Belmont Country Club's 25th Anniversary History, Explained
August 13, 2026
August 13, 2026
Drive through the gates at Belmont and the first thing most people register is the golf course, not the building sitting on the highest point of the property. That building is why the golf course exists at all, and it was standing on that hill for two centuries before anyone laid out a fairway.
In 2026, Belmont Country Club is marking its 25th anniversary, while the Manor House is more than two centuries old. The Manor House's history includes a sequence of owners and uses before it became a country club.
The Manor House was built between 1799 and 1802 by Ludwell Lee, son of Richard Henry Lee, who signed the Declaration of Independence. Lee built the estate on land inherited through his wife, Flora Lee, land that had previously belonged to Lord Fairfax. According to the club's own history, the Marquis de Lafayette visited the property and donated the ornate mantels that are still in the house today.
Belmont, as a name, predates the golf course by more than two hundred years. It comes from the French for "beautiful mountain," a description of the hilltop the house sits on, not a phrase someone invented for a real estate brochure when Toll Brothers broke ground. If you live inside the gates, that name was already attached to this exact hill before the United States had a paved interstate system, before Loudoun County had a golf course of any kind, before Ashburn was Ashburn.
Belmont's ownership history before Toll Brothers restored the house includes nine entries.
Only after IBM's ownership did Toll Brothers restore the house and reopen it. Arnold Palmer visited shortly before it opened as Belmont Country Club on September 9, 2001. The golf course, the pools, the tennis courts, all of it, is the tenth chapter of a house that already had nine.
The 2001 opening is the part residents actually experience day to day, and it is worth being precise about what changed that year versus what had already been sitting there for two centuries. Toll Brothers built the golf community around the restored house, eventually placing 2,157 homes around the Arnold Palmer Signature course and a 35,000 square foot clubhouse anchored inside the Manor House itself, according to the Belmont Community Association. The club later changed hands again and now operates under Invited, the private club company that also runs River Creek in Leesburg.
Invited describes the 25th anniversary as a full year of events on its history page. This year's calendar includes several examples of that programming.
The same week in late July, Belmont ran three separate anniversary events back to back rather than one signature party.
On July 23, the club hosted a Silver Oak Wine Pairing Dinner presented by Oceania Cruises, a five-course meal built around Silver Oak wines with chefs pulled from across Invited's portfolio: Chef Steve Gustafson of The Hills of Lakeway, Chef Mark Samson of Mission Hills, Chef Brendan Ross of Indigo Run, and Belmont's own Chef Joseph Dunbar. The dinner ran $125 per person.
That same week, the club also ran its Charity Classic Golf Tournament, a 9 a.m. shotgun start with breakfast, lunch on the course, and a closing BBQ dinner, all benefiting the Loudoun First Responders Foundation. The tournament included remarks from Loudoun County Sheriff Michael L. Chapman and retired Fire Chief Keith H. Johnson.
On Saturday, July 25, the anniversary programming shifted tone entirely with a patio party called Jingle & Chill, a Christmas-in-July event with holiday cocktails, live music, a $25 anniversary menu item, and a prize for the best-dressed guest in Santa hats and flip-flops.
Three different registers in four days: fine dining, civic fundraising, and a deliberately silly patio party. That range is closer to what "a year of events" actually means than any single headline item would suggest.
The Manor House also hosts events open to non-members. According to Ashburn Magazine, more than 100 people gathered in the Manor House and on its front lawn on June 3, 2026, for the second annual Best of Ashburn celebration, presented by Ashburn Magazine and sponsored by Loudoun Economic Development. Winners across roughly 120 categories, chosen by nearly 10,000 area residents who cast about 80,000 votes in online balloting that February, picked up their plaques in the same rooms Ludwell Lee built and Lafayette once visited.
Ashburn Magazine reported that publisher Bruce Potter said the evening was a way to "connect our community and help us meet our neighbors," a line that applies just as well to a resident booking the same ballroom for a retirement party or a baby shower. Belmont's celebration spaces are open to the public, membership or not, for birthdays, reunions, showers, and holiday gatherings. Members waive the room fee. Non-members can book celebration spaces for events.
That is one part of Belmont's history for residents inside the gates today. Belmont Country Club marks its 25th anniversary in 2026, while the Manor House was built between 1799 and 1802. This year's anniversary calendar also offers a chance to consider both chapters of Belmont's history.
If you are weighing a move into Belmont, or already live there and want a clearer read on what a home in this specific community is actually worth this year, Jennifer Liwanag brings both the market data and the builder's-eye read on construction and layout that this neighborhood rewards. Let's Connect.
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