Woodend hosts off-site meetings during business hours, corporate and social events on evenings and weekends, and weddings, for up to 150 guests spread across the mansion, a climate-controlled tent and the lawns. Woodend is a 1927 Georgian Revival house on a 40-acre sanctuary at 8940 Jones Mill Road in Chevy Chase, Maryland, just outside Washington, DC.
Seminars and company events
Corporate meetings run in daytime rooms with natural light that look out onto mature trees. The venue's floor plan shows classroom, U-shape, conference and library layouts. A whiteboard, a screen, an AV cart, easels and Wi-Fi come at no extra charge. When the weather and the schedule allow, part of the program can move outdoors, and an accessible trail runs through the grounds for a walking break. For evening and weekend events, the venue lists client entertaining, staff recognition, holiday parties and achievement celebrations. The same limit of 150 guests applies, shared between the house, the tent and the lawns.
Weddings and receptions
Couples can hold the ceremony outdoors in the grove, on the south or upper lawns, in the meadows, on the portico or on the terrace, or indoors in the Great Hall for up to 50 guests. From spring through fall, dinner takes place in a tent that is included in the rental and comes with drapes, chandeliers, fans, heaters and air conditioning, which runs from June through September. In winter, receptions move inside: up to 80 guests in the Great Hall, or up to 120 in the library and the adjacent room. Two staging rooms and a bridal suite serve the wedding party, and a forest trail is used for photographs. Guests may bring their own alcohol with no corkage fee, and the venue sets no restrictions on red wine or red food.
Rooms and capacities
The Great Hall serves for dancing and for indoor ceremonies. The library and its neighboring room take the larger winter receptions. The tent covers dinners in the warmer months, while the lawns, the grove, the portico and the terrace give space for ceremonies and cocktail hours. The parking area holds up to 70 cars, and shuttles of up to 30 people each can bring guests in from a hotel or a station.
Catering
Events are catered by approved caterers who already know the house; the list is shared on request. For meetings held during business hours, ready-to-eat food from a vendor of your choice is allowed, which keeps a simple working lunch easy to arrange.
History and setting
The architect John Russell Pope, whose work includes the Jefferson Memorial and the National Archives Building, designed the house, completed in 1927. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Woodend is the headquarters of Nature Forward, an environmental nonprofit, and for bookings of eight hours or more part of the rental fee counts as a tax-deductible donation to it. Meadows, native gardens and forest surround the mansion, and the team cites more than 40 years of experience hosting events.
Getting there
Woodend sits about one mile from exit 33 of the Capital Beltway and about nine miles from downtown Washington. Medical Center Metro station is 2.4 miles away and Bethesda Metro station 2.8 miles. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is 14 miles away, Dulles 28 miles and BWI 35 miles.
