The estate, off Rt. 7 on Old Waterford Road, was home to two governors: Thomas Swann, a governor of Maryland in the 19th century, and Virginia’s reform governor Westmoreland Davis.
Morven Park was the last home of Governor Davis, who served his gubernatorial term from 1918 to 1922, and his wife, the former Marguerite Inman of Atlanta, daughter of a wealthy New York cotton broker.
Thirteen years after his death in 1942, Mrs. Davis established the Westmoreland Davis Memorial Foundation as a memorial to her husband and the estate was opened to the public in 1967.
The mansion, a focal point of the estate, evolved from a fieldstone farmhouse in 1781 to its present turn-of-the-century appearance. It is actually three structures moved together. Visitors enter the mansion through a Greek Revival portico to see a Renaissance great hall, a Jacobean dining room, a French drawing room, a library and a display which highlights the life and times of Governor Davis.
Because the Davises traveled widely, the furnishings are of varied styles and eras, including 16th century Flemish tapestries, Renaissance and neo-Renaissance pieces, l’art nouveau, silver and glass, fine paintings and porcelain figurines collected by Mrs. Davis.
