History Lesson: George Washington and Mount Vernon

On Saturday, we took a hour long trip away from Leesburg to Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. It was a nice day trip and we took some notes about what impressed us below.

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We started off with a tour of the mansion and learned that when he first inherited the estate the place was a small 4 room house. During his time at Mount Vernon he added 17 rooms.

Our tour guide told us that during those days, symmetry was a popular element and considered fashionable. When they re-modeled the original home, they added another story; two wings, and two adjoining buildings (servants quarters and the kitchen). They added several windows to the new existing rooms and wings. The top two windows on the left have no function other than to keep the house looking symmetrical and are boarded up with nothing behind them. Another interesting note: Washington never got to live in the White House (he died a year before it was finished). During the renovation of the White House in 1950, President Truman had the foundation bricks sent to George Washington's home to re-construct his greenhouse to its original state. Very fitting since he worked so hard for the founding of this nation and never got to be in the White House.

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 Inside of the house,  paintings are hung in the same place on the opposite side of the room and there is identical furniture on opposite sides--bringing balance and pleasure to the eye. The landscaping was also done by George Washington in a similar fashion with two giant poplar trees and bushes on opposite sides of the bowling green.

After our mansion tour, we walked around the servants buildings and then on to the tomb site. They ask you to walk slowly and remain silent at the burial site. Every day at noon they hold a ceremony to honor the General and Martha. They asked a Marine who was visiting to display the  wreath at their shared tomb. We recited the pledge of allegiance, and then listened to an employee as she read a prayer that George Washington wrote about our nation. It was so moving and we felt the spirit strongly as we heard the words of our first President say... "to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristicks of the Devine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation.”

Next we went to the wharf and watched the geese and a steamboat.We learned that during the war of 1812 the British burned the white house but spared George Washington's home out of respect for the general. His home is located 15 miles down the Potomac River from Washington D.C.

After our grounds exploration, we went back to the car for lunch and then it was off to the museum. We learned how scientists, historians, forensic teams, and artists all used clues from his clothing, dentures, a bust ( that was made from a live mask taken and baked here at Mt Vernon) and  portraits to re-create his face during three different parts of his life (ages 19, 45, 57) so the public could see what he probably looked like.

The above section is almost exclusively written by Heather. I wanted to make a few additional comments.

When President George Washington died in 1799 Martha was asked if they could move him to the capital building. She agreed saying that whenever the nation called the General answered. After sometime they finished the capital building, but Martha passed away. The rest of the family felt like they should leave him where he was buried in accordance with President Washington's will. Heather and I felt like Mount Vernon was  a great place to wake up on resurrection morning. We also felt a great respect for President Washington.

He seems to be a man like Alma in the Book of Mormon who didn't want to be king. He was also very dedicated to God and country.

President Washington took great pride in learning. In his library upon his death there was 1200 books that covered 900 topics. He was a self taught man. He was a farmer who wanted to apply the latest techniques. He used the latest equipment, had a compost/dung open shed, and used crop rotation techniques.

Washington was very innovative in his farming techniques and used his crops for many things. You get the impression that he only wanted to grow something if it had multiple uses. We saw a replica of a 16 sided barn that he used for a grain collection system on the bottom floor. He would lead his horses/mules up an earth ramp to the second floor and start them at a trot. This was how he would thresh his grain. He found that 1 1/2 inch spaces in the boards gave him the best collection. He would sell the flour he ground all over including places like the West Indies.

When the fish would run in the Potomac everyone would drop everything to harvest fish. They would process between 1-1.5 million fish each year.

In his will he released his slaves upon the death of his wife, Martha. She actually released them before she died.

During the Civil war visitors to Mount Vernon had to lay down their weapons and cover their uniforms. It was a place of neutrality where they paid respects to Washington. It was also during this time period that steps were taken to preserve and restore Mount Vernon. A group of women saw that no one was doing anything to save the home of one of America's greatest heroes so they decided to take action. They said “If the men of America have seen fit to allow the home of its most respected hero to go to ruin, why can't the women of America band together to save it?” They raised 200,000 dollars to purchase the estate from the Washington family members that were still around. 

We also saw Washington's dentures here is a video of how they were made.

We had a great time. Hope you enjoyed learning more about General Washington.