In 1780, William Augustine Washington built Blenheim House on farmland that had been in the Washington family for nearly a century.
Today, Blenheim is listed on the National Register of Historic Places owing to its unique link to the nation’s first president, George Washington, and is now the home of Washington descendant Lawrence Latané and his wife, Becky.
The acreage includes fertile fields and a secluded tidal marsh rimmed by an ancient riparian hardwood forest. The house is surrounded by 20 acres of sandy loam that was USDA-inspected and certified for organic production between 2000-2020.
The Latanés raised their three children here in an environment populated with wildlife and an assortment of devoted Labrador retrievers and mutts. They heat their old house with wood and forage for mushrooms. They birdwatch inspired by nature’s beauty, fragility and resilience. And, in the same spirit of wonder, Lawrence and his son, Cameron, hunt the farm’s abundant game.
Somehow, they still manage to farm. Their work produces spectacular vegetables and fruits that they proudly sell through local CSAs and at the Fredericksburg Food Co-op (and, of course, to volunteers).
They grow everything from tomatoes and sweet potatoes to rainbow Swiss chard and Lacinato kale. Chefs, cooks, and food lovers alike describe their vegetables as “the most flavorful, highest quality…simply the best around.”
