Elizabeth Reese is a historian in the Washington, D.C. area whose research is focused on public memory, family ties, and grief. Elizabeth has spent over a decade as an interpreter at historic sites on the East Coast and her work has appeared in TIME, the New York Times, and C-SPAN. Elizabeth was awarded the Scott Hartwig Public History Fellowship at the Civil War Institute in 2015 and the America 250! Commendation Medal in 2024. She is the Senior Manager of Public Programs & Interpretation at Woodlawn & Pope-Leighey House and is working towards completing her Master of Arts in American History from Gettysburg College. Her first book, Marquis de Lafayette Returns: A Tour of America’s National Capital Region, was published by The History Press (imprint of Arcadia Publishing) in 2024. For more information, visit: http://www.elizabethmreese.com
The life of Eleanor “Nelly” Parke Custis Lewis was one of privilege and loss. After the premature death of her father, John “Jacky” Parke Custis, in 1781, Nelly and her younger brother, George Washington “Wash” Custis, were sent to Mount Vernon to live with their paternal grandmother, Martha, and her husband George Washington. Under the […]
