DACOR Bacon House History: Academic Library

Most Recent Articles

DACOR Bacon House and Inaugurals

Jan 20 2025

DACOR Bacon House and its occupants for more than a hundred and fifty years were involved – sometimes intimately – in the inauguration of presidents. In later days, they received special invitations, like Virginia Bacon, to inaugural balls.

Thomas B. Van Buren: General, Diplomat, Winter Season Visitor 1882-1883

Jan 13 2025

Thomas B. Van Buren rented Mrs. Carroll’s house at 1801 F Street for at least two months during the 1882-83 winter season when he was on home leave from his post as consul general at Kanagawa, Japan. Thirty years earlier, Commodore Matthew Perry had landed there in 1854 and forced the country’s rulers to open its doors to trade. Van Buren, a relation of President Martin Van Buren, had been a general in the Civil War and been appointed by President Grant as consul general to Japan in 1874. He came to Washington for consultations with the State Department and needed a place to stay. Given its location so close to the newly constructed State, War and Navy Department on 17th Street, he was easily induced to rent the Carroll mansion for the duration of his leave.

Sarah Virginia Carroll, Countess Esterhazy, Part 2

Jan 6 2025

Sally Carroll Griffin was widowed in 1867, then only 30 years old. Within three years she was married a second time to Count Maximilian Esterhazy in a small wedding at her mother’s home attended by President and Mrs. Grant. For fourteen years she lived in Europe, mostly at the Ester-hazy estate at Tata in western Hungary, but when the count died, she returned to Washington and resumed her place in a much-changed Washington social world in 1884. As Countess Esterhazy, she was a much sought after society figure. As she aged, she found solace in the company of younger admirers, prompting a scandal that forced her to move back to Europe. This is the second part of Sally Carroll’s adventurous life.

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Our Authors

Terence Walz is the resident historian at DACOR Bacon House. He is a historian of modern Egyptian history with a doctorate from Boston University. He is the author and editor of two published books and has recently contributed articles to the Journal of Supreme Court History and the website of the White House Historical Association. Dr. Walz’s work in international organizations led him to the DACOR Bacon House where he has been a member for six years. He has taken on the task of researching and documenting the history of the DACOR home, its history, and its inhabitants, particularly the first one hundred years. This archive is a growing collection of his work.

Elizabeth Warner, a lawyer by training and DACOR member, is researching the life of Virginia Murray Bacon, the last private owner of the DACOR Bacon House from 1925 to 1980. She is an adjunct professor at New England College, where she designs and teaches courses in law and political science. A long-term resident of the Washington, D.C. area, she also lived and worked throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia for 14 years, often in extremely challenging environments. In addition to articles about Mrs. Bacon, she has published material on human rights, international law and other subjects. Ms. Warner has law degrees from the University of Michigan and Georgetown University.