Fountain Beattie sold Green Spring Farm in 1917. Annie Hathaway
Beattie had died the year before, after they had moved from the farm
to a house in Alexandria.[71] Beattie's deed to George R. Sims of
Florida is dated January 23, 1917, and conveyed the entire tract of
339 acres.[72] Ownership changed again in 1922, 1924, and 1931,[73]
and ultimately led to the subdivision of the tract into smaller
parcels. In 1942, one of these parcels, containing the farmhouse and
the principal related buildings, was purchased by Michael and Belinda
Straight.[74]
The Straights did not occupy the main farmhouse immediately but set
about having certain changes made in the interior design and
structure. These were completed late in 1942, and the family moved
from the cottage to the main house.[75] A few months later, in January
1943, their occupancy was interrupted as Michael Straight was called
to service in the U.S. Army Air Force; and, during World War II, the
house was occupied by tenants. The Straights returned to Northern
Virginia in 1948 and took up residence at the farmhouse from that time
until they moved to Georgetown in 1965.
Upon their return to the farm in 1948, they also began to restore
and redesign the grounds surrounding the farmhouse. During the
1920's, when the farm was owned by Frederick Segesserman, a great many
boxwoods had been planted. They had been raised for sale, and in
1948 the pattern of their location on the grounds was erratic.
Therefore, in 1948, a new landscape plan was worked out by Mrs. Max
Farrand, a friend of the Straights and the designer of the gardens
at Dumbarton Oaks in Georgetown. Under her supervision, the
boxwoods were transplanted into a great semicircle behind the
house, the level of the lawn was raised, and retaining walls were
placed at several points. This area comprised the farm's only formal
garden; but, in addition, extensive plantings of white pine were
placed as a screen between the house and the road, and the grounds
surrounding the house were planted with a variety of trees and shrubs,
including hemlocks, cherries, and crabapples, and later, lilacs,
azaleas, and rhododendron.
During the years the Straights lived at the farm, farming operations
consisted of the raising of Hereford cattle. Purchasing yearlings in
the markets of the lower Shenandoah Valley near Winchester, they kept
this stock at the farm for fattening and resale as two-year-old beef
cattle.[76]
A variety of other animals were kept on the farm, but these were
mainly pets of the children.[77] In addition to their horses and
dogs, certain of the Straights' animals acquired reputations of
extraordinary extent. In particular were a goat which was presented to
the Straights by the author and journalist Eric Sevareid,[78] a
mule acquired from the Alexandria SPCA, and a flock of Canada
geese which eventually became the subject of a special bulletin by
the Audubon Society to prevent local naturalists from erroneously
reporting them as migrants.[79]
During these years of residence at Green Spring Farm, Michael
Straight served as editor and publisher of _The New Republic_
magazine, wrote three books, and served on the governing boards of
several organizations active in international affairs.[80] These
activities brought to the farm many visitors whose accomplishments in
politics, literature, science, and the arts were nationally and
internationally recognized. Some of the distinguished visitors to
Green Spring Farm during these years included scientists Julian
Huxley and Leo Szilard, authors Aldous Huxley and Saul Bellow, poet
Dylan Thomas, Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, and political
leader Hubert Humphrey. The farm also was a visiting place for
distinguished journalists from all parts of the United States and
many foreign countries, including Soviet Russia, when they came to
Washington. An account of one of these visits, written by one of the
foreign journalists, is set forth in appendix G.[81]
The farm became well known in the community of which it was a part as
it was the scene of numerous festive community gatherings when the
neighbors from the immediate area joined the Straights and their
guests to celebrate such special events and holidays as the Fourth of
July and to enjoy dinner, games, and discussions under the trees.
With the departure of the Straights, active farming operations ceased.
During their occupancy, fundamental changes in the character of
Northern Virginia's development brought the era of farming to an end
and ushered in an era in which this region became part of the social
and economic system centered in Washington. Intensive subdivision and
establishment of commercial service facilities became the highest and
best uses of the land as population growth in the National Capital
area rose at a rate which led other parts of the United States.
Outsiders moving into Northern Virginia and Washington residents
seeking to move from the central city into the outskirts filled up the
open spaces of Fairfax County at a rate of over 1,000 new residents
per month.[82]
Along with the temptation of high land prices, rising taxes added to
the pressure on the farmer to "sell out" to the land developer. It was
said, with much truth, that one could not afford to be a farmer in
Fairfax County as the 1950's ended and the 1960's began. For the 33
acres and buildings on Green Spring Farm, as for many other
residences, taxes rose sharply. In 1943, the farm was evaluated at
$7,819, and the tax bill was $194.69; by 1960, the evaluation was
$36,050, and the taxes $1,351.88.[83]
So, gradually, Green Spring Farm became an island of open space in a
sea of houses and highways. The Little River Turnpike (Route 236) was
widened and modernized in 1959. In 1948, this road had been an
18-foot-wide, two lane black-top roadway. Twenty years later, it had
been transformed into a 106-foot-wide, four-lane dual highway, much of
which was lined with concrete curbs and gutters to accommodate
roadside commercial or residential development. The old turnpike had
been redesigned and, in the late 1960's, carried over 26,000 vehicles
per day.[84] Its function as a major interregional artery of
transportation had been taken over by others, leaving to it a new role
as a major connector in the network of roads and streets serving
primarily local traffic. In contrast to earlier times when proximity
to the road was to be desired, the attractiveness of the farmhouse in
the 1960's was enhanced by its surrounding space which furnished a
shield from the highway and a setting for its activity.