About

In 1763 Ralph Wormeley III of Rosegill sold this house to James Mills, a Scottish merchant. In 1791 Arthur Lee bought it and 1,000 adjacent acres to be his home in retirement. Lee named this estate Landsdowne in honor of his friend, William Fitzmaurice, Earl of Shelburne and Marquess of Landsdowne, a British statesman who supported the American cause before and during the Revolution. Fitzmaurice became Prime Minister in 1782 and negotiated the Treaty of Peace recognizing the independence of the United States.