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Mount Vernon

Coordinates: 38°42′28″N 77°05′09″W / 38.70778°N 77.08583°W / 38.70778; -77.08583
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Mount Vernon Estate, Virginia

Mount Vernon, located in Fairfax County, Virginia near Alexandria, was the plantation home of the first President of the United States, George Washington; it is also his burial place. The estate is situated on the banks of the Potomac River across from Prince George's County, Maryland. The Washington family had owned land in the area since the time of Washington's great-grandfather in 1674, and in 1739 embarked on an expansion of the estate that continued under George Washington. He came into possession of the estate in 1754, but did not become its sole owner until 1761.

The mansion is built of wood in a loose Palladian style, and was constructed by George Washington in stages between 1757 and 1778; it occupies the site of an earlier, smaller house built for George Washington's brother, Lawrence, in 1741. It remained Washington's country home for the rest of his life. Following his death in 1799, under the ownership of several successive generations of the family, the estate progressively declined. In 1858, the house's historical importance was recognized and it was saved from ruin by the The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association; this philanthropic organization acquired it together with part of the Washington estate. Escaping the damage suffered by many plantation houses during the American Civil War, Mount Vernon was restored.

Mount Vernon was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and is today listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is still owned and maintained in trust by The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, and is open every day of the year. However, admitting the public is not a new innovation, but maintenance of a tradition over 200 years old begun by George Washington himself; as early as 1796, he wrote: "I have no objection to any sober or orderly person's gratifying their curiosity in viewing the buildings, Gardens, &ca. about Mount Vernon."[1]

Name

When George Washington's ancestors acquired the estate it was known as Little Hunting Creek Plantation, after the nearby Little Hunting Creek. But when Washington's older half-brother, Lawrence Washington, inherited, he changed its name to Mount Vernon in honor of Vice Admiral Edward Vernon, famed for the War of Jenkin's Ear and capture of Portobelo, Colón, whom Lawrence greatly admired. Vernon had been Lawrence's commanding officer in the British Royal Navy, and when George Washington inherited the property he retained the name.[2]

Buildings and grounds

In classic Palladian style, on the western side, the main house is flanked by advancing, single-story secondary wings creating a cour d'honneur.

The property consists of 500 acres (2.0 km2);[3] the main buildings, including the house, are near the riverfront.

Architecture

The present house was built in phases from 1757, by an unknown architect, on the site of the Washingtons' former farmhouse. This staggered and unplanned evolution is indicated by the off-center main door, which would once have been central to an earlier façade. As completed and seen today, the house is in a loose Palladian style. The principal block, dating from 1757, is a two-storied corps de logis flanked by two single-story secondary wings, built in 1775. These secondary wings, which house the servants hall on the northern side and the kitchen on the southern side, are connected to the corps de logis by symmetrical, quadrant collonades, built in 1778. The completion of the collonades cemented the classical Palladian arrangement of the complex and formed a distinct cour d'honneur, known at Mount Vernon as Mansion Circle, giving the house its imposing perspective.

The corps de logis and secondary wings have hipped roofs with dormers. In addition to its second story, the importance of the corps de logis is further emphasized by two large chimneys piercing its roof, and by a cupola that surmounts the center of the house; this octagonal focal point has a spire topped by a gilded dove of peace.[4] This placement of the cupola is more in the earlier Carolean style than Palladian, and was probably incorporated to give the house a more palatial air; a similar cupola crowns the Governor's House at Williamsburgh, of which Washington would have been aware.

