James Monroe’s Oak Hill estate has historic roots. Some hope to preserve it as a Virginia park

ALDIE, Va. (AP) — The room where President James Monroe crafted part of his famed doctrine exudes a quiet, stately atmosphere.

Inside the enclosed west porch a few footsteps away, a quarried-stone floor marked by fossilized dinosaur tracks glimmers in the sunlight. Just around the corner, a portico built by enslaved African Americans looks out over rolling foothills stretching into the misty northern Virginia horizon, a captivating view untarnished by monied property developments bellying up nearby.

It’s an early morning at Oak Hill, where centuries of history are deeply rooted in Monroe’s Loudoun County estate. It’s the last home of a presidential Founding Father still in private hands, according to conservation experts.

That is, maybe, until now.

The DeLashmutt family, which has owned Oak Hill in the community of Aldie since 1948, hopes to convert its sprawling 1,240 acres (502 hectares) into a state park. A bill to that effect unanimously passed the House of Delegates last month but failed in the Senate.

The DeLashmutts, along with a nonprofit corporation, The Conservation Fund, hope Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin will revive the multimillion-dollar project by including it in his proposed amendment to the budget bill ahead of the General Assembly’s veto session. The governor has until Monday to submit his revisions.

“We’ve taken good care of it,” family matriarch Gayle DeLashmutt said, gazing up at trees in the garden during a recent tour of the grounds. “And I think it’s time to let somebody else do it.”

The DeLashmutt family, which is unrelated to the Monroes, is part of a long line of Virginians who have lived in Oak Hill. Other Founding Fathers’ homes in the state — Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, George Washington's Mount Vernon and Monroe's Highland estate — are owned by educational and historical institutions that open the estates' doors to the public.

The residence at Oak Hill has a complex heritage: At the top of a split staircase leading to the entrance sits a gifted bell from the decommissioned USS Oak Hill. Inside, elegant parlors feature fireplace mantelpieces made of decadent marble, a gift from Monroe's longtime friend, the Marquis de LaFayette, to thank first lady Elizabeth Kortright Monroe for saving his wife from the guillotine. On an interior windowpane, a young man with the last name of Fairfax, a family that previously owned the house, scratched his name and the date of his graduation from the Virginia Military Institute.

Gayle DeLashmutt’s daughter, India DeLashmutt, grew up on the estate, charging about on go-carts and sledding down steep hills in the same place that Monroe hosted first lady Dolley Madison more than 100 years earlier. Her father used to tell her stories about finding arrowheads in Little River, a tributary that streams through the property.

“There’s just this span of time, and this place can really represent it,” she said.

The estate also embodies the histories of the enslaved African Americans who built and cared for the property.

There is George Williams, an enslaved carpenter who constructed the main house in Oak Hill, according to independent researcher Emily Stanfill. And Natus Berryman, who lived at Oak Hill before being forced to move to the South, said Lori Kimball, another researcher.

Opening the estate to the public full time would allow people to learn more about their stories, Kimball said.

Donna Bohanan, chair of the Black History Committee at a Loudon County genealogical library, said it would also educate the public about the Indigenous people and tenant farmers who lived on and worked the land.

“I advocate for not just focusing on the great men of history or military history because that leaves out a lot,” Bohanan said. “By telling our more inclusive stories, we can start to see the connections between all of us as members of the human race.”

Loudoun County has allocated $22 million toward the roughly $52 million needed to support the project, while The Conservation Fund and other groups have raised another nearly $25 million. The family is selling the property for $20 million. The Conservation Fund says the state won't have to pay a dime toward the project.

The legislation for such an acquisition, backed by Democratic Del. Alfonso Lopez, passed unanimously in the Virginia House last month but stalled in the state Senate. During the final days of the session, Democratic Sen. L. Louise Lucas told reporters that she thought the bill was an excellent idea but expressed concern about long-term commitments from the state, even if it has no upfront financial obligation.

“That’s a lot of park for somebody to take care of," she said. "Those are the kinds of things you have to consider when you’re working on these budgets.”

Youngkin said Wednesday he was initially resistant to the project because he was not sure the business plan was fully fleshed out. But he said he felt less uneasy after touring the estate with Republican Del. Geary Higgins, whose district includes Oak Hill.

“We had a good visit, and I’m still trying to decide what we do,” Youngkin said. “No promises, but I’m open-minded.”

