Analostan: General John Mason's Summer Home on Theodore Roosevelt Island

The 70-acre Theodore Roosevelt Island, resting in the Potomac River between Washington, DC and Virginia, once known as Analostan and Mason’s Island, was the site of a grand house and plantation constructed by General John Mason (1766-1849).

North face of Analostan as it appeared when completed circa 1800. Rendering by Stephen A. Hansen

John Mason was one of the most prominent businessmen in Georgetown at the turn of the 19th century.  He served as a brigadier general of the District of Columbia militia, was a founder of the first bank in Washington, the Bank of Columbia in 1793 and later served as its president.  He became president of the "Potowmack" (Potomac) Company, the predecessor to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company (George Washington was its first president). And in 1815, he purchased the Columbia Foundry, the largest business in Washington at the time. Upon his father's death in in 1792, he inherited Analostan, an island in the Potomac River, just across from Georgetown now…