Today we drove 45 minutes from our campground at Bull Run Regional Park in Centrefield, Virginia, to see our first President's estate in Mount Vernon. Most of us tend to think of George Washington as a great General in the revolutionary war, a great leader, and a great president. Indeed, he had all of those qualities and more. But, George Washington thought of himself as a farmer, more than anything.
He was a great farmer, indeed. He was an inventor and creative farmer as you will see in this blog. He learned how to make his own fertilizer, and knew the importance of rotating his crops.
George's father built a small 1 1/2 story farm house in Mount Vernon overlooking the Potomac River in 1735. When his father died, George's half brother inherited the house. When his half brother died, George inherited the house in 1754 and began expanding over the next several years into a 21 room estate.
George and Martha's home restored to the way it was when they lived here. The original house includes the front door and the two windows to the left and right of the door.
The next two picture were taken from their back yard overlooking the Potomac River.
This was taken at the river's edge next to their dock.
In 1759, George married Martha Custis. Martha's first husband died and left her a wealthy widow. When George and Martha married, they had 50 slaves working the farm. Later, George built a grist mill and distillery just a few miles from their home. Eventually, they had four adjoining farms with 8000 acres and 316 slaves. Their estate includes several barns, nursery, several gardens, orchards, and I didn't count them, but there must be about twenty buildings on this property.
Upon George's death in 1799, Martha continued to manage the estate until her death. The estate began to fall in disrepair after Martha died. In 1858, the Mount Vernon Ladies Association purchased about 500 acres of the property and immediately began its restoration. They made every effort to restore the home and property to the way it was when the Washington's lived here. They even painted the rooms the same colors as the Washington's had and much of the furniture in the home is original. I must say, they have done a marvelous job restoring this beautiful piece of property and all of its buildings.
George and Martha never had any children of their own, but Martha had four children from her previous marriage, and they ended up raising two of Martha's Grandchildren which George ended up adopting. The statue below depicts George and Martha with the two grandchildren they raised, and, of course, Kitty! (she's not a statue...yet!) The little boy in front of Kitty is George Washington Parke Custis. He eventually built the Arlington House in Arlington, VA. Upon his death, his daughter would inherit the Arlington House and she was the wife of General Robert E. Lee, commanding the Confederate army during the civil war. Please see my blog dated September 23, 2013 "Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA."
This is a slave house on one of the Washington's farms.
This is Washington's Carriage
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| The Treading Barn Designed by George Washington |
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| Inside the Tread Barn |
This is where the women slaves & their children lived that worked on the main property. The male salves had separate quarters similar to this.
George and Martha are both buried on the estate. George is on the right and Martha is on the left. In the middle is a door which opens into a vault where about twenty five members of the Washington family are inturned.
However, we are ready for some R & R. So, in the morning we will pack up and head south. Hopefully, somewhere nice and quiet with a beautiful lake! Stay with us and find out where we land next!
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