ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 8, 1997 TAG: 9701080002
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BERRYVILLE
SOURCE: ELIZABETH LIBBY and TIM SULLIVAN NORTHERN VIRGINIA DAILY
President John F. Kennedy landed in the presidential helicopter in the front yard with lots of fanfare, President Lyndon B. Johnson brought his dog, and Richard M. Nixon visited yearly while a senator and vice president.
Rosemont, the home of Harry F. Byrd Sr., Virginia's most important politician of the 20th century, was a favorite of national and state political figures until Byrd's death in 1966.
The 75-acre Berryville estate received five presidents, numerous other national dignitaries, uncounted state politicians and entertainers during the four decades that Byrd's political machine dominated the state.
The memories are great, but Richard E. Byrd, the son who inherited the house 30 years ago, says that he and his wife are ready for smaller quarters and have placed the estate on the market.
``It's just us here now and it's quite a big bigger than what we need,'' the 74-year-old said. ``I'm just trying to get my affairs in order.''
Harry Byrd bought Rosemont, a 17th-century, two-story Greek revival manor house, in 1929, six months before he finished his four-year term as governor, Virginia's youngest since Thomas Jefferson.
He had owned apple orchards around the mansion and for many years it had been his dream to buy the house for his family, Richard Byrd said.
After Harry Byrd's run in state politics, which included 10 years in the Virginia Senate, he went on to serve in the U.S. Senate from 1933 to 1965. All along, though, he returned to Rosemont as often as possible.
``He'd leave his office every Friday evening and drive down [state] Route 7 to get there,'' said Ronald L. Heinemann, a history professor at Hampden-Sydney College who wrote ``Harry Byrd of Virginia.''
``He loved it there,'' Heinemann said.
Washington's most important figures also developed an affection for the secluded property. Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson all visited, as did pilot Charles Lindbergh and George C. Marshall, who served as secretary of state and defense.
They found it a place where they could relax and not worry about finding their comments in the newspaper the next day, Richard Byrd said.
Richard Byrd, who was raised at Rosemont from birth, remembers Kennedy as ``very nice, friendly to a younger person'' and Johnson as ``a character.''
On one visit, Johnson and Harry Byrd went to the upstairs study with their dogs and then a commotion could be heard downstairs. Richard Byrd said someone on the veranda commented, ``I wonder if that's the dogs fighting or the men.''
``People enjoyed it here because nobody bothered them,'' he said. ``Very seldom did someone turn down an invitation.''
Byrd loved having visitors. He once hung a ``Visitors Welcome '' sign at his front gate that attracted a young Barry Goldwater, who attended a nearby military academy and got lost in the area one day, Heinemann said.
Many entertainers in town for Winchester's Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival visited the house, including Van Johnson, who spent the night there, and Lucille Ball, who said Rosemont seemed a more perfect setting for ``Gone With The Wind'' than Tara.
Byrd presided over Virginia's Democratic Party from 1925 until 1966, building what Democrats called an organization and Republicans a machine that dominated state politics. Those who held office or wanted to often visited him at Rosemont.
``People really respected his opinion and it was pretty important to have his support if you were going to run for office,'' said W. Harrington Smith Jr., a member of the Frederick County Board of Supervisors who worked as an agent for Byrd's canning company.
It was inevitable that Sunday morning breakfasts would turn into business meetings for Harry Byrd and his three sons, Richard Byrd said.
Still, it would be a stretch to call Rosemont the base for the Byrd machine, Heinemann said. ``Harry Byrd had the most significant and longest running impact on the state of Virginia and wherever he was there was political things going on,'' he said. ``There were important meetings at Rosemont, but most of all it was a family home.''
For Richard Byrd and his wife, Helen, Rosemont has been home to them and their three children since 1966. They've been careful to preserve the home as close to its original condition as possible, leaving the crystal doorknobs, metal door knockers, authentic marble sinks and Chippendale claw feet bathtubs.
Helen Byrd, a Boston native and an active participant in historic preservation throughout Virginia since marrying nearly 50 years ago, said the family has ``been careful to try to keep it just the way it is.''
``That's the charm of it,'' she said. ``You wouldn't want to modernize it.''
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. (headshot) Harry Byrd Sr. 2. AP/Northern Virginiaby CNBDaily Rosemont, the historic home of former Virginia Gov. Harry F.
Byrd Sr., is up for sale in Berryville. 3. This is the main
staircase of Rosemont, a 17th-century Greek revival mansion.
Graphic: Map. color.