Preppy/"Old" Money DC - tell me everything

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've attended a bunch of private school admissions events this fall, and I'm getting my first glimpse into a VERY distinct preppy / wasp-y crowd. They're not really Cave Dwellers (although surely some of their parents and grand-parents were) -- very few seem to work for the administration or in the government. In fact, they seem apolitical unless you count wearing a Barbour jacket as a religion. The most common threads I've been able to discern is that most are white and either from DC or the South, they all know each other well, and even though I know there are other exclusive country clubs out there, they are basically all members of the Chevy Chase Club. Who are these people: where is the money from, how were they raised, and how do they spend their time?

My dear interlocutor,

Your inquiry reads like the field notes of a well-intentioned ethnographer who has wandered, quite by accident, into a habitat populated by that curious American subspecies: the Modern Metropolitan WASP, a creature neither as endangered nor as monolithic as the folklore would have one believe.

You observe, quite astutely, that these individuals do not conform to the old “Cave Dweller” archetype—those laconic Brahmins who once glided between Kalorama, the Cosmos Club, and the Wilson administration without ever disturbing a single pleat of their seersucker. No, today’s iteration is far more diffused, and—dare I say—more democratic in its pedigree, though they will never admit as much.

The money, as you ask, tends to emerge from the same three tributaries that have nourished this class since the Coolidge administration:

Legacy wealth, discreetly laundered through trusts so ancient they predate the Internal Revenue Code;

“Quiet” corporate success—defense contractors, regional banking families, clever people who own unpleasantly lucrative logistics companies; and

The New Southern Gentry, who discovered sometime in the Reagan era that Washington was the perfect place to winter both their fortunes and their children.

As for how they were raised, one must picture the sort of childhood in which manners are taught before multiplication tables, and where the great moral transgressions of youth consist not in rebellion per se, but in wearing boat shoes before Memorial Day or failing to write a prompt thank-you note to Aunt Eloise for the monogrammed stationery she bestowed.

They were reared on a diet of Episcopalian restraint, tennis lessons, laconic summer camps in Maine, and a vaguely stoic orientation toward life that insists one never—ever—acknowledge ambition while privately tending to it with horticultural precision.

And how they spend their time now?
Well, were you to plot their existence on a calendar, the coordinates would be familiar:

September through November: school admissions events, performed like ritual courtship dances;

Weekends: lacrosse or squash, depending on latitude;

Holidays: dutiful pilgrimages to the ancestral home, often a clapboard structure in the Carolinas containing more portraits of stern-looking ancestors than modern appliances;

Summers: a rotation between Nantucket, the Outer Banks, and a lake somewhere in New Hampshire whose name you would never know unless born into it.

They are not apolitical, mind you; they are post-political. To them, politics is something that happens on C-SPAN, not the dining room table. Their chosen parties are not elephants or donkeys but rather the Chevy Chase Club, the Sulgrave, and—for the truly cosmopolitan—the Metropolitan Club of Washington.

In sum, these are people who navigate life with the serene confidence of those who assume—often correctly—that the world will continue to be upholstered in their preferred fabric.

I admire your curiosity. Observe them closely. They are, after all, one of America’s last reliably performing cultural ecosystems.

You sound maybe older? The current reputation of Chevy and Met is not elite. They are known to be Maga havens and the families I know that belong there are all from Texas, Midwest, Florida etc... I can not think of anyone from New England or Northeast elite families.

The Cosmos is intellectual and elite and has a lot more old money WASP families.

Sorry your view is not just accurate or realistic.

You don’t know enough people and are not a member of any of the clubs. Don’t speculate from the sidelines, it’s pure foolishness.

You couldn't be more wrong.

You deal in 3rd party speculation and traffic in the unsubstantiated opinions of others.

No 2 neighbors and my in laws belong and have all expressed displeasure with the trajectory. They rarely use it. We along with other friends - all Ivy alums and old Northeast/New England old money have all decided to join other clubs and are quite happy there. We did not apply to above clubs.

I have been associated for years and decades through my family and there have been some changes but there are still descendants of those who have been seen as “leading families” for generations. There are also people who are descendants of Tuxedo Park and other northern establishment areas. What has changed is that there are now more Catholics and Jewish people at these places. The overall memberships are probably more accomplished and certainly more wealthy ( all of DC is) than in the past too.

What I suspect is that the pp’s neighbors and in-laws are cut from the in-bred racist cloth that did dominate those clubs years and years ago and hence the “trajectory” doesn’t work for them anymore.

Nope. The neighbors are liberal and elite Northeastern and New England families. They don’t like the blackballing and group mentality described above to not allow certain people in while at the same time easily supporting others who have much worse behavior. They also don’t like the Maga takeover. Maga is a different sort of politic.

There were far more Trump Admin officials in 2016 -20 than now. Far more. So even this aspect is belied by reality.

Did not say Trump officials- said Maga. There is a difference. There is a large group of families that live in DC that are all Maga and they all belong to the above clubs. Noone said they are Trump officials.

