About

Spring Letter from the Chairman

In 2022, The Museum of Hounds and Hunting North America revamped its website, www.MHHNA.org, providing opportunities for members, guests, and researchers to interact with our hunting art and artifacts, read the history of hounds and hunting, review essays, research papers, and catch the latest Museum News. An online Marketplace was added for both members and the Museum to place juried art and artifacts for sale. Please contact our office for entry details. The Annual May

Message From the Chairman

The Museum of Hounds & Hunting North America has exciting news! We have redesigned the museum website, a venture made possible by a continuing generous contribution of the Flowers Family Foundation. Our newly-designed website provides opportunities for members, guests, and researchers to interact with hunting artifacts, read the history of hounds and hunting, review essays and research papers, and consider educational content and activities. Navigating the website is more intuitive so viewers can expand their

History

The Museum of Hounds & Hunting, Inc. opened on May 24, 1985 in the north wing of the stately Mansion at Morven Park thanks to a small group of sporting enthusiasts. They conceived the idea of the Museum in order to preserve the art, artifacts and memorabilia of a centuries-old sporting tradition.

Seeking to acquire important and valuable artifacts before they are lost, the Museum provides a special place for the preservation and display of the sport’s rich history and by developing educational exhibits, promotes public understanding of hunting with hounds and Land conservation.

Mission

To preserve the rich North American heritage of hunting with hounds, for today and for the future; acquire important artifacts before they are lost; provide a repository for precious objects; and, by developing educational exhibits through research projects, present hunting with hounds through the sport’s historical, sociological and cultural heritage.

About Morven Park

1,200 acre estate west of Leesburg, Virginia

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.

Morven Park Staff

Make a donation to the museum

Support our mission

When you give an unrestricted gift to the Annual Giving appeal, you become a vested partner in the Museum’s mission. The member’s response is direct recognition by the donors of the importance of our programs and projects.

Board Members

*Original Board Member †Deceased

Current

Mrs. Erskine L. (Nancy G.) Bedford, Chairman*
Mr. William N. (Bill) Burnette, MFH, Treasurer
Dr. William H. (Will) Allison, ex-MFH
Mrs. James L. (K.T.) Atkins, MFH
Mrs. Trevor (Kim) Brown
Mrs. John J. (Patricia) Carle
Mrs. Irvin (Vicky) Crawford II, MFH
Mrs. Sam (Mary) Mitchell, ex-MFH
Mr. John J. Head
Mr. Joseph Keusch, ex-MFH
Mr. Douglas Lees
Mrs. Joseph M. (Donna) Rogers, MFH*
Mrs. C. Martin (Daphne) Wood III, MFH

Mrs. Nigel (Louisa) Ogilvie Woodville
Mr. Thomas L. Ashbridge, ex-MFH †
Mr. Rob Banner
Mrs. Kathleen Beer †
Mr. Ernest Byfield †
Mrs. Jean Bowman †
Mr. John J. (Jake) Carle II, ex-MFH*
Mr. Peyton S. Cochran, ex-MFH †
Ms. Mary Phillips Coker
Mrs. Wm.C. (Joyce) Fendley, MFH
Mr. Norman Fine
Mrs. Samuel K. Frazier †
Mr. Oliver Goldsmith †
Mr. Sherman P. Haight, Jr., ex-MFH †
Mrs. Sherman (Peggy) P. Haight
Ms. Mary South Hutchison†
Mr. Alexander Mackay-Smith* †
Ms. Marion Maggiolo
Mrs. Arthur McCashin †
Ms. Pamela Ohrstrom †
Dr. Betsee Parker
Mrs. Christopher (Mary) Reed, MBH
Dr. Joseph M. Rogers, MFH*
Mrs. Donald (Margaret) Van Schaack†
Ms. Eleanor Slater, ex-MFH
Mrs. Joseph (Judith) Tartt
Mr. Peter Winants†
Mr. James L. Young, MFH†
Mrs. James L. (Sally) Young†

About Our Members

Our membership represents a group that is both diverse and united.

The diversity is reflected in the range of reasons that bring people to the Museum of Hounds & Hunting North America. The unity is found in the single-minded purpose to preserve and promote the art and artifacts of hunting with hounds in North America.

The membership is, of course, well represented by those from the foxhunting community; active participants who ride to hounds, former hunters who still follow and support the sport, and non-hunting friends who appreciate and value this way of life. Also under the hunting banner are those who subscribe to beagle packs, members of hunts whose hounds pursue coyote rather than foxes, and foot followers who hunt behind bassets and other harehound packs.