Historic Merrywood estate, home of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis during her teen years, is now for sale at $49.5 million.
Even though she was the First Lady for less than three years, Jackie Bouvier Kennedy is one of the most famous president’s wives in U.S. history. After spending her early years in the New York area where her father, John “Black Jack” Bouvier, was a stockbroker, Jackie’s mother, Janet, divorced John in 1940 and two years later married Standard Oil heir Hugh Auchincloss. The marriage precipitated a move to his home in McLean, Virginia when Jackie was 13. The divorce had been hard on Jackie and it seemed to make her withdraw into herself. After moving to McLean, she found solace in the home’s location with its panoramic views over the Potomac River and the lushly landscaped seven acres she enjoyed exploring.
The Merrywood estate and the wholesome family environment were a far cry from the turmoil Jackie and her sister Lee experienced in her parents’ Manhattan and Long Island homes where his drinking and extramarital affairs kept the household in constant conflict. Jackie slowly started to blossom at Merrywood and attended George Washington University in Washington, D.C. where she majored in French Literature, graduating in 1951…
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Photos courtesy of Gordon Beall