You are making stuff up unless you have their political contributions and pictures of them in hats. Just silly.

They are very vocal about their support of Maga. Spring Valley has a lot of them and they all belong to the clubs above.

Where are they vocal? And do you live in Spring Valley? Or did you just see a geographic voter registration list and yet again opine as an outsider?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Liberal Elite would never have been members as these places were less liberal and less elite in their prior formations.

They were invited and they joined years ago but as said they do not go to these clubs now. They spend time at a few other clubs in the area instead. This is not really up to banter about because one - it is the truth and secondly - I do not care enough about it but it is what they have told me. They do frequent Cosmos club and a club in Georgetown often.

The Cosmos Club is falling down and has terrible food. The Georgetown Club is small and cramped. Neither has a waiting list.


At best, they turned a blind eye when there were real issues and have imagined new ones now.

Have you been recently? The Cosmos Club is probably one of the most beautiful clubs in DC. They redid the dining area and the food is amazing.

Gtown Club definitely has a waitlist. Friends are members there and I know of at several friends currently on the waitlist there. There are a lot of high caliber people that frequent that club. I have seen them when I am a guest there.

Name them. They are probably all members of the other clubs which they frequent more often.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Liberal Elite would never have been members as these places were less liberal and less elite in their prior formations.

They were invited and they joined years ago but as said they do not go to these clubs now. They spend time at a few other clubs in the area instead. This is not really up to banter about because one - it is the truth and secondly - I do not care enough about it but it is what they have told me. They do frequent Cosmos club and a club in Georgetown often.

The Cosmos Club is falling down and has terrible food. The Georgetown Club is small and cramped. Neither has a waiting list.


At best, they turned a blind eye when there were real issues and have imagined new ones now.

You have confirmed your age and that you are completely out of the scene. Cosmos Club has been completely redone and is beautiful. The dining room is lovely. We were just there as guests last week.

I know 5 people on the waitlist at The Georgetown Club. It definitely has a long long waitlist. I think you are out of the loop and stuck in time. Best of luck to you.

You always know someone else but it’s not you. Cosmos is in a bad location and has never been great food but I will admit it’s been 7-8 years since I was there. That said, it’s still not a young club or a group with a currently distinguished membership.

But good for you to be a visitor and an outside observer of much and a participant in little. Enjoy the view and a commend your ego for still feeling capable of opining from beyond.

DP. “Opining” says it all. Cosmos is a great location. I am laughing at this poster. Seriously? You need to get out more. Have you seen their wall of members? It is the most distinguished group of all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've attended a bunch of private school admissions events this fall, and I'm getting my first glimpse into a VERY distinct preppy / wasp-y crowd. They're not really Cave Dwellers (although surely some of their parents and grand-parents were) -- very few seem to work for the administration or in the government. In fact, they seem apolitical unless you count wearing a Barbour jacket as a religion. The most common threads I've been able to discern is that most are white and either from DC or the South, they all know each other well, and even though I know there are other exclusive country clubs out there, they are basically all members of the Chevy Chase Club. Who are these people: where is the money from, how were they raised, and how do they spend their time?

My dear interlocutor,

Your inquiry reads like the field notes of a well-intentioned ethnographer who has wandered, quite by accident, into a habitat populated by that curious American subspecies: the Modern Metropolitan WASP, a creature neither as endangered nor as monolithic as the folklore would have one believe.

You observe, quite astutely, that these individuals do not conform to the old “Cave Dweller” archetype—those laconic Brahmins who once glided between Kalorama, the Cosmos Club, and the Wilson administration without ever disturbing a single pleat of their seersucker. No, today’s iteration is far more diffused, and—dare I say—more democratic in its pedigree, though they will never admit as much.

The money, as you ask, tends to emerge from the same three tributaries that have nourished this class since the Coolidge administration:

Legacy wealth, discreetly laundered through trusts so ancient they predate the Internal Revenue Code;

“Quiet” corporate success—defense contractors, regional banking families, clever people who own unpleasantly lucrative logistics companies; and

The New Southern Gentry, who discovered sometime in the Reagan era that Washington was the perfect place to winter both their fortunes and their children.

As for how they were raised, one must picture the sort of childhood in which manners are taught before multiplication tables, and where the great moral transgressions of youth consist not in rebellion per se, but in wearing boat shoes before Memorial Day or failing to write a prompt thank-you note to Aunt Eloise for the monogrammed stationery she bestowed.

They were reared on a diet of Episcopalian restraint, tennis lessons, laconic summer camps in Maine, and a vaguely stoic orientation toward life that insists one never—ever—acknowledge ambition while privately tending to it with horticultural precision.

And how they spend their time now?
Well, were you to plot their existence on a calendar, the coordinates would be familiar:

September through November: school admissions events, performed like ritual courtship dances;

Weekends: lacrosse or squash, depending on latitude;

Holidays: dutiful pilgrimages to the ancestral home, often a clapboard structure in the Carolinas containing more portraits of stern-looking ancestors than modern appliances;

Summers: a rotation between Nantucket, the Outer Banks, and a lake somewhere in New Hampshire whose name you would never know unless born into it.

