The Stewards of Oak Hill

Written by Camden Littleton

Set above the Little River outside Aldie, Oak Hill has always been something more than a presidential home. The 1,200-acre estate is a family home, a working landscape, a place where Middleburg Hunt foxhounds gather on crisp autumn mornings, where children race through hallways beneath centuries-old portraits, and where one family’s quiet promise to protect history has now become a gift to every Virginian. 

Long before it became one of Loudoun County’s most treasured estates, Oak Hill was home to America’s fifth president, James Monroe. After leaving the White House in 1825, Monroe returned to the property he had built between 1820 and 1823, seeking both peace and purpose. Historians believe it was here that he refined ideas that became the Monroe Doctrine. Nearly two centuries later, that doctrine remains one of the defining statements in American diplomacy. Yet Monroe’s home never froze in time. Instead, it remained exactly as he intended: a home.

For Melinda Delashmutt Altschul and her brother, Tom Delashmutt, Oak Hill was never simply a landmark. “It was a home, and one that we always returned to.” Growing up at Oak Hill during a very different era in Loudoun County, Melinda and Tom attended The Hill School in Middleburg and spent their days like any other local child — racing around the halls and playing hide-and-seek in the boxwood garden. They gave little thought to the fact they were inside one of America’s most important historic homes. 

Melinda’s mother, Eugene Delashmutt, made sure of that. “We couldn’t treat it like a museum,” Melinda recalls. “My brother and I once crashed into a table full of old glass pieces and broke everything. We were terrified. Mother came in and simply said, ‘They’re just things.”

Christmas dinners stretched the length of the dining room table, seating 16 family members shoulder to shoulder. “My mother entertained a lot. She had been a columnist for The Washington Star and covered area diplomat gatherings, equestrian and society events… We always had a Boxing Day celebration featuring a whole pig with an apple in its mouth, and Mother always placed cooked pork tenderloins in the pig, just to make sure there was enough for all of the guests to eat,” Melinda laughs. 

For Tom’s wife, Gayle, Oak Hill has been home for a little over three decades, and as she’s grown with the property, once again stewardship became less about ownership and more about responsibility. 

Tom and Gayle’s love story began unexpectedly. Driving through Aldie one evening, Gayle’s brand-new Volkswagen Rabbit broke down. She was helped by Tom, who happened to stop along the road. Months later, after deciding to begin a new chapter in life, she called him to ask about renting a small cottage on his property. “He said it wasn’t available,” she remembers with a smile, “but asked if he could take me to dinner.” The rest, as they say, is history. 

For 33 years, they built a life together at Oak Hill, raising her son and their two daughters while carefully tending to the property. Gayle immersed herself in the gardens, learning their rhythms and devoting herself to nurturing and restoring them, while Tom continued his father’s vision of the farm in stewardship and management. Like his father, he was happiest on the seat of a tractor. But their commitment to historic preservation extended well beyond Oak Hill.

As the past president of the Mosby Heritage Area Association, now called the Piedmont Heritage Area Association, Gayle, with Tom’s help, introduced thousands of students, garden clubs, and history enthusiasts to Oak Hill, believing the best way to preserve history is to experience it. Their work earned widespread recognition, including the 2015 Mosby Heritage Area Association’s Heritage Hero Award and the 2025 Loudoun Preservationists of the Year award. 

For Tom, that philosophy was one he learned early on. “I remember being the only child who knew what the word ‘preservation’ meant in second grade,” Tom shares. “My mother always told us we were protectors of Oak Hill.” Those words would ultimately guide one of the most significant land conservation efforts in modern Virginia. 

For decades, various possibilities for the future of the property were discussed. Universities expressed interest. Other preservation concepts surfaced, and there were multiple unsolicited offers from developers and real estate agents. Yet none fully addressed the family’s desire to preserve both the house and the landscape that gives it meaning. 

However, Heather Richards, vice president of The Conservation Fund’s mid-Atlantic region, immediately understood Oak Hill’s significance. “Oak Hill isn’t just another historic home,” Richards explains. “It’s where President James Monroe drafted the Monroe Doctrine. When you have a place that protects both our nation’s history and more than 1,200 acres of forests, fields, and wildlife habitat, you don’t get a second chance to preserve it.” Richards spent years helping guide the complex project, assembling partners, building support, and moving the vision forward when obstacles arose. 

One of the project’s strongest champions in Richmond became Senator Russet Perry. When Richards approached Perry in 2024 about the possibility of creating a state park at Oak Hill, Perry recognized it as a rare opportunity. “Projects like this are marathons, not sprints,” Richards says. “History, conservation, and public recreation rarely come together this perfectly.” 

Working together, The Conservation Fund, Loudoun County officials, and Perry overcame legislative hurdles, funding challenges, and countless setbacks before finally succeeding. The motion to designate Oak Hill as a state park passed on June 29, 2026.  

Future visitors will discover far more than a historic mansion and remnants of James Monroe’s life there. They’ll discover hiking trails winding through forests and open fields along the Little River. They’ll stand in the same landscape Monroe knew and experience the remarkable rural setting that has remained largely unchanged for two centuries. They’ll walk through the five-tiered garden and the magical boxwoods. 

Perhaps most surprising of all, guests may find themselves captivated by something far older. Embedded in stone around the house and on the porch are dinosaur footprints — fossils that have delighted generations of young and old alike. 

“You can tell them about Monroe and all of the history here, but as soon as they see those dinosaur tracks, that’s the highlight,” Gayle laughs.  

It is, somehow, the perfect beginning, once again. A presidential home. A family home. A landscape protected for generations to come. At Oak Hill, history was preserved and lived. And now, thanks to one family’s vision and a remarkable coalition determined to protect it, it belongs to the people. ML

Featured photo by Douglas Lees.

Published in the August 2026 issue of Middleburg Life.