Interior

The rooms at Mount Vernon have been restored to their appearance at the time of George and Martha Washington's occupancy. Among the rooms shown to visitors are Washington's study, two dining rooms (the larger known as the New Room), the West Parlour, the Front Parlour, the kitchen and some bedrooms. [5]

The interior design of Mount Vernon emphasises the classical concept of the exterior; however, due to the mansion's piecemeal evolution, the architectural features within the house - the doorcases, mouldings and plasterwork do not remain faithful to one specific period of the eighteenth century revival of classical architecture, but range from severe Palladianism to a finer and later neoclassicism in the style of Robert Adam.[6] This varying of the classical style is best exemplified in the doorcases and surrounds of the principal rooms. In the West Parlour and Small Dining rooms there are doorcases complete with ionic columns and full pediments, in the hall and passageways the doors are given broken pediments supported only by an an architrave.[7] Many of the rooms are line with painted panelling and have ceilings ornamented by plasterwork in a Neoclassical style; much of this plasterwork can be attributed to an English craftsman and emigree, John Rawlins, who arrived from London in 1771 bringing with him the interior design motifs then fashionable in the British capital. [8]

Today's visitors to Mount Vernon are shown Washington's study, a simply furnished room which in Washington's lifetime, when used as combined bathroom, dressing room and office, was kept so private that few contemporary descriptions exist. The room has naturally grained panelling with matching bookcases. [9]

The mansion's grandest room and principal reception room is the so called New Room or large dining room; it's a two storied salon notable for its large Palladian window for fine chimneypiece. [10] The history of this marble, Neoclassical chimneypiece to some degree explains the restrained style of the house. When it was gifted to Washington by a wealthy English emigree, Samuel Vaughan, Washington was initially reluctant to accept the present, stating that it was: "too elegant & costly I fear for my own room, & republican stile of living." [11]

A conscious effort has to be made to restore the rooms and maintain the atmosphere of the eighteenth century; this has been achieved by using original colour schemes, displaying furniture, carpets and decorative objects which are contemporary to the house. Throughout, George Washington and his family are evident through their portraits and former possessions making it clear that Mount Vernon is as much a personal memorial to the Washington as a nationally important museum.

Grounds

The eastern facade, facing the Potomac

The gardens and grounds contain English boxwoods, taken from cuttings sent by Major General Henry Lee III "Light Horse Harry" (Governor of Virginia and father of Robert E. Lee), were planted in 1786 by George Washington and now crowd the entry path. The main homestead area is skirted by a carriage road with a large bowling green in the center. To each side of the green is a garden, contained by a red brick wall. These Colonial Revival gardens[12] grew the household's vegetables, fruit and other perishable items for consumption. The upper garden, located to the north, is bordered by the greenhouse.[13] The Botanical Garden; the Museum, dedicated to the life and death of George Washington, is on the grounds and contains George Washington's survey equipment, weapons, and clothing, as well as dentures worn by the first President; ice house; overseers quarters; spinning room; salt house and gardener's house are between the garden and the house.

The lower garden, or southern garden, is skirted by the storehouse and clerk's quarters, smokehouse, wash house, laundry yard, and coach house. A paddock and stable are on the southern border of the garden. The old tomb is located along the river, while the new tomb, containing George and Martha Washington, is near the fruit garden with the slave burial ground just off this path. A Forest Trail runs along the property, and a George Washington: Pioneer Farmer site, a 4-acre (16,000 m2) working farm that includes a re-creation of Washington's 16-sided treading barn.[14]

History

John Washington (1631–1677)

In 1674, John Washington (the great-grandfather of President Washington), and his friend, Nicholas Spencer, came into possession of the land from which Mount Vernon plantation would be carved.[a] The successful patent on the acreage was due largely to Spencer, who acted as agent for his cousin Thomas Colepeper, 2nd Baron Colepeper,[15] the English landowner who controlled the Northern Neck of Virginia, in which the tract lay.[16]

When John Washington died in 1677, his son Lawrence, George Washington's grandfather, inherited his father's stake in the property. In 1690, he agreed to formally divide the estimated 5,000 acre (20 km2) estate with the heirs of Nicholas Spencer, who had died the previous year. The Spencers took the larger southern half bordering Dogue Creek (originally called "Epsewasson") in the September 1674 land grant from Lord Culpeper, after the former name of the creek), leaving the Washingtons the portion along Little Hunting Creek. (The Spencer heirs paid Lawrence Washington 2,500 lb (1,100 kg) of tobacco as compensation for their choice.)[17]