They are not apolitical, mind you; they are post-political. To them, politics is something that happens on C-SPAN, not the dining room table. Their chosen parties are not elephants or donkeys but rather the Chevy Chase Club, the Sulgrave, and—for the truly cosmopolitan—the Metropolitan Club of Washington.

In sum, these are people who navigate life with the serene confidence of those who assume—often correctly—that the world will continue to be upholstered in their preferred fabric.

I admire your curiosity. Observe them closely. They are, after all, one of America’s last reliably performing cultural ecosystems.

You sound maybe older? The current reputation of Chevy and Met is not elite. They are known to be Maga havens and the families I know that belong there are all from Texas, Midwest, Florida etc... I can not think of anyone from New England or Northeast elite families.

The Cosmos is intellectual and elite and has a lot more old money WASP families.

Sorry your view is not just accurate or realistic.

You don’t know enough people and are not a member of any of the clubs. Don’t speculate from the sidelines, it’s pure foolishness.

You couldn't be more wrong.

You deal in 3rd party speculation and traffic in the unsubstantiated opinions of others.

No 2 neighbors and my in laws belong and have all expressed displeasure with the trajectory. They rarely use it. We along with other friends - all Ivy alums and old Northeast/New England old money have all decided to join other clubs and are quite happy there. We did not apply to above clubs.

I have been associated for years and decades through my family and there have been some changes but there are still descendants of those who have been seen as “leading families” for generations. There are also people who are descendants of Tuxedo Park and other northern establishment areas. What has changed is that there are now more Catholics and Jewish people at these places. The overall memberships are probably more accomplished and certainly more wealthy ( all of DC is) than in the past too.

What I suspect is that the pp’s neighbors and in-laws are cut from the in-bred racist cloth that did dominate those clubs years and years ago and hence the “trajectory” doesn’t work for them anymore.

Nope. The neighbors are liberal and elite Northeastern and New England families. They don’t like the blackballing and group mentality described above to not allow certain people in while at the same time easily supporting others who have much worse behavior. They also don’t like the Maga takeover. Maga is a different sort of politic.

There were far more Trump Admin officials in 2016 -20 than now. Far more. So even this aspect is belied by reality.

Did not say Trump officials- said Maga. There is a difference. There is a large group of families that live in DC that are all Maga and they all belong to the above clubs. Noone said they are Trump officials.

You are making stuff up unless you have their political contributions and pictures of them in hats. Just silly.

They are very vocal about their support of Maga. Spring Valley has a lot of them and they all belong to the clubs above.

Where are they vocal? And do you live in Spring Valley? Or did you just see a geographic voter registration list and yet again opine as an outsider?

DP. We live in Spring Valley/Kent ares and yes there is a large group of families that all support Maga and they belong to the clubs above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've attended a bunch of private school admissions events this fall, and I'm getting my first glimpse into a VERY distinct preppy / wasp-y crowd. They're not really Cave Dwellers (although surely some of their parents and grand-parents were) -- very few seem to work for the administration or in the government. In fact, they seem apolitical unless you count wearing a Barbour jacket as a religion. The most common threads I've been able to discern is that most are white and either from DC or the South, they all know each other well, and even though I know there are other exclusive country clubs out there, they are basically all members of the Chevy Chase Club. Who are these people: where is the money from, how were they raised, and how do they spend their time?

My dear interlocutor,

Your inquiry reads like the field notes of a well-intentioned ethnographer who has wandered, quite by accident, into a habitat populated by that curious American subspecies: the Modern Metropolitan WASP, a creature neither as endangered nor as monolithic as the folklore would have one believe.

You observe, quite astutely, that these individuals do not conform to the old “Cave Dweller” archetype—those laconic Brahmins who once glided between Kalorama, the Cosmos Club, and the Wilson administration without ever disturbing a single pleat of their seersucker. No, today’s iteration is far more diffused, and—dare I say—more democratic in its pedigree, though they will never admit as much.

The money, as you ask, tends to emerge from the same three tributaries that have nourished this class since the Coolidge administration:

Legacy wealth, discreetly laundered through trusts so ancient they predate the Internal Revenue Code;

“Quiet” corporate success—defense contractors, regional banking families, clever people who own unpleasantly lucrative logistics companies; and

The New Southern Gentry, who discovered sometime in the Reagan era that Washington was the perfect place to winter both their fortunes and their children.

As for how they were raised, one must picture the sort of childhood in which manners are taught before multiplication tables, and where the great moral transgressions of youth consist not in rebellion per se, but in wearing boat shoes before Memorial Day or failing to write a prompt thank-you note to Aunt Eloise for the monogrammed stationery she bestowed.

They were reared on a diet of Episcopalian restraint, tennis lessons, laconic summer camps in Maine, and a vaguely stoic orientation toward life that insists one never—ever—acknowledge ambition while privately tending to it with horticultural precision.

