 In 1861, fearing that a battle between Union and Confederate forces was imminent nearby, Elizabeth Carter fled to another of her properties, Bellefield.The Carters' eldest son, George Carter II, reopened the mansion with his wife, Katherine Powell Carter, in 1863 and inherited the property when his mother died in 1887.In 1897 the Carter family sold the mansion with 60 acres (24.3 ha) for $10,000 to Stilson Hutchins, founder of the Washington Post newspaper, who never lived on the property.