Augustine Washington (1694–1743)

Lawrence Washington died in 1698, bequeathing the property to his daughter, Mildred. In 1726, at the urging of her brother Augustine Washington (George Washington's father), Mildred sold him the Potomac River estate. In 1735, the same year a one and a half story house was built on the property, This was the first Washington residence to be sited on the estate. Augustine Washington moved his young, second family to the estate, which he named Little Hunting Creek.

Lawrence Washington (1718–1752)

Augustine Washington recalled his eldest son Lawrence (George's half-brother) home from The Appleby School, England, in 1738 and set him up on the family's Little Hunting Creek tobacco plantation, thereby allowing Augustine to move his family back to Fredericksburg at the end of 1739.

In 1739, Lawrence, having reached his majority (age 21), began buying up parcels of land from the adjoining Spencer tract, starting with the land around the Grist Mill on Dogue Creek. In mid-1740 Lawrence received a coveted officer's commission in the Regular British Army, and made preparations to go off to war in the Caribbean with the newly formed American Regiment to fight in the War of Jenkins' Ear. Part of his preparations included ensuring his father had legal control over the land he had purchased from Spencer. Lawrence wrote to his father from Jamaica in May 1741 that, should he survive the war, he intended to make his home in the town of Fredericksburg and build a town house on one of the three lots he owned there.

At this same time, the Spencer family was in a legal dispute over additional land sales to Lawrence's neighbors. To adjudicate the boundary line dispute, a general court for Prince William County ordered a new survey of the entire 5,000 acre (20 km²) Washington-Spencer land grant. The surviving map of that 1741 survey, a plat, by County Surveyor Robert Brooke, revealed the estate had been grossly mis-measured in April 1669, and it contained only about 4,200 acres (17 km²), not the 5,000 acres (20 km2) conveyed in the 1674 land grant. The error can be attributed to the fact that the property was bounded on three sides by water, and that neither the river nor the two creeks had regular shorelines. Pursuant to the Culpeper land grant, the original 1669 surveyor was charged with estimating an area of 5,000 acres (20 km²) and then blazing a straight-line "back" boundary along a tree line between the winding courses of Dogue Run and Little Hunting Creek. This surviving May 1741 property survey by Brooke reveals that the location of the present-day mansion house was then vacant, with the Washingtons depicted as having their Quarter alongside Little Hunting Creek (as was shown on a similar, larger-scale Potomac River survey of 1738).

Upon receiving word of Lawrence's intent to live in Fredericksburg, Augustine Washington appears to have undertaken to erect a modest farm house on the vacant bluff overlooking the Potomac River – where the mansion house now sits – in 1741–42. It is estimated Lawrence received news of his father's plans in late 1741 while in Jamaica, and presumably wrote back instructing his father to call the new house "Mount Vernon" in honor of Captain Lawrence Washington's commanding officer, Vice Admiral Edward Vernon, then regarded as the greatest military hero of the age in Britain. In early August 1742, the place name "Mount Vernon" first appears in a surviving letter, penned by Lawrence's Potomac River neighbor, William Fairfax, of Belvoir. Lawrence Washington returned from the war in late 1742, buried his father in April 1743, married into the Fairfax family and took up residence at his "Mount Vernon" in July 1743. By the late 1740s Lawrence undertook an expansion of the house Augustine built for him.

