Women's History In Leesburg Waits Around Every Corner Through New Walking Tour

LEESBURG, VA — A Leesburg resident can walk around the town and learn something new each day. Around every corner and in every house, there's a piece of history waiting to be uncovered.

To help residents and visitors learn more about the town, officials unveiled a new self-guided walking tour this year. The tour dives into the contribution of several women throughout the town's storied history.

Laura Christiansen is a curator at the Thomas Balch Library. She helped provide photos and documentation for several Leesburg walking tours.

"We've gotten a really positive response from people," Christiansen told Patch. "In the last couple years, we've had a lot of people who are looking to get out in Leesburg and explore the history."

Christiansen noted that the guide-led tours typically reach their full capacity.

The self-guided women's history tour includes 11 different stops. History lovers can follow along by listening or reading to information on the Tour Leesburg app.

The stops can be visited in any order, though they are numbered in the app.

"People really like the feature where you can have a story told to you when you're near a site," Christiansen said. The Tour Leesburg app allows users to receive notifications when they're near a walking site.

The first stop marks the former Peers Hotel on West Market Street, which now hosts the Marquis Law Group. The site is a strong starter for the tour, as it marks an early example of female entrepreneurship in a town full of women-owned small businesses.

In 1817, Eleanor and Henry Peers purchased the building to start a tavern and inn. Historians believe the pair were in-laws who were related through marriage. Eleanor Peers was a widow who ran the inn on her own, as Henry provided more silent support.

Henry eventually sold his stake to Eleanor, who was officially the head of the household as early as 1820. Eleanor Peers continued to run the inn until her death in 1834. The property was auctioned off a year later.

The tour also marks the former law office of Anna Hendrick, the first woman to serve as a judge in Virginia. Hendrick worked as a substitute judge in Arlington County and in Loudoun County.

She ran her law office in Leesburg until 1989, when the 89-year-old's doctor told her to stop driving. She continued to practice law at her home in nearby Taylorstown until her death in 1993.

Many Leesburg residents aren't aware that the area's local NAACP chapter was founded by a woman. Marie Medley-Howard was an activist and small business owner.

Medley-Howard was born in Leesburg in 1900, but she had to attend high school in Washington, D.C. At the time, there were no accredited schools for Black students in Leesburg.

After earning her cosmetology degree, Medley-Howard returned to Leesburg and opened her own beauty parlor. She was not hesitant to speak her mind about community issues.

Medley-Howard led the charge to establish a high school for Black students in Leesburg. She also rounded up signatures and sent a letter to the NAACP's headquarters to establish a local branch. Thanks to Medley-Howard and other activists, Douglass High School opened for Black students in 1941.

Though the town's walking tour focuses on the positive contributions of women, it doesn't shy away from the reality of history. The tour notes that Eleanor Peers enslaved several people during her lifetime. She granted some of them their freedom upon her death.

The Leesburg Library Society, which was founded by author Edith Morton Eustis, is also featured on the tour. However, the curators noted that the town's early library was privately run out of homes and only open to white people.

Christiansen noted that it's often hard finding historical documents to tell women's stories. Throughout history, women have changed their names due to marriage and they were often encouraged to stay out of the public eye.

"You weren't really supposed to be in the paper," Christiansen said of Leesburg's historical women.

Christiansen and others have had to find unique sources in their research, especially regarding people like Marie Medley-Howard.

"We'll go to things that are maybe not obvious sources of information, like the phone books," Christiansen said. "She had ads in the Douglass High School yearbook."

The tour organizers said they hope to add more stops in the future featuring information about voting rights and the temperance movement in the future.