New exhibit on the historic millionaire Carter family at Manassas Museum

They were among America’s first millionaires and emancipators. They lived amid a swirl of controversy and extreme wealth worthy of reality TV. Their Virginia backyard included half a million acres.

This famous family is the focus of a new joint exhibit, “New World Aristocracy: The Carters of Virginia” now on exhibit at the Manassas Museum.

The exhibit, a combined effort between the Prince William County Historic Preservation Division and the museum, features rare artifacts on loan, items never before displayed, and hand-on children’s activities.

The Carter family may have been most famous in the 1700s and 1800s, but they left a lasting impact on much of Virginia.

“Everyone that lives in this area today lives on land that was once owned by a member of the Carter family,” said Museum Curator Mary Helen Dellinger.

To see exactly what land the family owned, the exhibit features a map of Carter properties overlaid on a modern day map of area neighborhoods.

“A lot of these Carter storylines connect present-day neighborhoods,” said Prince William County Historic Site Operations Supervisor Rob Orrison, “Most people are amazed at how much land the Carter family owned around here.”

Liberia Plantation, Ben Lomond House and Oatlands Plantation in Leesburg area among area properties built by Carter family members.

Gathering artifacts and images for the exhibit proved to be a challenge since so few of the family possessions still exist and so many of their homes no longer stand, according to a release from the museum.

“To visit this exhibit and see these objects and images is to try to connect to the very place in which you live, where a few families of wealth and power once dominated the social, political and business landscape and forged a beginning for the place we call home,’ said Dellinger.

The exhibit is open free from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and will be on display through Dec. 31.

In the meantime, the museum staff is working on its upcoming holiday schedule.

Dellinger said the museum will be partnering with Baldwin Elementary School to create a special Christmas exhibition.

The museum will provide artificial trees (small ones, about 4’ tall each) to the kindergarten and first grade classrooms. Students will pick a theme for their tree and then decorate it appropriately.

The trees will then be returned to the museum where they will be on display during the month of December in the main gallery.