George Washington (1732–1799)

Mount Vernon (1796) with the Washington family on the terrace (Benjamin Henry Latrobe)

Lawrence died in July 1752, and his will stipulated that his widow should own a life estate in Mount Vernon, the remainder interest falling to his half-brother George; George Washington was already living at Mount Vernon and probably managing the plantation. Lawrence's widow, Anne Fairfax, promptly remarried into the Lee family and moved out. Following the death of Anne and Lawrence's only surviving child in 1754, George, as executor of his brother's estate, arranged to lease "Mount Vernon" that December. Later, he bought his sister-in-law's life estate and became sole owner of the property.

In 1757, Washington began the first of two major additions and improvements to the house. The second expansion was begun shortly before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. On those occasions he entirely rebuilt the main house atop the original foundations, doubling its size each time. The great majority of the work was performed by slaves and artisans.

Though no architect is known to have designed Mount Vernon, some attribute the design to John Ariss (1725–1799), a prominent Virginia architect who designed Paynes Church in Fairfax County (now destroyed) and likely Mount Airy, Richmond County, Virginia. A friend of George Washington, to whom he leased his home, Ariss was, in an interesting coincidence, the great-grandson of Col. Nicholas Spencer, the original patentee of Mount Vernon with the Washingtons.[18] Other sources credit Col. Richard Blackburn, who also designed Rippon Lodge in Prince William County and the first Falls Church.[19][20] His granddaughter Anne married Bushrod Washington and is interred at the Washingtons' tomb on the grounds.

Agriculture and enterprise

Washington out on the plantation, with Mount Vernon in background

Washington had been expanding the estate by the purchase of surrounding parcels of land since the late 1750s, and was still adding to the estate well into the 1780s.[21] From 1759 until the Revolutionary War, Washington, who at the time aspired to become a prominent agriculturist, operated the estate as five separate farms. He took a scientific approach to farming and kept extensive and meticulous records of both labor and results.

In a letter dated September 20, 1765, Washington writes about receiving poor returns for his tobacco production:

Can it be otherwise than a little mortifying then to find, that we, who raise none but Sweetscented Tobacco, and endeavour I may venture to add, to be careful in the management of it, however we fail in the execution, and who by a close and fixed corrispondance with you, contribute so largely to the dispatch of your Ships in this Country shoud meet with such unprofitable returns?[22]

In the same letter he asks about the prices of flax and hemp, with a view to their production:

In order thereto you woud do me a singular favour in advising of the general price one might expect for good Hemp in your Port watered and prepared according to Act of Parliament, with an estimate of the freight, and all other Incident charges pr. Tonn that I may form some Idea of the profits resulting from the growth. I shoud be very glad to know at the sametime how rough and undressd Flax has generally, and may probably sell; for this year I have made an Essay in both, and altho I suffer pretty considerably by the attempt, owing principally to the severity of the Drougth, and my inexperience in the management I am not altogether discouraged from a further prosecution of the Scheme provided I find the Sales with you are not clogd with too much difficulty and expence.

Map of the estate, drawn by Washington

By 1766, Washington had ceased growing tobacco at Mount Vernon and replaced the crop with wheat, corn, and other grains. Besides hemp and flax, he experimented with 60 other crops including cotton and silk. Further income was derived from a new gristmill which produced cornmeal and flour for export and also ground neighbors' grain. Washington similarly sold the services of the estate's looms and blacksmith, and built a small fishing fleet permitting Mount Vernon to export fish. One side effect of Washington's agricultural reforms on the estate was that the new crops were less labor intensive; hence, the estate had a surplus of slaves, which was accentuated by Washington's refusal to break up families for sale. This problem was in part solved when Washington hired skilled indentured servants from Europe to train the redundant slaves for service on and off the estate.[23] Washington also practiced the selective breeding of sheep in an effort to produce better quality wool.

Following his service in the war, Washington returned to Mount Vernon and in 1785–1786 spent a great deal of effort improving the landscaping of the estate. It is estimated that during his two terms as President of the United States (1789–1797) Washington spent 434 days in residence at Mount Vernon. After his presidency, Washington tended to repairs to the buildings, socializing, and further gardening.