And how they spend their time now?
Well, were you to plot their existence on a calendar, the coordinates would be familiar:

September through November: school admissions events, performed like ritual courtship dances;

Weekends: lacrosse or squash, depending on latitude;

Holidays: dutiful pilgrimages to the ancestral home, often a clapboard structure in the Carolinas containing more portraits of stern-looking ancestors than modern appliances;

Summers: a rotation between Nantucket, the Outer Banks, and a lake somewhere in New Hampshire whose name you would never know unless born into it.

They are not apolitical, mind you; they are post-political. To them, politics is something that happens on C-SPAN, not the dining room table. Their chosen parties are not elephants or donkeys but rather the Chevy Chase Club, the Sulgrave, and—for the truly cosmopolitan—the Metropolitan Club of Washington.

In sum, these are people who navigate life with the serene confidence of those who assume—often correctly—that the world will continue to be upholstered in their preferred fabric.

I admire your curiosity. Observe them closely. They are, after all, one of America’s last reliably performing cultural ecosystems.

You sound maybe older? The current reputation of Chevy and Met is not elite. They are known to be Maga havens and the families I know that belong there are all from Texas, Midwest, Florida etc... I can not think of anyone from New England or Northeast elite families.

The Cosmos is intellectual and elite and has a lot more old money WASP families.

Sorry your view is not just accurate or realistic.

You don’t know enough people and are not a member of any of the clubs. Don’t speculate from the sidelines, it’s pure foolishness.

You couldn't be more wrong.

You deal in 3rd party speculation and traffic in the unsubstantiated opinions of others.

No 2 neighbors and my in laws belong and have all expressed displeasure with the trajectory. They rarely use it. We along with other friends - all Ivy alums and old Northeast/New England old money have all decided to join other clubs and are quite happy there. We did not apply to above clubs.

I have been associated for years and decades through my family and there have been some changes but there are still descendants of those who have been seen as “leading families” for generations. There are also people who are descendants of Tuxedo Park and other northern establishment areas. What has changed is that there are now more Catholics and Jewish people at these places. The overall memberships are probably more accomplished and certainly more wealthy ( all of DC is) than in the past too.

What I suspect is that the pp’s neighbors and in-laws are cut from the in-bred racist cloth that did dominate those clubs years and years ago and hence the “trajectory” doesn’t work for them anymore.

Nope. The neighbors are liberal and elite Northeastern and New England families. They don’t like the blackballing and group mentality described above to not allow certain people in while at the same time easily supporting others who have much worse behavior. They also don’t like the Maga takeover. Maga is a different sort of politic.

There were far more Trump Admin officials in 2016 -20 than now. Far more. So even this aspect is belied by reality.

Did not say Trump officials- said Maga. There is a difference. There is a large group of families that live in DC that are all Maga and they all belong to the above clubs. Noone said they are Trump officials.

You are making stuff up unless you have their political contributions and pictures of them in hats. Just silly.

They are very vocal about their support of Maga. Spring Valley has a lot of them and they all belong to the clubs above.

Where are they vocal? And do you live in Spring Valley? Or did you just see a geographic voter registration list and yet again opine as an outsider?

DP. Yes we live in Spring Valley. This is well known which makes me think maybe you do not live in DC as you said? Spring Valley has a large group of families that support Maga and they all belong to the clubs above. They are quite open above it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you write this because it is off in so many ways that the follow up research makes sense:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50892224-the-cave-dwellers

This book was genuinely one of the worst things I've ever read. The author has no clue how to write and gets so many basic things wrong.

Ohh shoot I love the idea of a murder mystery in this setting, but I read the author’s first book, and while it was so sad how her fathers greed created such trauma for her, everything she described about her family and upbringing was so obviously paper-card mcmansion new money but she very clearly thinks she’s waspy because she could feasibly look the part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've attended a bunch of private school admissions events this fall, and I'm getting my first glimpse into a VERY distinct preppy / wasp-y crowd. They're not really Cave Dwellers (although surely some of their parents and grand-parents were) -- very few seem to work for the administration or in the government. In fact, they seem apolitical unless you count wearing a Barbour jacket as a religion. The most common threads I've been able to discern is that most are white and either from DC or the South, they all know each other well, and even though I know there are other exclusive country clubs out there, they are basically all members of the Chevy Chase Club. Who are these people: where is the money from, how were they raised, and how do they spend their time?

My dear interlocutor,

Your inquiry reads like the field notes of a well-intentioned ethnographer who has wandered, quite by accident, into a habitat populated by that curious American subspecies: the Modern Metropolitan WASP, a creature neither as endangered nor as monolithic as the folklore would have one believe.

You observe, quite astutely, that these individuals do not conform to the old “Cave Dweller” archetype—those laconic Brahmins who once glided between Kalorama, the Cosmos Club, and the Wilson administration without ever disturbing a single pleat of their seersucker. No, today’s iteration is far more diffused, and—dare I say—more democratic in its pedigree, though they will never admit as much.

