Warwick Hall
To be honest here, we have no idea of an actual building Annie Fellows Johnston may have had in mind when she wrote of Warwick Hall, a prominent setting in much of The Little Colonel’s Christmas Vacation and Mary Ware, the Little Colonel’s Chum. We imagine, as described in the books, a much more gothic type place overlooking the Potomac near Washington. If any of our web site visitors know of a good candidate for that, we’d appreciate hearing from you!
We do know, from a letter by Annie Fellows Johnston to Mrs. Lawton (Walton), that much of her inspiration for some of the stories and antics were supplied by nieces attending Mt. Vernon Seminary in Washington (which looks nothing at all like the Warwick description) and the University of Wisconsin (where there are several candidates). We also wonder if she may have had something in mind from her own alma mater, the University of Iowa. Or maybe it’s none of the above.
In any case, we found some contemporary photos of Mt Vernon Seminary which we include below.
Early 20th C. photo of Mount Vernon Seminary
Garden at Mount Vernon Seminary, Washington
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November 2005
Mary Van Nattan wrote us and suggested Lyndhurst (http://www.lyndhurst.org/) “This is not near Washinton D.C., but it does overlook the Hudson and is quite near West Point. It’s a wild, guess, but might be of interest to you.”
Lyndhurst
(Sure looks more like what Annie had in mind!)