Olivia Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Gayle DeLashmutt poses for a portrait in the east parlor of the main house at Oak Hill in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Gayle and India DeLashmutt pose for a portrait in the east parlor of the main house at Oak Hill in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

A structure formerly used as a smokehouse at Oak Hill is seen Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Aldie, Va. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

The home where Joseph Jones, uncle of President James Monroe, resided at Oak Hill is seen Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Aldie, Va. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

A bench in the garden at Oak Hill is seen in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

The garden at Oak Hill is seen in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

The portico of the main house at Oak Hill is seen from the garden in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

The garden at Oak Hill is seen through the wrought iron railing on the portico of the main house in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

The lower dining room in the main house at Oak Hill, where the DeLashmutt family typically eat their meals, is seen Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Aldie, Va. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

A fossilized dinosaur track is seen in the quarried-stone floor in the west porch of the main house at Oak Hill in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

A fossilized dinosaur track is seen in the quarried-stone floor in the west porch of the main house at Oak Hill in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

The west porch of the main house at Oak Hill is seen in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

The dining room in the main house at Oak Hill, where President James Monroe crafted part of his famed Monroe Doctrine, is seen Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Aldie, Va. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

The former bedroom of first lady Dolley Madison in the main house at Oak Hill is seen Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Aldie, Va. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Etched writing is seen on a window of a bedroom in the main house at Oak Hill in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Gayle DeLashmutt points to etching on a window that was scratched by a member of the family that previously owned Oak Hill in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Marble details on the fireplace mantelpiece in the east parlor of the main house at Oak Hill are seen Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Aldie, Va. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

The west parlor in the main house at Oak Hill is seen in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

A historic chair upholstered with horse hair, a commonality for furniture during the 19th century, is seen in the east parlor of the main house at Oak Hill in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

The east parlor in the main house at Oak Hill is seen in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

A bell from the decommissioned USS Oak Hill is seen at the front entrance of the main house at Oak Hill, the privately owned former estate of presidential Founding Father James Monroe in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

The portico of the main house at Oak Hill is seen from the garden in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

ADAMUZ, Spain (AP) — Spanish police said Monday that at least 39 people are confirmed dead in a high-speed rail collision the previous night in the south of the country when the tail end of a train jumped the track, causing another train speeding past in the opposite direction to derail.

The impact tossed the second train's lead carriages off the track, sending them plummeting down a 4-meter (13-foot) slope. Some bodies were found hundreds of meters (feet) from the crash site, Andalusia regional president Juanma Moreno said, describing the wreckage a “mass of twisted metal" with bodies likely still to be found inside.

Efforts to recover the bodies continued Monday, and the death toll could rise. Authorities are also focusing on attending hundreds of distraught family members and have asked for them to provide DNA samples to help in the identification of the victims.

The crash occurred Sunday at 7:45 p.m. when the tail end of a train carrying 289 passengers on the route from Malaga to the capital, Madrid, went off the rails. It slammed into an incoming train traveling from Madrid to Huelva, another southern Spanish city, according to rail operator Adif.

The head of the second train, which was carrying nearly 200 passengers, took the brunt of the impact, Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente said. That collision knocked its first two carriages off the track. Puente said that it appeared the largest number of the deaths occurred in those carriages.

Authorities said all the survivors had been rescued in the early morning.

The accident shook a nation which leads Europe in high-speed train mileage and takes pride in a network that is considered at the cutting edge of rail transport.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declared three days of national mourning for the victims of the crash.

“Today is a day of pain for all of Spain,” Sánchez said on a visit to Adamuz, a village near the accident site, where many locals helped emergency services handle the influx of distraught and hurt passengers overnight.

Moreno, the regional leader, said Monday morning that emergency services were still searching for bodies.

“Here at ground zero, when you look at this mass of twisted iron, you see the violence of the impact,” Moreno said. “The impact was so incredibly violent that we have found bodies hundreds of meters away.”

He added that authorities are still searching the area near the accident for possible bodies.

Video released by the Civil Guard showed the worst-hit carriages shredded open, train seats cast on the gravel packing under the tracks. One carriage lay on its side, bent around a large concrete pillar, with debris scattered around the area.

Passengers reported climbing out of smashed windows, with some using emergency hammers to break the glass.

Andalusia’s regional emergency services said 43 people remained hospitalized, 12 of whom were in intensive care units. Another 79 passengers were discharged by Monday afternoon, authorities said.

Train services Monday between Madrid and cities in Andalusia were canceled.

Transport Minister Puente early Monday said the cause of the crash was unknown.

He called it “a truly strange” incident because it happened on a flat stretch of track that had been renovated in May. He also said the train that jumped the track was less than 4 years old. That train belonged to the Italian-owned company Iryo, while the second train was part of Spain’s public train company, Renfe.

