By Cody Mello-Klein | cmelloklein@alextimes.com
The American Horticultural Society announced this month that it is putting River Farm up for sale on the open real estate market, sparking a community uproar.
River Farm, which has served as the national organization’s headquarters since 1973, is 25 acres of publicly accessible open space that sits by the Potomac River. Located at 7931 E. Boulevard Drive, it is one of five farms in the area that were owned by George Washington.
Since AHS acquired the property, neighbors have enjoyed walking the grounds, local clubs have used the property for annual events and couples have held their weddings in the gardens.
When AHS announced it would be putting the property up for sale, the organization also informed members that it would be merging with the American Public Gardens Association.
“I was just utterly shocked as a person who is a donor,” Katherine Ward, president of the neighboring Wellington Civic Association, said.
AHS members, donors and nearby residents said they fear that, after the sale, the historic property will no longer be accessible to the public.
“It’s been a blessing in my life, and it’s been a blessing to many people,” Katherine Tobin, who has been an AHS member since 2012, said. “I guess I find it both a programmatic blessing but also just great joy in walking there.”
Tobin regularly walks the property and enjoys observing the deer, foxes, geese and other wildlife that wander River Farm. Given the site’s history, losing River Farm’s rare place as public open space along the Potomac River would be a loss for the entire region, Tobin said.
“To me, that’s like selling your first-born child,” Tobin said. “That is the jewel in the crown.”
River Farm is most notable for its connection to George Washington, who purchased the land in 1760 and renamed it River Farm in reference to its proximity and view of the Potomac River, according to AHS.
The house, which fell into disrepair over the years, and surrounding grounds passed through various owners before Enid Haupt, a philanthropist, avid gardener and member of the AHS board, purchased the property in 1973.
Haupt became aware of the property after the Soviet Union embassy offered to purchase it to use as a retreat for its staff in 1971. Haupt was outraged at the prospect and put up $1 million to buy the property and donate it to AHS, with the stipulation that the grounds would be open to the public, according to AHS.
“I went absolutely wild,” Haupt was quoted saying in the March 11, 1973 issue of the New York Times. “I called the state department to protest, but by then the whole deal was off. I was just going to buy it and give it to the public then.”
The shock that many have expressed about River Farm going up for sale ties back to Haupt’s vision of keeping the grounds open to the public.
“Your website clearly states that Enid Haupt’s financial gift to AHS intended for River Farm and your society [to] stay open to the public. Your priority should be to honor her intent and her generous gift to AHS,” the Mount Vernon Council of Citizens Associations wrote in a letter to the AHS board.
The AHS board of directors acknowledged Haupt’s vision in a public statement released on Sept. 5.
“It is important to the AHS board that, should River Farm be sold, the buyer would be one who respects the surrounding neighborhoods as well as the conservation and historical value of the property,” the statement reads.
Community members have been critical of not only the decision itself but the fact that the AHS board of directors had not communicated with members, donors, nearby residents or elected officials that the sale and merger were being considered.
AHS informed members of the news on Sept. 4 before putting out a public statement the next day. The organization plans to release more details after the board holds an emergency meeting on Sept. 23, according to an email between board and community members.
In the Sept. 5 public statement, AHS leaders cited financial struggles that had been “greatly magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic” as the reason for the sale.
“Prior to COVID-19, AHS was already dealing [with] financial strains to its budget due in part to the costs required to operate and maintain River Farm, as well as increased expenses and unfunded needs,” Interim Executive Director Bob Brackman said in a statement released through Komet Marketing Communications, the public relations firm that represents AHS.
As a result, the AHS board voted to sell the property and merge with APGA, a trade organization made up of more than 600 public gardens across the country, according to the Sept. 4 letter to members.
“Proceeds from the sale coupled with other AHS assets will provide an endowment for the continuation of AHS as part of APGA,” according to the letter. The real estate listing for River Farm is estimated to be between $15 and $30 million, according to multiple sources.
Discussions related to the organization’s long-term financial viability – and the value of the River Farm property – have been around for years.
“There has always been a rumble that some board members – and this has been going on for 20, 30 years – just never saw a need, because they’re a national organization, to have this property,” Ward said.
