Alert:
Sully Historic Site will not be offering field trips in the spring of 2024. Please check back soon for updates.
See the OUTREACH section on this page to learn how Sully can bring museum education to your students.
Sully's buildings and collections provide vivid contrasts between today's life in Northern Virginia and the everyday realities of life in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Tours and learning center activities focus on the food, clothing, and schooling of Sully's residents.
For those studying the colonial and federal periods in history, Sully's Museum Education Program brings a hands-on, personalized look at life during the Richard Bland Lee family's residency at Sully from 1794 to 1811. Tours and centers give students an experience that brings to life the textbook study of events and people of the past.
Learning centers and tours highlight aspects of the federal period:
• The beginning of the federal government and establishment of Washington D.C. as the nation's capital
• Life during the time of Presidents George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison
• Cooking techniques in an original, open hearth kitchen
• Workings of a large gentry farm and who were the enslaved community that supported the Lee family at Sully
• Education
• Textiles production
• Family life for the Lee family and the enslaved families that are documented
The museum education programs are offered weekdays from 10 a.m.-noon between October and the winter break, and from March through the end of the school year. A docent leads students through learning center activities and a tour of the main house. Sully's indoor learning centers are available for winter school groups.
• Admission is collected when you arrive at Sully's Visitor Center and Squirrel’s Nest Museum Gift Shop.
• Teachers are free.
• $8/Fairfax County school students
• $9/Out-of-county students
• Payment methods accepted: cash, check, MasterCard, Discover or Visa. Make checks payable to F.C.P.A - Sully.
ADULT CHAPERONES
We request one adult per 10 children or one to two adults per learning center. Sully can accommodate up to two chaperones per center.
Fees
• $8/Fairfax County school chaperones
• $9/Out-of-county chaperones
A historical interpreter can come to your school, group, or senior center. There are five great programs available, or a program can be designed just for you. Each program lasts approximately one hour and includes displays and presentations tailored to your group's participants and ages.
Call 703-437-1794 to schedule or for information.
Sully on the Go
Experience Richard Bland Lee's 1794 house and grounds through a guided presentation of photos. Learn about Northern Virginia's first congressman while glimpsing the everyday lives of early Americans.
Who They Were?
Sully was home to over 30 enslaved people, including Ludwell, Nancy, and their children. Discover what we know about their lives at Sully and their roles and contributions in day-to-day life. Learn also about the slave quarter cabin and what archaeology can tell us about the past.
Sully’s Stuff
It takes more than four walls and a roof to make a home. The items that fill the house tell an important story about its residents. Learn how the Lees furnished their home, from the fine furniture and fancy dishes, down to the everyday items such as Richard's eyeglasses.
Sully’s Changes
Over its long history, Sully was home to several families other than the Lees. Learn who they were and how they changed the house to suit their needs. In the 1970s, much of the house and grounds were restored to the original Lee period. Learn what historians and archaeologists are still searching for on the property.