43. Painting of LilLy Stone

This oil on canvas portrait of Lilly Stone (1862-1960), founder of the Montgomery County Historical Society, was painted by Naomi Rabb Winston (1894-1979) in 1954. The 92-year-old Mrs. Stone, who operated a quarry on River Road at Seven Locks Road, is depicted in a blue dress, seated with a book in her hands.  

Lilly Coltman Moore lived all her life at Glenmore, the Moore family home near Seven Locks and River Roads. In 1892, she married Frank Pelham Stone, whose death in 1921 left her pressed for income. The undaunted Mrs. Stone started Stoneyhurst Quarries, reopening an 1830s quarry from which her grandfather, Captain John Moore, had provided stone for the construction of the C&O Canal. Very much involved in the business, she was known as the “only woman quarrier” in the country during the 1920s. Stoneyhurst Quarries provided gneiss and mica schist for many prominent buildings over the decades, including the (old) Elephant House at the National Zoo, parts of the National Cathedral, the steps of the U.S. Botanic Gardens, and the 1937 Bethesda Post Office.

In 1944, at the age of 82, Mrs. Stone invited interested parties to her home with the intent of forming a local branch of the Maryland Historical Society. Although plenty of people were excited by the idea of preserving their history, it was Mrs. Stone’s efforts that established the Montgomery County Historical Society as a functioning organization. She also designed the county’s seal and flag; although modifications were later made, they are still based on her design.

Alabama-born artist Naomi Rabb Winston studied at the Corcoran Gallery School of Art in Washington.  The National Society of Arts & Letters offers a scholarship in her name, the website which is illustrated with this portrait of Lilly Stone.

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