The money, as you ask, tends to emerge from the same three tributaries that have nourished this class since the Coolidge administration:

Legacy wealth, discreetly laundered through trusts so ancient they predate the Internal Revenue Code;

“Quiet” corporate success—defense contractors, regional banking families, clever people who own unpleasantly lucrative logistics companies; and

The New Southern Gentry, who discovered sometime in the Reagan era that Washington was the perfect place to winter both their fortunes and their children.

As for how they were raised, one must picture the sort of childhood in which manners are taught before multiplication tables, and where the great moral transgressions of youth consist not in rebellion per se, but in wearing boat shoes before Memorial Day or failing to write a prompt thank-you note to Aunt Eloise for the monogrammed stationery she bestowed.

They were reared on a diet of Episcopalian restraint, tennis lessons, laconic summer camps in Maine, and a vaguely stoic orientation toward life that insists one never—ever—acknowledge ambition while privately tending to it with horticultural precision.

And how they spend their time now?
Well, were you to plot their existence on a calendar, the coordinates would be familiar:

September through November: school admissions events, performed like ritual courtship dances;

Weekends: lacrosse or squash, depending on latitude;

Holidays: dutiful pilgrimages to the ancestral home, often a clapboard structure in the Carolinas containing more portraits of stern-looking ancestors than modern appliances;

Summers: a rotation between Nantucket, the Outer Banks, and a lake somewhere in New Hampshire whose name you would never know unless born into it.

They are not apolitical, mind you; they are post-political. To them, politics is something that happens on C-SPAN, not the dining room table. Their chosen parties are not elephants or donkeys but rather the Chevy Chase Club, the Sulgrave, and—for the truly cosmopolitan—the Metropolitan Club of Washington.

In sum, these are people who navigate life with the serene confidence of those who assume—often correctly—that the world will continue to be upholstered in their preferred fabric.

I admire your curiosity. Observe them closely. They are, after all, one of America’s last reliably performing cultural ecosystems.

You sound maybe older? The current reputation of Chevy and Met is not elite. They are known to be Maga havens and the families I know that belong there are all from Texas, Midwest, Florida etc... I can not think of anyone from New England or Northeast elite families.

The Cosmos is intellectual and elite and has a lot more old money WASP families.

Sorry your view is not just accurate or realistic.

You don’t know enough people and are not a member of any of the clubs. Don’t speculate from the sidelines, it’s pure foolishness.

You couldn't be more wrong.

You deal in 3rd party speculation and traffic in the unsubstantiated opinions of others.

No 2 neighbors and my in laws belong and have all expressed displeasure with the trajectory. They rarely use it. We along with other friends - all Ivy alums and old Northeast/New England old money have all decided to join other clubs and are quite happy there. We did not apply to above clubs.

I have been associated for years and decades through my family and there have been some changes but there are still descendants of those who have been seen as “leading families” for generations. There are also people who are descendants of Tuxedo Park and other northern establishment areas. What has changed is that there are now more Catholics and Jewish people at these places. The overall memberships are probably more accomplished and certainly more wealthy ( all of DC is) than in the past too.

What I suspect is that the pp’s neighbors and in-laws are cut from the in-bred racist cloth that did dominate those clubs years and years ago and hence the “trajectory” doesn’t work for them anymore.

Nope. The neighbors are liberal and elite Northeastern and New England families. They don’t like the blackballing and group mentality described above to not allow certain people in while at the same time easily supporting others who have much worse behavior. They also don’t like the Maga takeover. Maga is a different sort of politic.

There were far more Trump Admin officials in 2016 -20 than now. Far more. So even this aspect is belied by reality.

There were more Trump Officials in T45 reign that were not tattooed rednecks, hillbillies, really ugly, or all 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've attended a bunch of private school admissions events this fall, and I'm getting my first glimpse into a VERY distinct preppy / wasp-y crowd. They're not really Cave Dwellers (although surely some of their parents and grand-parents were) -- very few seem to work for the administration or in the government. In fact, they seem apolitical unless you count wearing a Barbour jacket as a religion. The most common threads I've been able to discern is that most are white and either from DC or the South, they all know each other well, and even though I know there are other exclusive country clubs out there, they are basically all members of the Chevy Chase Club. Who are these people: where is the money from, how were they raised, and how do they spend their time?

My dear interlocutor,

Your inquiry reads like the field notes of a well-intentioned ethnographer who has wandered, quite by accident, into a habitat populated by that curious American subspecies: the Modern Metropolitan WASP, a creature neither as endangered nor as monolithic as the folklore would have one believe.

You observe, quite astutely, that these individuals do not conform to the old “Cave Dweller” archetype—those laconic Brahmins who once glided between Kalorama, the Cosmos Club, and the Wilson administration without ever disturbing a single pleat of their seersucker. No, today’s iteration is far more diffused, and—dare I say—more democratic in its pedigree, though they will never admit as much.

The money, as you ask, tends to emerge from the same three tributaries that have nourished this class since the Coolidge administration:

Legacy wealth, discreetly laundered through trusts so ancient they predate the Internal Revenue Code;

“Quiet” corporate success—defense contractors, regional banking families, clever people who own unpleasantly lucrative logistics companies; and

The New Southern Gentry, who discovered sometime in the Reagan era that Washington was the perfect place to winter both their fortunes and their children.

