Originally published in the December 2023 edition of Greet Del Ray.
Over the generations, the lands of John Alexander, for whom Alexandria is named, were divided among his heirs, and Charles Alexander inherited the land between the City of Alexandria and Four Mile Run in 1764. His land was mainly flat farm land, but it included the ridge along its Western side.
Charles' son, Charles, Jr., built his home, known as Mt. Ida, on the highest point of the ridge around 1800. The house is still standing at 304 Charles Alexander Court. After Charles, Jr. died in 1812, his widow remarried and had two more children. The Mt. Ida estate passed to her daughter Elizabeth Lloyd in 1864. Elizabeth's husband John sold the Southern portion of their lands to his brother Richard Lloyd in 1865, who built the Belmont house that now serves as the administrative building for the St. Stephen and St. Agnes Lower School.
Another portion of Charles Sr.'s land went to his daughter Frances B. Swann. She and her husband William Swann lived at Oakville (see the August 2023 issue of Greet Del Ray), but their son Thomas built Mt. Auburn on the North end of the ridge in the late 1850s. Thomas Swann sold part of his lands to Frank Hume in 1879, who moved into Warwick, located just South of Mt. Auburn.
By the end of the Nineteenth Century, the ridge line was dominated by these four grand estates owned by millionaires. However, the cost of maintaining such homes and the demand for additional housing led to their break up. John Lloyd died in 1871, and his heirs began selling off the Mt. Ida lands to developers around 1908 (see the June 2023 issue of Greet Del Ray). After Frank Hume died in 1906, his widow moved into D.C., leaving Warwick to decay. It was torn down in the early 1950s to make way for Warwick Village. Thomas Swann's granddaughter lived in Mt. Auburn until her death in 1964, after which the house was torn down to make way for the Aspen Apartments.