Washington's Tomb

Tomb of George and Martha Washington at Mount Vernon

On Thursday, December 12, 1799, Washington spent several hours riding over the plantation, in snow, hail and freezing rain—later that evening eating his supper without changing from his wet clothes. The following day, he awoke with a severe sore throat (either quinsy or acute epiglottitis) and became increasingly hoarse as the day progressed. All the available medical treatments failed to improve his condition, and he died at Mount Vernon at around 10pm on Saturday, December 14, 1799, aged 67.

On December 18, 1799, a funeral was held at Mount Vernon, where his body was interred.[24] Congress passed a joint resolution to construct a marble monument in the United States Capitol for his body, supported by Martha. In December 1800, the United States House passed an appropriations bill for $200,000 to build the mausoleum, which was to be a pyramid with a base 100 feet (30 m) square. Southerners who wanted his body to remain at Mount Vernon defeated the measure.[25]

In accordance with his will, Washington was entombed in a family crypt he had built upon first inheriting the estate. It was in disrepair by 1799, so Washington's will also requested that a new, larger tomb be built. This was not executed until 1831, the centennial of his birth; the need for a new tomb was confirmed when an unsuccessful attempt was made to steal his body.[26] Despite this, a joint Congressional committee in early 1832 debated the removal of Washington's body from Mount Vernon to a crypt in the Capitol, built by Charles Bulfinch in the 1820s. Southern opposition was intense, antagonized by an ever-growing rift between North and South. Congressman Wiley Thompson of Georgia expressed the Southerners' fears when he said:

Remove the remains of our venerated Washington from their association with the remains of his consort and his ancestors from Mount Vernon and from his native State, deposit them in this capitol, and then let a severance of the Union occur and behold the remains of Washington on a shore foreign to his native soil.[25]

His remains were finally moved on October 7, 1837, along with those of his wife, Martha, to the new tomb presented by John Struthers of Philadelphia.[27] Other members of the Washington family are interred in an inner vault, behind the vestibule containing the sarcophagi of George and Martha Washington.

Preservation, legacy and tourism

Reconstruction of George Washington's 1797 distillery

After Washington's death, ownership of the plantation passed through a series of relatives who lacked either the will or the means to maintain the property. After trying unsuccessfully for five years to restore the estate, John Augustine Washington offered it for sale in 1848. The Commonwealth of Virginia and United States governments declined to buy the house and estate.

In 1858, the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, under the leadership of Ann Pamela Cunningham, acquired the mansion and a portion of the land from Washington's great-grandnephew, John A. Washington, Jr., rescuing it from a state of disrepair and neglect. They paid the final installment of the purchase price of $200,000 (equal to $6,782,222 today) on December 9, 1859, taking possession on February 22, 1860.[28] The estate served as neutral ground for both sides during the American Civil War, although fighting raged across the nearby countryside. The mansion has been restored by the Association, independent of the US government, with no tax dollars expended to support the 500-acre (2.0 km2) estate, its educational programs or activities.[29]

Harrison Howell Dodge became resident superintendent in 1885, and during his 52 years overseeing the estate he doubled the facility's acreage, improved the grounds, and added many historic artifacts to the collections. Dodge reviewed George Washington's writings about the estate, visited other Colonial-era gardens, and traveled to England to see gardens dating from the Georgian period. Using that knowledge, Dodge oversaw the restoration of the site and put in place a number of improvements that Washington had planned but never implemented.[30]

Charles Wall was assistant superintendent from 1929 to 1937, then resident superintendent for 39 years. He oversaw restoration of the house and planted greenery consistent with what was used in the 18th century. In 1974, a campaign he organized was successful in preserving as parkland areas in Maryland across the Potomac River from Mount Vernon, as part of an effort to retain the bucolic vista from the house.[31] His office was the same one used in the 18th century by Washington himself.[32]

One of Mount Vernon's less historic attractions: Aladdin the Camel (left)

Mount Vernon was featured on US postage stamps in 1937 and again in 1956. On December 19, 1960, Mount Vernon was designated a National Historic Landmark and later listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Development and improvement of the estate is an ongoing concern, Following a $110 million fundraising campaign, in 2006, two new buildings designed by GWWO, Inc./Architects were opened as venues for additional background on George Washington and the American Revolution.