As for how they were raised, one must picture the sort of childhood in which manners are taught before multiplication tables, and where the great moral transgressions of youth consist not in rebellion per se, but in wearing boat shoes before Memorial Day or failing to write a prompt thank-you note to Aunt Eloise for the monogrammed stationery she bestowed.

They were reared on a diet of Episcopalian restraint, tennis lessons, laconic summer camps in Maine, and a vaguely stoic orientation toward life that insists one never—ever—acknowledge ambition while privately tending to it with horticultural precision.

And how they spend their time now?
Well, were you to plot their existence on a calendar, the coordinates would be familiar:

September through November: school admissions events, performed like ritual courtship dances;

Weekends: lacrosse or squash, depending on latitude;

Holidays: dutiful pilgrimages to the ancestral home, often a clapboard structure in the Carolinas containing more portraits of stern-looking ancestors than modern appliances;

Summers: a rotation between Nantucket, the Outer Banks, and a lake somewhere in New Hampshire whose name you would never know unless born into it.

They are not apolitical, mind you; they are post-political. To them, politics is something that happens on C-SPAN, not the dining room table. Their chosen parties are not elephants or donkeys but rather the Chevy Chase Club, the Sulgrave, and—for the truly cosmopolitan—the Metropolitan Club of Washington.

In sum, these are people who navigate life with the serene confidence of those who assume—often correctly—that the world will continue to be upholstered in their preferred fabric.

I admire your curiosity. Observe them closely. They are, after all, one of America’s last reliably performing cultural ecosystems.

You sound maybe older? The current reputation of Chevy and Met is not elite. They are known to be Maga havens and the families I know that belong there are all from Texas, Midwest, Florida etc... I can not think of anyone from New England or Northeast elite families.

The Cosmos is intellectual and elite and has a lot more old money WASP families.

Sorry your view is not just accurate or realistic.

You don’t know enough people and are not a member of any of the clubs. Don’t speculate from the sidelines, it’s pure foolishness.

You couldn't be more wrong.

You deal in 3rd party speculation and traffic in the unsubstantiated opinions of others.

No 2 neighbors and my in laws belong and have all expressed displeasure with the trajectory. They rarely use it. We along with other friends - all Ivy alums and old Northeast/New England old money have all decided to join other clubs and are quite happy there. We did not apply to above clubs.

I have been associated for years and decades through my family and there have been some changes but there are still descendants of those who have been seen as “leading families” for generations. There are also people who are descendants of Tuxedo Park and other northern establishment areas. What has changed is that there are now more Catholics and Jewish people at these places. The overall memberships are probably more accomplished and certainly more wealthy ( all of DC is) than in the past too.

What I suspect is that the pp’s neighbors and in-laws are cut from the in-bred racist cloth that did dominate those clubs years and years ago and hence the “trajectory” doesn’t work for them anymore.

Nope. The neighbors are liberal and elite Northeastern and New England families. They don’t like the blackballing and group mentality described above to not allow certain people in while at the same time easily supporting others who have much worse behavior. They also don’t like the Maga takeover. Maga is a different sort of politic.

There were far more Trump Admin officials in 2016 -20 than now. Far more. So even this aspect is belied by reality.

There were more Trump Officials in T45 reign that were not tattooed rednecks, hillbillies, really ugly, or all 3.

I know about 15-20 families that all are very public/vocal supporters of Maga that live in Spring Valley, Kent, Wesley Heights area and they all belong to Chevy and also some to either Met or Sulgrave. This is not a secret.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've attended a bunch of private school admissions events this fall, and I'm getting my first glimpse into a VERY distinct preppy / wasp-y crowd. They're not really Cave Dwellers (although surely some of their parents and grand-parents were) -- very few seem to work for the administration or in the government. In fact, they seem apolitical unless you count wearing a Barbour jacket as a religion. The most common threads I've been able to discern is that most are white and either from DC or the South, they all know each other well, and even though I know there are other exclusive country clubs out there, they are basically all members of the Chevy Chase Club. Who are these people: where is the money from, how were they raised, and how do they spend their time?

My dear interlocutor,

Your inquiry reads like the field notes of a well-intentioned ethnographer who has wandered, quite by accident, into a habitat populated by that curious American subspecies: the Modern Metropolitan WASP, a creature neither as endangered nor as monolithic as the folklore would have one believe.

You observe, quite astutely, that these individuals do not conform to the old “Cave Dweller” archetype—those laconic Brahmins who once glided between Kalorama, the Cosmos Club, and the Wilson administration without ever disturbing a single pleat of their seersucker. No, today’s iteration is far more diffused, and—dare I say—more democratic in its pedigree, though they will never admit as much.

The money, as you ask, tends to emerge from the same three tributaries that have nourished this class since the Coolidge administration:

Legacy wealth, discreetly laundered through trusts so ancient they predate the Internal Revenue Code;

“Quiet” corporate success—defense contractors, regional banking families, clever people who own unpleasantly lucrative logistics companies; and

The New Southern Gentry, who discovered sometime in the Reagan era that Washington was the perfect place to winter both their fortunes and their children.

