National Sporting Library & Museum

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 building's cupola. In 2009, the National Sporting Library re-branded as National Sporting Library & Museum (NSLM) and began expansion of Vine Hill to include 13,000 feet of art gallery space. The new museum opened on October 7, 2011 with the inaugural exhibition Afield in America: 400 Years of Animal & Sporting Art.