park, a unit of the National Park Service that was established in 1961 to preserve the historic viewshed across the Potomac River from Mount Vernon. Within the district are 189 single-family houses, most dating to 1945; around fifty undeveloped parcels, including a 29-acre tract of protected marshland owned by the Alice Ferguson Foundation; and the Wagner Community Center, which was built in two phases in 1957 and 1960. The district is bounded by the National Colonial Farm and other federally owned land within Piscataway Park; Hard Bargain Farm, the former weekend retreat of Alice L. L. Ferguson and Henry G. Ferguson, two of the founders of the Moyaone Reserve; several small, privately owned farms; and low- to mid-density residential development. The houses within the Moyaone Reserve Historic District reflect a range of late 20th-century residential forms and styles. Many demonstrate key tenets of Modernist design and embrace the architectural theory that buildings should be visually and environmentally compatible with their natural surroundings. The residential character of the Moyaone Reserve was highly influenced by architect Charles F. Wagner, Jr., who would design at least 18 houses in the community starting with his own home, which was begun in 1946 and expanded in 1947-51. While many Moyone Reserve residents commissioned architect-designed houses, others purchased plans through trade magazines or catalogs and worked with contractors or built kit houses using prefabricated elements. With a few exceptions, house lots within the Moyaone Reserve are 5-acres or greater, and development is restricted by covenants and scenic easements established to preserve the nationally significant viewshed of Mount Vernon, protect the local ecosystem, and safeguard the rustic character, historic identity, and environmental values of the Moyaone Reserve. A dense tree canopy, natural terrain, meandering roads, and scenic views characterize the internal setting of the historic district and reinforce the unspoiled, rural quality of the community.
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Significance:
The Moyaone Reserve Historic District is historically significant for its role in the protection of the viewshed from Mount Vernon. The value of the view from George Washington’s home is widely accepted as a critical element of the cultural landscape. In the 1950s, industrial development along the Maryland shore of the Potomac River threatened the integrity of this view, inciting a decades-long effort to protect it. In 1957, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association and a determined cadre of Moyaone Reserve residents created the private, non-profit Accokeek Foundation to hold in trust key pieces of land within the viewshed, and, in 1961, Piscataway Park was established as the first national park to preserve a historic vista, becoming a model for subsequent federal parks across the nation. The Moyaone Reserve was founded on the principles of land conservation, and residents moved into the community because it promised a “green refuge” with open spaces, privacy, and great natural beauty. In the early 1960s, as part of the development of Piscataway Park, residents were given the opportunity to donate or sell scenic easements on their land to the Department of the Interior to create a protected, wooded buffer of privately owned land within the Mount Vernon viewshed, reinforcing the vision of the community’s founders. Today, all properties within the Moyaone Reserve are bound by scenic easements, ensuring the ongoing preservation of the historic view from one of our nation’s most revered historic sites and demonstrating the importance of easements as a method of encouraging private participation in conservation. The efforts of the Moyaone Reserve community in concert with the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, the Accokeek Foundation, and others to prevent development that would encroach into the panoramic view from Mount Vernon and to preserve the wooded setting of the community and the rural character of its surround landscape represents an outstanding achievement that has national significance within the conservation and historic preservation movements.
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