This is not to say that Adlum — who joined the American army at 17 two days after the signing of the Declaration of Independence — did not make wine from grapes grown on the property. In his memoir, he wrote about being one of the first viticulturists to produce wine with grapes native to the area rather than European varieties. His goal, he wrote, was to “exhibit to the Nation a new source of wealth, which had been too long neglected.”
Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. president and himself a winemaker, was a fan of Adlum’s product. He wrote a letter to Adlum in 1809 regarding a sampling of wine — produced by Adlum in Maryland — which a congressman had given him.
“This was a very fine wine, and so exactly resembling the red Burgundy of Chambertin, [a highly regarded French wine] that on a fair comparison with that, of which I had very good on the same table, imported by myself from the place where made; the company could not distinguish the one from the other.”
Adlum’s D.C. property remained in his family well into the 1900s, though “the Vineyards,” as he named it, was divided among his descendants. Adlum’s son-in-law, Assistant Attorney General Henry Hatch Dent, constructed the 1845 house, now known as Springland, and it has had some notable occupants in its 177-year existence, according to its entry in the National Register of Historic Places.
These include Dent’s daughter, Adlumnia Dent, and her husband, minister and philosopher James MacBride Sterrett. A professor at Columbian College, which became George Washington University, he wrote several books on Hegelian idealistic philosophy during his residence. He also founded All Souls Episcopal Church, which still stands on Cathedral Avenue NW in the Woodley Park neighborhood.
Their children, who grew up in the home, included William Dent Sterrett, who was a major developer in Cleveland Park (and built most of the houses on the nearby streets), and Henry Hatch Dent Sterrett, who was the last family member to own the home and followed his father into the ministry.
The six-bedroom, five-bathroom house sits on more than an acre. The main level features a grand foyer with peach-colored walls and is flanked by a library on one end and a receiving room on the other. The dining room and living room open to a veranda that overlooks the property, including the garden. A metal storage rack hangs above the country kitchen, and the family room is lit by oversize windows and has a fireplace.
Upstairs, the primary bedroom suite has a walk-in closet and an en suite bathroom with dual vanities and a double-headed steam shower. The floor has three more bedrooms, another bathroom and a laundry.
The lower level has a recreation room, a guest bedroom, a bedroom currently used as a home gym, a second laundry, heated tile floors and storage space. Rear doors lead to a fenced backyard.
There are two covered patios in the backyard, one of which leads into the backyard and the other to the main floor. A separate structure next to the house is used as a one-car garage. In the front of the house, a circular gravel driveway stretches 3,600 square feet.
Concealed behind Sidwell Friends School, Springland is within walking distance of neighborhood shops and restaurants in Cathedral Heights and Cleveland Park, the Cleveland Park Metro stop and newly renovated Hearst Park, which includes a public swimming pool.
Springland Farm neighbors take pride in the area’s history and community. While residents cannot remember the vineyard, they recognize Adlum’s contributions to the birth of the American wine industry — and that it happened where they live.
“What is life to a man that is without wine?” Adlum wrote in his 1823 book on winemaking. “It was made to make men glad. Moderately drank, and in season, bringeth gladness of the heart, and cheerfulness of the mind.”
$4,990,000