On November 7, 2007, President George W. Bush hosted French President Nicolas Sarkozy for a general press conference on the front lawn of Mount Vernon following Sarkozy's address to a joint session of Congress earlier that day.[33]

On March 30, 2007, the estate officially opened a reconstruction of George Washington's distillery. This fully functional replica received special legislation from the Virginia General Assembly to produce up to 5,000 US gal (19,000 L) of whiskey annually, for sale only at the Mount Vernon gift shop. The construction of this operational distillery cost $2.1 million, and is located on the exact site of Washington's original distillery, a short distance from his mansion on the Potomac River. Frank Coleman, spokesman for the Distilled Spirits Council that funded the reconstruction, said the distillery “will become the equivalent of a national distillery museum” and serve as a gateway to the American Whiskey Trail.[34]

As of 2012, since first opening to the paying public in 1860, the estate had received over 80 million visitors. In addition to the mansion itself, today, visitors can see original and reconstructed outbuildings and barns (including slaves' quarters), an operational blacksmith shop and the Pioneer Farm. Some attractions are more novel than others: Each year on Christmas Day, "Aladdin the Christmas Camel" recreates Washington's 1787 hiring of a camel for 18 shillings to entertain his guests with an example of the animal that brought the Three Wise Men to Bethlehem to visit the newborn baby Jesus.[35]

Mount Vernon remains a privately owned property; its income is derived solely from sales or tickets, produce and goods to visitors and charitable donations. Its non-profit making owners, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, continue their 150-year-old mission "to preserve, restore, and manage the estate of George Washington to the highest standards and to educate visitors and people throughout the world about the life and legacies of George Washington, so that his example of character and leadership will continue to inform and inspire future generations." [36]

References

Notes

  1. ^ The deed conveying the grant of Mount Vernon, then in Stafford County, to Washington and Spencer was dated March 1, 1677, and was signed by "Tho. Culpepper", the original proprietor of the Northern Neck, from whom the proprietorship devolved to his eventual heir Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron.