As for how they were raised, one must picture the sort of childhood in which manners are taught before multiplication tables, and where the great moral transgressions of youth consist not in rebellion per se, but in wearing boat shoes before Memorial Day or failing to write a prompt thank-you note to Aunt Eloise for the monogrammed stationery she bestowed.

They were reared on a diet of Episcopalian restraint, tennis lessons, laconic summer camps in Maine, and a vaguely stoic orientation toward life that insists one never—ever—acknowledge ambition while privately tending to it with horticultural precision.

And how they spend their time now?
Well, were you to plot their existence on a calendar, the coordinates would be familiar:

September through November: school admissions events, performed like ritual courtship dances;

Weekends: lacrosse or squash, depending on latitude;

Holidays: dutiful pilgrimages to the ancestral home, often a clapboard structure in the Carolinas containing more portraits of stern-looking ancestors than modern appliances;

Summers: a rotation between Nantucket, the Outer Banks, and a lake somewhere in New Hampshire whose name you would never know unless born into it.

They are not apolitical, mind you; they are post-political. To them, politics is something that happens on C-SPAN, not the dining room table. Their chosen parties are not elephants or donkeys but rather the Chevy Chase Club, the Sulgrave, and—for the truly cosmopolitan—the Metropolitan Club of Washington.

In sum, these are people who navigate life with the serene confidence of those who assume—often correctly—that the world will continue to be upholstered in their preferred fabric.

I admire your curiosity. Observe them closely. They are, after all, one of America’s last reliably performing cultural ecosystems.

You sound maybe older? The current reputation of Chevy and Met is not elite. They are known to be Maga havens and the families I know that belong there are all from Texas, Midwest, Florida etc... I can not think of anyone from New England or Northeast elite families.

The Cosmos is intellectual and elite and has a lot more old money WASP families.

Sorry your view is not just accurate or realistic.

You don’t know enough people and are not a member of any of the clubs. Don’t speculate from the sidelines, it’s pure foolishness.

You couldn't be more wrong.

You deal in 3rd party speculation and traffic in the unsubstantiated opinions of others.

No 2 neighbors and my in laws belong and have all expressed displeasure with the trajectory. They rarely use it. We along with other friends - all Ivy alums and old Northeast/New England old money have all decided to join other clubs and are quite happy there. We did not apply to above clubs.

I have been associated for years and decades through my family and there have been some changes but there are still descendants of those who have been seen as “leading families” for generations. There are also people who are descendants of Tuxedo Park and other northern establishment areas. What has changed is that there are now more Catholics and Jewish people at these places. The overall memberships are probably more accomplished and certainly more wealthy ( all of DC is) than in the past too.

What I suspect is that the pp’s neighbors and in-laws are cut from the in-bred racist cloth that did dominate those clubs years and years ago and hence the “trajectory” doesn’t work for them anymore.

Nope. The neighbors are liberal and elite Northeastern and New England families. They don’t like the blackballing and group mentality described above to not allow certain people in while at the same time easily supporting others who have much worse behavior. They also don’t like the Maga takeover. Maga is a different sort of politic.

There were far more Trump Admin officials in 2016 -20 than now. Far more. So even this aspect is belied by reality.

There were more Trump Officials in T45 reign that were not tattooed rednecks, hillbillies, really ugly, or all 3.

I know about 15-20 families that all are very public/vocal supporters of Maga that live in Spring Valley, Kent, Wesley Heights area and they all belong to Chevy and also some to either Met or Sulgrave. This is not a secret.

+1 Lots of them in Spring Valley, for whatever reason

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've attended a bunch of private school admissions events this fall, and I'm getting my first glimpse into a VERY distinct preppy / wasp-y crowd. They're not really Cave Dwellers (although surely some of their parents and grand-parents were) -- very few seem to work for the administration or in the government. In fact, they seem apolitical unless you count wearing a Barbour jacket as a religion. The most common threads I've been able to discern is that most are white and either from DC or the South, they all know each other well, and even though I know there are other exclusive country clubs out there, they are basically all members of the Chevy Chase Club. Who are these people: where is the money from, how were they raised, and how do they spend their time?

My dear interlocutor,

Your inquiry reads like the field notes of a well-intentioned ethnographer who has wandered, quite by accident, into a habitat populated by that curious American subspecies: the Modern Metropolitan WASP, a creature neither as endangered nor as monolithic as the folklore would have one believe.

You observe, quite astutely, that these individuals do not conform to the old “Cave Dweller” archetype—those laconic Brahmins who once glided between Kalorama, the Cosmos Club, and the Wilson administration without ever disturbing a single pleat of their seersucker. No, today’s iteration is far more diffused, and—dare I say—more democratic in its pedigree, though they will never admit as much.

