Monroe and his wife, Elizabeth Kortright Monroe, retired to Oak Hill after he finished his second term as president in 1825. In August 1825, the Marquis de Lafayette and President John Quincy Adams were guests of the Monroes there. Elizabeth Monroe died at Oak Hill on September 23, 1830. After her death, Monroe moved to New York City to live with his younger daughter and remained there until his own death on July 4, 1831. After Monroe's death, the property passed out of the Monroe family. John W. Fairfax, later a lieutenant colonel in the Confederate States Army, bought Oak Hill in 1852. His wife remained there while Fairfax was away fighting in the American Civil War; it was visited by General George G. Meade of the Union Army on the invitation of Mrs. Fairfax about a week prior to the Battle of Gettysburg. The property passed out of the hands of John Fairfax after the war, but was later repurchased by his eldest son, Henry, a civil engineer and state senator. The estate remained in the Fairfax family until after Henry Fairfax's death in 1916. The mansion was enlarged by the addition of two wings in 1922 while owned by Frank C. Littleton and his wife, but the central facade looks much as it did during Monroe's lifetime. The property remains in private hands today and is not open to the public. It became the residence of Tom and Gayle DeLashmutt and their family following the death of the previous owner, Eugene Reed Prendergast, Mr. DeLashmutt's mother, in 1993. Two U.S. Navy ships have been named USS Oak Hill after the estate. See also List of residences of presidents of the United States List of National Historic Landmarks in Virginia National Register of Historic Places listings in Loudoun County, Virginia References Sources Fennell, Christopher. "An Account of James Monroe's Land Holdings." June 18, 2002. External links Oak Hill, Loudoun County, one photo, at Virginia DHR Oak Hill, One mile north of Gilbert's Corner on Route 15, Aldie vicinity, Loudoun, VA at the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Houses in Loudoun County, Virginia National Historic Landmarks in Virginia James Monroe Monroe, Z Federal architecture in Virginia Houses completed in 1822 Monroe family residences Fairfax family residences Plantation houses in Virginia Palladian Revival architecture in Virginia Journey Through Hallowed Ground National