Citations

  1. ^ George Washington, letter to William Pearce (November 23, 1794)
  2. ^ "Why is George Washington's Estate called Mount Vernon?" Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, accessed May 1, 2009
  3. ^ "Mount Vernon Fact Sheet". mountvernon.com. 2011. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  4. ^ "History of Mount Vernon". Mountvernon.com. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  5. ^ Mount Vernon retrieved 16 May 2013
  6. ^ Mount Vernon retrieved 16 May 2013
  7. ^ Mount Vernon retrieved 16 May 2013
  8. ^ [http://www.mountvernon.org/educational-resources/encyclopedia/mansion-interior Mount Vernon: Interior Architectural Details.
  9. ^ Washington's Study retrieved 17 May 2012.
  10. ^ Mount Vernon; the New Room retrieved 16 May 2013.
  11. ^ [http://emuseum.mountvernon.org/code/emuseum.asp?style=text&currentrecord=1&page=search&profile=objects&searchdesc=chimney%20piece&quicksearch=chimney%20piece&sessionid=7066A906-F9EB-4145-8E92-24C9624BB2D3&action=quicksearch&style=single&currentrecord=1 Mount Vernon: Objects.
  12. ^ Griswold and Foley, p. 124.
  13. ^ "Gardens". Mountvernon.org. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  14. ^ "Sixteen-Sided Barn". Mountvernon.org. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  15. ^ Dalzell, Jr., Robert F.; Dalzell, Lee Baldwin (2000). George Washington's Mount Vernon. Oxford University Press. pp. M1 22–23. ISBN 0-19-513628-4.
  16. ^ Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Lyon Gardiner , Vol. I, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, New York, 1915
  17. ^ George Washington's Mount Vernon, Robert F. Dalzell, Robert F. Dalzell, Jr., Lee Baldwin Dalzell, Oxford University Press, 2000
  18. ^ Architecture and Town Planning in Colonial North America, James D. Kornwolf, Georgiana Wallis Kornwolf, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2002
  19. ^ Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Virginia. Price, Jamese (ed.). VIRGINIA A Guide To The Old Dominion. American Guide Series. New York: Oxford University Press.
  20. ^ Hayden, H.E. Virginia Genealogies.
  21. ^ "The Growth of Mount Vernon 1754–1786". The Papers of George Washington.
  22. ^ "George Washington to Robert Cary & Company, September 20, 1765, Account Book 1". The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745–1799. John C. Fitzpatrick, Editor. The George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741–1799. Retrieved March 6, 2009.
  23. ^ Chernow, Ron (2010). Washington: A Life. The Penguin Press. ISBN 978-1-101-44418-4.
  24. ^ "The Funeral". The Papers of George Washington. University of Virginia. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
  25. ^ a b Boorstin, Daniel J. (1965). The Americans: The National Experience. New York: Vintage Books. pp. 349–350. ISBN 0-394-70358-8.
  26. ^ Johnston, Elizabeth Bryant (1889). Visitors' Guide to Mount Vernon (16th ed.). Washington, D.C: Gibson Brothers, printers. pp. 14–15. OCLC 22376201. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
  27. ^ Washington, George; Jefferson, Thomas; Peters, Richard (1847). Knight, Franklin (ed.). Letters on Agriculture. Washington, The editor; Philadelphia, W. S. Martien. pp. 177–180. OCLC 3347675. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
  28. ^ "The Formation of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association and the Dramatic Rescue of George Washington's Estate". Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. Retrieved February 28, 2008.
  29. ^ "Exploring Mount Vernon". Smithsonian Magazine. Smithsonian.com. November 1, 2006. Retrieved February 28, 2008.
  30. ^ "Col. Harrison Dodge, Mt. Vernon Custodian; Superintendent of Washington's Home Since 1885—Made Many Improvements". The New York Times. May 21, 1937. Retrieved July 24, 2010.
  31. ^ Robert McG. Thomas, Jr. (May 5, 1995). "Charles Wall, 91, Long Director Of George Washington's Home". The New York Times. Retrieved July 23, 2010.
  32. ^ Barnes, Bart. "Former Master of Mt. Vernon Charles Cecil Wall Dies at 91", The Washington Post, May 4, 1995. Accessed July 23, 2010.
  33. ^ Gerstenzang, James (8 November 2007). "Bush, Sarkozy stand on common ground". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  34. ^ Barakat, Matthew (March 31, 2007). "Replica of distillery of Washington Opens". The Navy Times. navytimes.com. Retrieved April 1, 2007.
  35. ^ Michelle Basch: "Mount Vernon continues 'Christmas Camel' tradition," http://www.federalnewsradio.com/41/2682986/Mount-Vernon-continues-Christmas-Camel-tradition, 12/25/2011.
  36. ^ Mount Vernon

Bibliography

  • Dalzell, Jr., Robert F.; Balzell, Lee Baldwin (1998). George Washington's Mount Vernon: At Home in Revolutionary America. Oxford University Press.
  • Griswold, Mac; Foley, Roger (1999). Washington's Gardens at Mount Vernon: Landscape of the Inner Man. Houghton Mifflin.
  • Wilstach, Paul (1918). Mount Vernon: Washington's Home and the Nation's Shrine. The Bobbs-Merrill Company.
  • Virginia: A Guide to the Old Dominion. Oxford University Press. 1940.
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