History

USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) was constructed by Avondale Industries, Inc., in New Orleans, Louisiana. The ship was launched on Oct. 2, 1993, and commissioned Sept. 30, 1995, and made its maiden deployment to the Mediterranean on April 29, 1997.

THE CARTER HALL ESTATE

USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) honors the name of the Virginia estates that is steeped in American history. Colonial Nathan Burwell of Carter’s Grove built his country mansion on 8,000 acres in the lower Shenandoah Valley near the present town of Winchester. The house took two years to build, from 1790-1792, and Burwell named it after his great-grandfather, Robert “King” Carter. He chose a commanding sit in a grove near a good spring. The clearing for the building still left a fine body of oak and walnut timber, which remains today. The panoramic view of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah River still thrills visitors. The mansion was used alternatively as headquarters for the Union and Confederate troops during the Civil War. The family silver and other valuables were hidden in a secret space between the roof and the ceiling of a single story wing to escape theft. Burwell donated two acres of his land for a chapel where several notables are buried. Among those laid to rest there are Edmond Randolph, the first attorney general of the United States, novelist John Esten Cooke, and the poet Philip Pendleton Cooke. In 1977, Carter Hall was acquired by the People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc., parent organization for Project Hope. Today, Carter Hall is headquarters of Project Hope’s worldwide health-sciences education and training program.