Sully Historic Site

Excellent tour guide — our tour was over an hour and the guide was more knowledgable than the ones we’ve experienced at Mt. Vernon and Monticello.
It’s a surprising little treat for history fans and the staff is very friendly.

We have passed this 220 year old historical site so many times on Sully road (also known as 28) but never actually stopped to visit. I finally took my daughter here for a report she had to complete and we had an AMaZINg time! We parked in the parking lot area, and proceeded to the visitor trailer. Inside the trailer you can purchase gifts, souvenirs, and/​or your tickets for the house tour. I think the ticket prices are pretty reasonable ($ 7 for adult, $ 6 for student, $ 5 for children, and so on) – this is cheaper than the movies and you are getting a look inside of history! If you do not wish to pay for the house tour, you are free to roam around the property and view all of the other smaller houses. To enter the house tour you will need to receive a ticket from the visitor location.
After we finished up at the shop, my daughter and I hiked up to the «big house» for our tour. We came on a winter week day, and took the last tour at 4pm. We really lucked out because no one else was waiting and we got our own personal tour! Our tour guide led us through each room of the house and gave us so much background information on each room and the artifacts located within. From the outside you would not expect this house to have as many rooms but there were a lot. Even though we were the last tour and it was the end of the day, our tour guide was very patient and nice, she let us take as much time as we wanted in each room, and we were able to ask as many questions as we could think of. There is only electricity in one room, and the rest of the house began to get dark after 4:40pm (since it is winter it gets darker quicker). Thank goodness my iPhone saved the day and I turned on my phone flashlight to view the remaining rooms on the third floor. You can also take as many pictures as you wish while on the tour. Because we asked so many questions, by the time our tour ended (each tour normally takes 45 minutes) the site was beginning to close (they close at 5pm) and the park people were locking up the additional houses and rooms. My daughter and I will be back to explore the rest of the property and the other things that you can see for free. I would recommend this tour to others — it is so nice to have a piece of history right up the street and not all the way in DC.

You need a ticket for the house tour. It’s $ 6/​adult and starts every hour from 11am — 4pm. It’s a short tour — roughly 8 minutes so you’re paying almost a buck a minute.
The rest of the property is unimpressive. There’s a slave quarter, a well, a smokehouse, a small garden, and seemingly endless greenery.
Whoever designed the walkway from the parking lot to the house must have been intoxicated as it takes you a roundabout way. In 80-​degree weather, you’ll be sweaty and miserable before you’ll see anything.

I’ve had the pleasure of touring many of Virginia’s historic homes and plantations (Monticello, Mt Vernon, Gunston Hall, Montpellier, Berkley Plantation, etc.), hence my reason and interest in visiting Sully Historic Site. I would rate the experience at 2.5 stars only because it doesn’t have the excitement and draw of more famous homes such as those I previously mentioned. I am pleased to see Fairfax County keep a site of this significance preserved and open to the public. I wish more people visitied the site to learn about history rather than the numerous events held on it’s property (car shows, civil war events, etc.).

This place is fascinating and the plantation reminded me of George Washington’s plantation in Mt. Vernon, but in a smaller version. There is only one slave house that has been reconstructed and the other two slave houses have been used as gift shop and office.
You must visit the house because it is 90% original since 1700s.
***please see pictures that I uploaded*****

Sully Plantation, home to Robert E. Lee’s uncle, isn’t so much historically significant for what happened there, as it is for how long it’s been there. Don’t expect the history or lore associated with the James River plantations between Richmond and Williamsburg. The grounds are essentially an open park, a few outbuildings and the main house. The house tour is interesting, and gives some idea of the life of a well-​to-​do, but not extraordinary Virginia farming family. Overall, it’s minor histrical site that’s worth a visit, especially if there’s a special event like a Civil War weekend, going on.

You wouldn’t know from the neighborhood of McMansions that surrounds it, but this is a historic site hidden in suburbia. It is the home of Richard Bland Lee, northern Virginia’s first congressman. Lee was one of the two swing votes that place the the nation’s capital right down the highway. When Dulles Airport was built, the plantation was spared.
You start your tour by buying a five dollar ticket in a one-​room schoolhouse moved here from a nearby location. The tour lasts about an hour and on it you’ll see the house, outer buildings and gardens. It is a great place for a picnic in the spring months,
Car buffs keep an eye out for classic car shows held here as well.