Designed for 7th- and 8th-grade students, this teaching unit focuses on the role that Arlington House--Custis-Lee Mansion--(owned by the Washington and Lee families) played both in architectural importance and in history. The unit serves as a vehicle for studying the various roles and cultural distinctions present in antebellum southern society and illustrates the lifestyles of southern leaders. While the unit uses Arlington House, a similar study could be made of other historic houses. Four lessons help students: (1) recognize and identify an antebellum southern plantation house, (2) determine the functions performed on a southern plantation through analysis of the form of the buildings and the estate plan, (3) understand what slavery was like and how widespread it was in the south, (4) understand the importance of the plantation houses to the south prior to the Civil War, and (5) identify some of the roles which made up the plantation household. In addition, the unit includes a mystery house description, a 19th century letter, worksheets, floor plans, maps, teacher information, instructions for marbelizing, and a 7-item bibliography. (LH)