National Sporting Library & Museum — Attraction in Middleburg

The National Sporting Library was founded in 1954 in the personal library of George L. Ohrstrom, Sr. The founders of the National Sporting Library focused their new organization on accessibility of research materials on horse and field sports, finding other libraries on these topics to be insufficiently accessible to the public. The first President of the National Sporting Library was Fletcher Harper, long-time Master of the Orange County Hunt in The Plains, Virginia. Additional founders included Lester Karow, and Alexander Mackay-Smith, Editor of The Chronicle of the Horse. When Ohrstrom, Jr. died in 1955, his son, George L. Ohrstrom, Jr., became an officer of the library.

The National Sporting Library was originally housed in the Duffy House, located on Washington Street in Middleburg. An emblem with a fox mask, horseshoe, rifle, and fishing rod was designed to serve as the library's logo. The library grew its collections through donations, and when the collection outgrew the space in the library's building, the National Sporting Library moved to Vine Hill, built in 1804. During these years, the library shared space with the offices of The Chronicle. An underground, fire-proof vault with capacity for 6,000 volumes was installed in Vine Hill to house the library's rare titles.

The library was housed in Vine Hill from 1969 to 1999, when it moved to its current location, a new building resembling an English carriage house. The move was necessitated to house the library's growing collection, which included 16,000 volumes dating to the 17th Century and over 100 sporting art prints. Construction of the building took 18 months, and was completed in July 1999. The library moved its collections into the building in August 1999 and a grand opening was held on September 18, 1999. Funding for the library's new building came from many of the library's members, including a $1 million donation from Paul Mellon, who also donated a weather vane to be installed atop the...

Beautiful building and grounds, amazing staff. John Connolly, the "George L. Ohrstrom, Jr. Librarian" is a spring of knowledge. I had the opportunity to be invited to see the rare books collection and it was amazing. Even if you don't like fox hunting or horses you can still appreciate the art and passion for the sport that is shown through this collection. Or just visit to enjoy one of the most elegant public libraries you probably will ever go to. I only had time to visit the Library, but when I go back I will take the time to visit the museum as well. There is an $10 admission fee for adults, $8 for seniors and teens, and children under 12...

Some of the exhibits are closed now so the price of admission is half price and free for kids at the museum. The artwork was interesting; the plaque descriptions were very informative. There is currently a special exhibit of Secretariat downstairs in the library that has horseshoes showing how long his stride was that was pretty neat along with other cool (more contemporary) pieces. The library had some really great kids books we sat and read for a bit. Highly recommended...