For Pam Jones, It’s All About Building Relationships By Linda Roberts
W
hether she’s working as the volunteer chair of the board of directors of Oatlands Historic House and Gardens or assisting clients through her profession as a real estate agent, Pam Jones is enthusiastic about sustaining and creating relationships. Her mantra is supporting “extraordinary transitions” and this carries through in helping her business clients as well as in a leadership role for Oatlands’ 16-member volunteer board of directors. The board serves in a governance position to oversee the maintenance and fundraising efforts for the historic property, now in its 55th year registered with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “There are so many stories to be told at Oatlands,” said Jones, who is excited to relay the projects underway at the 400-acre Photo by Doug Gehlsen Middleburg Photo property just south of Leesburg on Route 15. Pam Jones That includes the descendants program, telling the story of Oatlands through the eyes of the enslaved people who maintained the property as a working plantation with its own dependencies during the ownership of George Carter. Jones is enthusiastic about the preservation and digitalization of the Elizabeth Carter diary—made possible through a grant—which reveals what life was like on a day-to-day basis in Oatlands’ early years. Now, social media is helping to tell the story of the historic property and its 27 buildings. In 1804 George Carter, a descendant of wealthy land baron Robert “King” Carter, turned his own substantial resources and his thousands of acres into the creation of the Oatlands plantation. It’s believed that he designed the mansion himself, utilizing elements of Federal, Georgian and Greek Revival architectural styles. Work continued on the three-story structure until the 1830s with the enslaved population at Oatlands creating bricks for its construction from clay dug on the property. Following Carter’s ownership, Oatlands fell on hard times and at one time was used as a boarding house and later as a school. In 1903, Edith and William Corcoran Eustis of Washington, D.C. purchased the estate for use as a second home. Mr. Eustis turned his attention to equestrian pursuits while Mrs. Eustis began a lengthy restoration of the gardens. Although the 200-year-old walls surrounding the garden and its dependencies were created by Carter, the gardens as they stand today are attributable to Mrs. Eustis’ planning and foresight. In 1969, descendants of the Eustis family donated Oatlands to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, ensuring its preservation. Now this history and the many surrounding stories need to be told. Jones says that the board and CEO Caleb Schutz are working to draw people to Oatlands to unfold the many interesting facts behind the face of the historic property. Part of that effort includes a new landscape plan for its lovely gardens, overnight accommodations and staging weddings, a venture being explored with Matthew Warschaw of Pure Perfection Catering. At the forefront of plans for Oatlands’ future is the replacement of the mansion’s roof with copper and to repair of the front lawn’s balustrade, which is rotting. “We’re looking at half a million dollars,” says Jones, who adds that $200,000 is still needed toward the roof project. A board member since 2013, she’s obviously enthusiastic about the property’s future. “I’m excited to watch the transformation of Oatlands to a position where people want to come and visit,” she says. “I’m challenged and invigorated here and I see a clear path before us now.”
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