OVERTHEMOON
Chukkers & Toppers
The Horsey Set gathers for polo featuring the nation’s top women players
BY VICKY MOON
Maureen Orth
Jacqueline Mars (Photo by Douglas Lees)
I
t was all about the women wearing
boots and white jeans on the polo field
and intriguing hats on the sidelines at
the National Sporting Library & Museum’s
Benefit Polo Match and Brunch. The ladies
gathered on a sparkling September Sunday
against a backdrop of the Blue Ridge
Mountains at the Virginia International Polo
Club in Upperville. It’s part of the Brennan
family’s historic Llangollen Farm, once owned
by the legendary horsewoman/hostess Liz
Whitney Tippett.
The “Super Match” of top women
players on the Northern Trust team included
Maureen Brennan and Sunny Hale (rated at
9 goals, 10 is the best), whose Northern Trust
team defeated the Sporting Library Team 6-5
in a four-chukker contest.
Co-chairmen Danielle and Ron Bradley
greeted guests under a large white marquee
and entertained Ambassador Jean Louis
Wolzfeld of Luxembourg. Donald Brennan
hosted actor Robert Duvall and his wife
94
Sunny Hale, Northern Trust team (Photo: Douglas Lees)
Luciana Pedraza. Writer Maureen Orth, a
special correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine
based in Washington, appeared in a smart straw
hat with Ann Calder and Bunny Muir.
Interior decorator Barry Dixon held court
with a gaggle of friends, sharing news of his
latest fabric designs. Inspired by living in an
area of rolling hills over in Warrenton, “Elway
Hall Toile” fabric evokes the traditions of
fox hunting through vignettes of galloping
thoroughbreds, riders in their habits and
galumphing hounds. Named for Dixon’s estate
and made by Vervain, the native palette of the
glazed chintz comes in five colors: Blueberry,
Daybreak, Locust, Mahogany on Celadon and
Pond Ripple.
Then there were the locals: Michelle and
Tim Brookshire, Jacqueline Ohrstrom,
Dielle Fleischmann, Richard Viets, Mimi
Abel-Smith, jewelry designer Elizabeth
Locke with husband John Staelin and Mary
Lou and Charlie Seilheimer. Jacqueline
Mars was resplendent in pink with a white
Maureen Orth (Photo by Vicky Moon)
topper. (It should also be noted that the
special Polo M&Ms favors were provided by
Mars Inc.)
For those eager to hop out of the social
swirl, here’s some real estate news.
In 1900, a train line ran from Georgetown
to Bluemont, Va. carrying folks from
Washington south for the weekend. Inns and
B&Bs dotted the mountain road not far from
Llangollen, above Bluemont. The area was so
popular that many built second homes to seek
the calm and quiet of the mountain. One such
place was “Solitude,” a rambling stone house
built as a hunting lodge for Assistant Attorney
General James Clark McReynolds, who was
later appointed to the Supreme Court by
Woodrow Wilson.
The impressive stone and frame residence
has five fireplaces, massive beamed ceilings and
smooth carved log handrails all the way to the
third floor. The rambling dwelling, offered by
Evers & Co for $825,000, sits on 14 acres with
all the privacy its name suggests.
WA S H I N G T O N L I F E
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