Mount Vernon
George Washington's Potomac estate: the mansion, outbuildings, gardens, tomb and slave memorial.
The house began as a modest farmhouse built for Augustine Washington in the 1730s. George Washington inherited the estate in 1761 and enlarged it twice, raising it to two and a half storeys, adding the cupola and the two-storey piazza that faces the Potomac. The exterior is wood, rusticated and sanded to imitate stone. Inside, the New Room, the study and the bedchamber where Washington died in 1799 are furnished with original objects returned to the house.
Mount Vernon was a plantation worked by enslaved people; 317 were living on its five farms at Washington's death. The estate presents this history throughout: the reconstructed slave quarters, the Lives Bound Together research, the slave cemetery and the 1983 memorial that stands beside it, and dedicated tours on enslaved life. The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association bought the property in 1858 and has run it since, making it one of the oldest preservation organisations in the country.
Highlights
- The piazza and cupola above the Potomac
- Bedchamber where George Washington died in 1799
- Slave cemetery and the memorial to the enslaved
- Working distillery and gristmill three miles from the mansion
![Afrique occidentale française : Cathédrale à St Louis / [photogr. Eugène] Gallois ; [photogr. reprod. par Radiguet et Massiot pour la conférence donnée par] Gallois](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Afrique_occidentale_fran%C3%A7aise_-_Cath%C3%A9drale_%C3%A0_St_Louis_-_%28photogr._Eug%C3%A8ne%29_Gallois_%3B_%28photogr._reprod._par_Radiguet_et_Massiot_pour_la_conf%C3%A9rence_donn%C3%A9e_par%29_Gallois_-_btv1b532798828.jpg/500px-thumbnail.jpg)
![[Golestan, Le Salon et Fete de l'equinode, Teheran, Iran (le Pavillion du Trone)]](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/-Golestan%2C_Le_Salon_et_Fete_de_l%27equinode%2C_Teheran%2C_Iran_%28le_Pavillion_du_Trone%29-_MET_DP202918.jpg/500px--Golestan%2C_Le_Salon_et_Fete_de_l%27equinode%2C_Teheran%2C_Iran_%28le_Pavillion_du_Trone%29-_MET_DP202918.jpg)
![Théâtre de la guerre dans l'Inde sur la coste de Coromandel / par M.B.C.T. [Monsieur Bourcet Capitaine ?] ; gravé par Croisey](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Fort_de_Calicuta_-_btv1b59706294.jpg/500px-Fort_de_Calicuta_-_btv1b59706294.jpg)