However, the speed and lack of transparency with which the board made its decisions have left community members questioning the board’s motivations and processes.
In late June, the board voted to move ahead with the APGA merger, before voting to put River Farm up for sale in late August, according to an anonymous source close to the board, who will be referred to as Jane. Both votes passed 10-3.
Not long after the public announcement in September, two of the biggest proponents of the plan, Chair Eric Vietenheimer and Vice Chair Mary Pat Matheson, resigned from AHS.
“The chairman and the vice chair of the board, who were the official proponents of this merger and the sale, both resigned the next day because they were afraid of having conflict of interest,” Jane said.
Matheson had previously served as APGA president, and Vietenheimer’s law firm, Cooley LLP, had been overseeing the merger between AHS and APGA, according to Jane.
Matheson declined to comment. Vietenheimer did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
Some community members questioned the financial justification given for the sale. The board did not communicate with its members, donors or broader community that it was considering these issues, community members claim.
“Why would you not communicate a financial need?” Tobin said. “A board has a fiduciary responsibility to the members, and part of that fiduciary responsibility is to inform them.”
“I also found it rather curious that they never thought to contact the local elected officials,” Ward said.
The lack of clarity and communication extended to members of the board.
The board had been exploring potential partnerships with other organizations for years, but those conversations had hit a roadblock in 2019, according to Jane. For some board members, it was an opportunity to explore other options, such as mergers or sales with the National Park Service or county or state level parks organizations that would keep the property open to the public.
When the sale and APGA merger were brought before the board, some board members were surprised the conversation had been happening, let alone that it had been fast tracked to the point where it was being voted on, Jane said.
Some board members claimed the board was not aware of the language in the proposed letter of intent prior to voting on it, Jane said.
While River Farm going up for sale has drawn frustration from community members, the APGA merger is potentially more problematic for the future of AHS. As AHS explained in its public statement, all proceeds from selling the property would go toward APGA as an endowment. But, as cited in the letter of intent, AHS would “cease to exist” after the merger, except in the form of a potential branch or single program under the APGA banner.
Since the public announcement, the board has locked down communication with the press and community.
Board Chair Terry Hayes authorized Brackman to speak on behalf of the board. However, in the Times’ attempts to reach Brackman, the executive director deferred to a representative from KMC and refused to comment further on the sale of the property.
Despite the board circling its proverbial wagons, community members have continued to reach out to individual board members in an attempt to reverse votes and, ultimately, the board’s decision, Jane said.
Private conversations between board and community members have revealed that, at least for some on the board, the vote was not done with the intention of rushing a sale or merger. One board member referred to the decision as a “cry for help” and said that they were “very happy people are responding as they are,” according to an email obtained by the Times.
The sale of River Farm has also caught the attention of elected officials in the region. State senators Scott Surovell (D- Fairfax) and Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) along with U.S. Sen. Mark Warner and Congressman Don Beyer have expressed interest in finding a solution that will keep River Farm open to the public.
One option that’s been floated by Ebbin and Surovell is the same one that some board members had expressed interest in exploring prior to the vote: finding a county, state or federal park organization to take over the property, which would keep it open to the public.
“I’ll be working with other officials to see how quickly we can start to perhaps get the [AHS] to be willing to consider negotiating or delaying a sale, if in fact we can get interest from the park authority or county in purchasing it,” Ebbin said.
Surovell, who was married at the property, expressed concern that River Farm could fall prey to the level of private development that has swept across this stretch of the Potomac River.
“Our area is effectively already built out,” Surovell said. “… The last thing we need there is a bunch of luxury townhouses or another mansion.”
Unfortunately, it’s not cheap to maintain a property like River Farm, as AHS has discovered, and both Ebbin and Surovell acknowledged the challenge involved in running the property.
“It’s not just a matter of getting the land,” Surovell said. “It’s also a matter of being prepared to operate it.”
Whether acquiring funding from the county, state or federal government is even feasible in the middle of a pandemic is unclear, but the support from elected officials has given community members some semblance of hope that River Farm can remain as Haupt envisioned it.
“To me, it feels like now it’s our turn,” Tobin said. “It’s our turn to make certain that both [Haupt’s] wishes and our own sense of our history are kept.”