The money, as you ask, tends to emerge from the same three tributaries that have nourished this class since the Coolidge administration:

Legacy wealth, discreetly laundered through trusts so ancient they predate the Internal Revenue Code;

“Quiet” corporate success—defense contractors, regional banking families, clever people who own unpleasantly lucrative logistics companies; and

The New Southern Gentry, who discovered sometime in the Reagan era that Washington was the perfect place to winter both their fortunes and their children.

As for how they were raised, one must picture the sort of childhood in which manners are taught before multiplication tables, and where the great moral transgressions of youth consist not in rebellion per se, but in wearing boat shoes before Memorial Day or failing to write a prompt thank-you note to Aunt Eloise for the monogrammed stationery she bestowed.

They were reared on a diet of Episcopalian restraint, tennis lessons, laconic summer camps in Maine, and a vaguely stoic orientation toward life that insists one never—ever—acknowledge ambition while privately tending to it with horticultural precision.

And how they spend their time now?
Well, were you to plot their existence on a calendar, the coordinates would be familiar:

September through November: school admissions events, performed like ritual courtship dances;

Weekends: lacrosse or squash, depending on latitude;

Holidays: dutiful pilgrimages to the ancestral home, often a clapboard structure in the Carolinas containing more portraits of stern-looking ancestors than modern appliances;

Summers: a rotation between Nantucket, the Outer Banks, and a lake somewhere in New Hampshire whose name you would never know unless born into it.

They are not apolitical, mind you; they are post-political. To them, politics is something that happens on C-SPAN, not the dining room table. Their chosen parties are not elephants or donkeys but rather the Chevy Chase Club, the Sulgrave, and—for the truly cosmopolitan—the Metropolitan Club of Washington.

In sum, these are people who navigate life with the serene confidence of those who assume—often correctly—that the world will continue to be upholstered in their preferred fabric.

I admire your curiosity. Observe them closely. They are, after all, one of America’s last reliably performing cultural ecosystems.

You sound maybe older? The current reputation of Chevy and Met is not elite. They are known to be Maga havens and the families I know that belong there are all from Texas, Midwest, Florida etc... I can not think of anyone from New England or Northeast elite families.

The Cosmos is intellectual and elite and has a lot more old money WASP families.

Sorry your view is not just accurate or realistic.

You don’t know enough people and are not a member of any of the clubs. Don’t speculate from the sidelines, it’s pure foolishness.

You couldn't be more wrong.

You deal in 3rd party speculation and traffic in the unsubstantiated opinions of others.

No 2 neighbors and my in laws belong and have all expressed displeasure with the trajectory. They rarely use it. We along with other friends - all Ivy alums and old Northeast/New England old money have all decided to join other clubs and are quite happy there. We did not apply to above clubs.

I have been associated for years and decades through my family and there have been some changes but there are still descendants of those who have been seen as “leading families” for generations. There are also people who are descendants of Tuxedo Park and other northern establishment areas. What has changed is that there are now more Catholics and Jewish people at these places. The overall memberships are probably more accomplished and certainly more wealthy ( all of DC is) than in the past too.

What I suspect is that the pp’s neighbors and in-laws are cut from the in-bred racist cloth that did dominate those clubs years and years ago and hence the “trajectory” doesn’t work for them anymore.

Nope. The neighbors are liberal and elite Northeastern and New England families. They don’t like the blackballing and group mentality described above to not allow certain people in while at the same time easily supporting others who have much worse behavior. They also don’t like the Maga takeover. Maga is a different sort of politic.

There were far more Trump Admin officials in 2016 -20 than now. Far more. So even this aspect is belied by reality.

There were more Trump Officials in T45 reign that were not tattooed rednecks, hillbillies, really ugly, or all 3.

I know about 15-20 families that all are very public/vocal supporters of Maga that live in Spring Valley, Kent, Wesley Heights area and they all belong to Chevy and also some to either Met or Sulgrave. This is not a secret.

+1 Lots of them in Spring Valley, for whatever reason

BC that is where smart money lives in DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've attended a bunch of private school admissions events this fall, and I'm getting my first glimpse into a VERY distinct preppy / wasp-y crowd. They're not really Cave Dwellers (although surely some of their parents and grand-parents were) -- very few seem to work for the administration or in the government. In fact, they seem apolitical unless you count wearing a Barbour jacket as a religion. The most common threads I've been able to discern is that most are white and either from DC or the South, they all know each other well, and even though I know there are other exclusive country clubs out there, they are basically all members of the Chevy Chase Club. Who are these people: where is the money from, how were they raised, and how do they spend their time?

The money is almost always inherited. So it's not the brightest bulbs. Among rich people scenes, it's not particularly interesting. Generally, the men are not particularly clever or did anything interesting with their lives. They are often "financial advisors." Life is a golf club for them. And the women are often very fraught and... I don't know. Not great at genuine connection.

It's a little scene, but I would not look at these people as some kind of aspirational thing.

LA and NY are far more more interesting. There seems to be more pressure on inherited wealth to at least do something with the wealth and make something of themselves. But the rich in DC are perfectly content to be douchebags at Congressional or Chevy Chase and float.