The inside-the-Beltway estate of the late newsman Roger Mudd is on the market for $7.9 million.
The historic home in McLean, Virginia, boasts eight acres and dates back to the Civil War. Mudd, the CBS reporter who died in March at 93, had lived in the rambling “Elmwood Estate” since 1972.
Mudd was a famous reporter and anchor whose simple question of “why do you want to be president” to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy helped derail the Democrat’s 1980 presidential campaign due to his rambling, fumbling answer. Former President Jimmy Carter was renominated that year by the Democrats, only to lose greatly to Republican Ronald Reagan.
The description of the home by realtor McFadden Properties read: “Distinguished television journalist Roger Mudd and his wife acquired the property in 1972 and through significant restoration, made Elmwood their family home for almost fifty years.
“Originally part of the Fairfax Land grant, ‘Elmwood’ has been a working farm and family estate since the early 18th century. The original house was built in 1850 by Spencer Mottrom Ball but was destroyed during the Civil War. After the War, Ball’s son William Selwyn (‘Selly’) returned to Elmwood, building the log ‘Bachelor’s Hall’ in 1876 and a larger house in 1879.”
