---
title: "At Robert E. Lee’s Former Residence, Researcher Opens the Door to Overlooked Legacies"
date: 2023-06-14T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/at-robert-e-lees-former-residence-researcher-opens-the-door-to-overlooked-legacies"
section: Articles
---
# At Robert E. Lee’s Former Residence, Researcher Opens the Door to Overlooked Legacies

*June 14, 2023* — by [Maggie Haslam](/author/maggie-haslam)


> Historic Preservationist Seeks to ID Descendants of Enslaved at Arlington House

*Arlington House Courtesy 1920x1080 with gravestones in foreground — An ongoing ethnographic study of the men, women and children enslaved at Arlington House, which will include oral histories and documentation from descendants, will help create a more holistic, historic narrative of Robert E. Lee's former home.*

The view from Arlington House, Robert E. Lee’s former home perched atop Arlington National Cemetery, is both majestic and mournful: D.C.’s monumental skyline stands in the distance, while a sea of Union and Confederate Army gravestones just steps from the Confederate general’s front door serves as a reckoning and reminder of the Civil War’s human cost.

But it’s what’s hidden from view at Arlington House, today a federal memorial to Lee, that occupies University of Maryland Associate Research Professor Cheryl LaRoche. The archeologist and historic preservationist is piecing together the stories of the enslaved men, women and children who lived and worked at the mansion, people whose contributions to the wealth of a nation are often overlooked.


*Cheryl Laroche stands in front of slave quarters at Arlington House — Associate Research Professor Cheryl LaRoche, who is leading research for the National Park Service and Arlington House descendants, stands in front of one of the property's former slave quarters. (Photo by Maggie Haslam)*


*Selina Gray and daughters — Some of the families at Arlington House are well documented, including that of Selina Grey (above, right), who saved several heirlooms once belonging to Washington from looters during the Civil War; her children later provided architectural details of the home during its restoration in the early 20th century. (Photo courtesy of National Park Service)*



**Sidebar note:**

**Arlington House Descendants Mark Juneteenth** Several descendants of the enslaved families who lived at Arlington House will participate in [Juneteenth Family Day](https://museum.archives.gov/events/76705#:~:text=Saturday%2C%20June%2017%2C%202023%20-,a.m.%20to%202%3A30%20p.m.&text=Celebrate%20Juneteenth%E2%80%94the%20annual%20holiday,official%20handwritten%20General%20Order%20No), sponsored by the National Archives Museum from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 17 at the museum’s Boeing Learning Center, 701 Constitution Ave. NW. This free, family-friendly event celebrates the annual holiday commemorating the end of legal slavery in the United States.





**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Archaeology](https://today.umd.edu/topic/archaeology), [Historic Preservation](https://today.umd.edu/topic/historic-preservation), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation](https://today.umd.edu/topic/school-architecture-planning-and-preservation)