Current Owners:

Cleydael was purchased in 2002 by Jo-Anne Coe and her daughter, Kathryn Coombs, who had both been looking for an antebellum historic house within reasonable driving distance of the DC area. Tragically, Mrs. Coe died of an abdominal aortic aneurysm only six weeks after going to closing on the purchase and had not yet moved in. She only got to stay at Cleydael for two weekends before her untimely demise. In her honor, her daughter is maintaining the house as a living history site. Click here for the Jo-Anne Coe memorial page.

Both Kathryn Coombs and the resident farm manager, Jeffrey Smith, are involved in the reenacting hobby and have substantial experience in organizing living history programs for the public. We believe this is a useful skillset to have, because of the tourists that Cleydael welcomes throughout the year -- not only from the official Booth Excape Route Tours put on by the Surratt Society and other organizations, but also individual carloads of tourists driving the excape route. Despite the vast wealth of surviving historical buildings in King George County, the county has no historical sites regularly open to the public and at Cleydael we organize programs to help fill that gap.

Because of this, we believed it was important to interpret the house as per 1865 and the furnishings reflect this. Kathryn Coombs is an antique collector of long standing and this provides an opportunity for display. Although none of the pieces are original to the house, some pieces have a Booth connection and others have a Virginia provenance.

Cleydael is available for use as a filming location for movies and television documentaries and has been used as such on several occasions. Click here for more information on Cleydael as a film location.

Cleydael is a private home. please respect our privacy and do not visit without an invitation. (Unless, of course, you're somebody we know, in which case y'all come!!
-- but phone first and give us a heads up and be expected to be handed a paint brush!)

Cleydael's History:
History & Owners |  Architecture | The Stuarts | What's in a Name? | | Calverts & Stiers
Lee Connections|  | Other Relations | African Americans | Booth at Cleydael
Jo-Anne Coe: In Memoriam
Photo Album |  Location | Links
Home

Contact us: Cleydael@aol.com