According to Puente, the back part of the first train derailed and crashed into the head of the other train. An investigation into the cause could take a month, he said.

Álvaro Fernández, the president of Renfe, told Spanish public radio RNE that both trains were well under the speed limit of 250 kph (155 mph); one was going 205 kph (127 mph), the other 210 kph (130 mph). He also said that “human error could be ruled out.”

The incident “must be related to the moving equipment of Iryo or the infrastructure,” he said.

Iryo issued a statement on Monday saying that its train was manufactured in 2022 and passed its latest safety check on Jan. 15. It reiterated its condolences for the victims and said it would completely cooperate with the official investigation.

Various Spaniards who had loved ones on the trains posted messages on social media saying they were unaccounted for and pleading for any information.

The Civil Guard opened an office in Cordoba, the nearest city to the crash, as well as Madrid, Malaga, Huelva and Seville for family members of the missing to seek help and leave DNA samples.

“There were moments when we had to remove the dead to get to the living,” Francisco Carmona, firefighter chief of Cordoba, told Onda Cero radio.

A sports center in Adamuz, a town in the province of Cordoba, about 370 kilometers (about 230 miles) south of Madrid, was turned into a makeshift hospital. The Spanish Red Cross set up a help center offering assistance to emergency services and people seeking information. Members of the Civil Guard and civil defense worked on site throughout the night.

“The scene was horrific. It was terrible,” Adamuz mayor Rafael Moreno told The Associated Press and other reporters. “People asking and begging for help. Those leaving the wreckage. Images that will always stay in my mind.”

One passenger had been treated in a local hospital along with her sister before she returned to Adamuz with hopes of finding her lost dog. She was limping and had a small bandage on her cheek, as seen by an AP reporter.

The Vatican issued a statement saying that Pope Leo XIV expressed his condolences for the dead and hope for the quick recovery of the injured.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also said she was following the “terrible news.”

Spanish King Felipe VI expressed his condolences Monday, adding that the royal house was looking into a visit to Adamuz in the coming days.

“I understand the desperation of the families and the number of injured people who have suffered this accident, and we are all really worried,” the king said, speaking from Athens.

The Spanish flag was flown at half-staff in front of Parliament in Madrid for the victims on Monday.

Spain has spent decades investing heavily in high-speed trains and currently has the largest rail network in Europe for trains moving over 250 kph (155 mph), with more than 3,100 kilometers (1,900 miles) of track, according to the European Union.

The network is a popular, competitively priced and safe mode of transport. Renfe said more than 25 million passengers took one of its high-speed trains in 2024.

Iryo became the first private competitor in high-speed to Renfe in Spain in 2022.

Sunday's accident was the first with deaths on a high-speed train since Spain's high-speed rail network opened its first line in 1992.

Spain’s worst train accident this century occurred in 2013, when 80 people died after a train derailed in the country’s northwest. An investigation concluded the train was traveling 179 kph (111 mph) on a stretch with an 80 kph (50 mph) speed limit when it left the tracks. That stretch of track was not high speed.

Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain, and Naishadham from Madrid. Video-journalist Alicia León in Adamuz and AP journalist Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed.

Emergency crews work at the site of a train collision in Adamuz, southern Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

In this aerial view grab taken from video provided by Guardia Civil, a view of the Alvia train with rescue workers at the scene after a high-speed train collision, near Adamuz, Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (Guardia Civil via AP)

Emergency crews work alongside one of the trains involved in a train collision, in Adamuz, Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

In this grab taken from video provided by Guardia Civil, rescue workers at the scene after a high speed train collision, in Adamuz, Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (Guardia Civil via AP)

In this grab taken from video provided by Guardia Civil, rescue workers at the scene after a high speed train collision, in Adamuz, Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (Guardia Civil via AP)

In this grab taken from video provided by Guardia Civil, rescue workers at the scene after a high speed train collision,in Adamuz, Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (Guardia Civil via AP)

Police cars near the site of a high-speed train collision in Adamuz, near Córdoba, southern Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

An injured person is transported to the makeshift hospital in the sports center in Adamuz, near Córdoba, southern Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, after a high-speed train derailed and collided with another train. (Francisco J. Olmo/Europa Press via AP)

An injured person is transported to the makeshift hospital in the sports center in Adamuz, near Córdoba, southern Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, after a high-speed train derailed and collided with another train. (Francisco J. Olmo/Europa Press via AP)

An injured person is transported by ambulance in Adamuz, near Córdoba, southern Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, after a high-speed train derailed and collided with another train. (Francisco J. Olmo/Europa Press via AP)