Matt Hannan: A Perfect Fit at Long Branch

Matt Hannan: A Perfect Fit at Long Branch

By M.J. McAteer

Matthew Hannan at Long Branch

Photo by M.J. McAteer

Matthew Hannan has traveled the world, only to find that there’s no place quite like close to home.

“I used to commute 15 hours by plane,” he said of one of his former lives as an overseas tour director. “Now my commute is five minutes by car.”

Hannan recently was named executive director of Long Branch Historic House and Farm in Boyce, only three miles from his Millwood front door. That he already was a well-regarded member of the local community “was important to us,” said Randy Buckley, head of the nonprofit estate’s board.

Even more important were the other assets Hannan could bring to the job.

“We needed someone who is wonderful with the public, and who understands historic preservation and fundraising,” Buckley said. Check. Check. His career in the travel business included fluency in Mandarin to lead tours to China, booking luxury outings via private plane and a stint with his own boutique travel firm. Hannan knows people and, obviously, enjoys them.

That attribute is a top priority for his new employer. The Long Branch Website pointedly says it wants to become “the most accessible” historic home in the country, and already has done a lot to fulfill that goal.

During daylight hours, it has an open-door policy, allowing dog walkers, bikers, equestrians and picnickers to freely roam its 400 acres. People are invited to fish in its pond and stroll its elegant English-style gardens. Admission to the early-19thcentury Federal-style mansion, which anchors the property, is also a welcoming $5.

Long Branch is particularly proud of its grand house, with a magnificent columned porch and design input from Benjamin Latrobe, the architect of the U.S. Capitol.

Hannan hopes to “up the ante” on outreach. In 2021, Long Branch will hold a fine art sale and host a lecture series featuring local writers and historians as it continues to display the works of area artists in some of its gallery-sized rooms. As Covid allows, Hannan expects to experiment with public gatherings such as horse, bridal and antique fairs.

Long Branch is a Virginia Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A people-person director was necessary but obviously not sufficient. It needed someone well-versed in historic preservation and home and landscaping design. Hannan “was an easy choice” on that front, too, Buckley said.

Hannan, 58, has restored four historic homes, including his 1912 Millwood house which he described as “in serious need of rehab” when he moved there in 2013. Last year, the county awarded him a certificate of merit for the work he did on his house, but also the former Love and Charity Chapel next door.

In 2017, Hannan purchased the 1907 African-American Baptist Church, then verging on collapse, and brought it back from the brink. He plans to let the community use the old church as an events space.

Although Long Branch has a farm manager, Hannan’s duties extend to oversight of the operation of both a 20-stall racing barn and a horse retirement operation with more than 70 equines in residence. He also handles the logistics for as many as 20 weddings a year, along with private parties and receptions. Long Branch has an endowment, but needs those income sources to stay solvent.

Taking on a job with so many moving parts might sound stressful, but Long Branch exudes a special sense of serenity. From its manse’s rooftop balustrade, the view is of horses scattered across bucolic pastures that stretch away toward the blue-tinged mountains. The chaos of the modern world seems far, far away.