Bill's Aviation Log

A map of the grounds. Mount Vernon was a plantation, complte with wharf on the Potomac River.

We checked out Washington's tomb.

We then went out the rear of the house on to the veranda.

Notice the house walls of what looks like stucco brick.

The view from the piazza, overlooking the Potomac River with the Maryland shoreline on the opposite side.

The dining room is part of the original house, built in 1734. Over the years, the room underwent a series of renovations. While Washington was away commanding the Continental Army in 1775, the dining room was updated under the supervision of his cousin Lund Washington. In 1785 striking verdigris-green paint was added. Washington believed the color to be “grateful to the eye" and less likely than other colors to fade; an overcoat of glaze further intensified the color. In 1775 Washington installed an elaborately decorated plaster ceiling and added plaster ornaments above the fireplace.

This room is often referred to as the Lafayette bedchamber because it is believed that the marquis stayed here while visiting the Washingtons. Lafayette was a young French nobleman who volunteered his services in America's fight for freedom. Like his beloved Washington, he served without pay as a general in the Continental Army, and the two maintained a strong bond.

There is always a period likeness of Lafayette on display within this room. In a 1784 letter to the marquis, George Washington wrote, “It is unnecessary, I persuade myself to repeat to you my Dear Marqs. the sincerity of my regards and friendship, nor have I words which could express my affection for you, were I to attempt it."

Directly underneath the Washington's bedroom was Geoge's private office.

After George Washington's return to Mount Vernon at the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783, the study became his retreat from ever-present family and visitors; a place where he could quietly and privately tend to business. Reportedly, no one was allowed in this room without his invitation. From here, he directed the management of his estate, receiving reports from overseers, making daily diary entries, and posting his accounts.

The study was also where Washington bathed, dressed, and kept his clothes. Each morning, he rose between 4 and 5 a.m. and went to the study, using the private staircase that led down from the bedchamber. According to the recollections of his step-grandson George Washington (Washy) Parke Custis, he lit his own fire and dressed himself. Washington used this quiet time to write letters or review reports until breakfast at 7 a.m., after which he usually rode out to his farms. In the evening, unless he had a social obligation or lingered talking to visitors after dinner, he returned here to read or confer with his secretary until around 9 p.m., when he went to bed.

In this room you will find a fan chair similar to Washington's, which helped him to stay cool on hot summer's days; Washington's chair that he used as President, a portrait of Lawrence Washington, bookcases, a secretary, and other artifacts from Washington's life.

Of course, Washington was well read and had his own excellent library.

The original house was built in about 1734 by George Washington's father Augustine Washington. George Washington expanded the house twice, once in the late 1750s and again in the 1770s. It remained Washington's home for the rest of his life.

This is a painting of the original house being expanded. The kitchen building is at right.

Looking at the house across the bowling green.

Down by the river. Mount Vernon had it's own wharf to take advantage of trade via the Potomac River.

They made their own clothes for the workers.

Before the industrial revolution, there was the loom.

Washington probably could have become dictator-king of America after leading the Continental Army to victory in the Revolutionary War, had he wanted to.

He rejected that course of action completely.

"No one who knew Washington well was surprised. Everyone else, in varying degrees, was astonished at this singular failure of the corruption of power to work. And, indeed, it was a rare moment in history. In London, [the King] George III questioned the American-born painter Benjamin West what Washington would do now he had won the war. 'Oh,' said West, 'they say he will return to his farm.' 'If he does that,' said the king, 'he will be the greatest man inthe world.'" -- Paul Johnson: George Washington, the Founding Father.

A map of Washington's journey from Mount Vernon to New York where he was to be sworn in as President. It was no trivial thing to travel back in those days. There was no I-95 and Booking.com.

June 2, 2023 - Mount Vernon
I was a teenager the last time I visited Mount Vernon, home of Founding Father George Washington. I thought it was time that I visit Mount Vernon again. So Lynnette and I drove down to Mount Vernon on one nice sunny weekday. It's about an hours drive from where we live. I remembered almost nothing of what I saw today. I'm glad I came. Here is President Washington, his wife Martha and two grandchildren. Plus Lynnette, of course.

A map of the grounds. Mount Vernon was a plantation, complte with wharf on the Potomac River.

My first look at the great house in over 50 years. In 1754, George Washington began residing at Mount Vernon, a 3,000 acre estate and a house that likely approximated 3,500 square feet. By his death, Washington’s Mount Vernon consisted of about 7,600 acres and an almost 11,000 square foot mansion.

We checked out Washington's tomb.

George and Martha rest in peace. Many important people have stood where we are standing and looked in.

Then it was time to see the house. The tours were timed-entry and very well organized.

The first room we entered was on the left side of the house. It's called the "New Room". The use of bold colors was a sign of wealth. The stunning green of the wallpaper in this room was one of Washington's favorites. Like the grand “salons” of fashionable 18th-century English manor homes, this room was meant to serve several functions. As a receiving area for visitors, its high ceiling, large volume, and symmetrical decoration made the space truly impressive as the room alone was larger than most houses in colonial Virginia. As well as its scale, the New Room’s large north-facing window made it an ideal picture-gallery. Washington hung 21 works of art in the room; the six large landscape paintings currently on display are the original canvases that Washington acquired. Notice the big painting at center; it is of Great Falls on the Potomac River. The room was used occasionally for dining, likely for guests of high rank or large parties that could not be accommodated in the smaller dining room. For detailed info on each room of the Mount Vernon house, check out this excellent site.

We then went out the rear of the house on to the veranda. Notice the house walls of what looks like stucco brick.

I didn't get a good picture of the verganda, or Piazaa as it is known, so I downloaded the below picture off the web site. The two-story piazza is the Mansion's most distinctive architectural feature. Extending the full length of the back of the house, it also has a practical function—catching the river breezes on a hot and humid Virginia day. The Washingtons treated the piazza as an outdoor room, serving afternoon tea here to visitors and family members seated in simple Windsor chairs. From the piazza, visitors observe a wooded area, which was an 18-acre deer park. This was a common feature on large estates of the time. Washington stocked his with tame deer from nearby and from England for the delight of family and visitors. The trees between the Mansion and the river were carefully pruned to emphasize the view of the Potomac, creating a so-called "hanging wood."

The view from the piazza, overlooking the Potomac River with the Maryland shoreline on the opposite side.

Back into the house, into the "Central Hall", which runs the width of the house. It is the entryway into the Washingtons' home, the place where visitors who came by carriage through the west front drive were greeted.

When George Washington first enlarged the house, in 1758 and 1759, he added the native black walnut staircase.

On the wall of the Central Hall is the Key to the Bastille, given to Washington by the Marquis de Lafayette in 1790, after the destruction of this infamous prison in Paris.

The dining room is part of the original house, built in 1734. Over the years, the room underwent a series of renovations. While Washington was away commanding the Continental Army in 1775, the dining room was updated under the supervision of his cousin Lund Washington. In 1785 striking verdigris-green paint was added. Washington believed the color to be “grateful to the eye" and less likely than other colors to fade; an overcoat of glaze further intensified the color. In 1775 Washington installed an elaborately decorated plaster ceiling and added plaster ornaments above the fireplace.

The Washington's had many visitors. In those days, visitors spent the night, so Mount Vernon had many guest rooms. The Blue Room was one of the six primary bedchambers at Mount Vernon. Located at the top of the stairs on the second floor, the Blue Room overlooked the front entrance and the view to the west. By the late 1790s, it served as a bedchamber for visiting family and guests. Architectural moldings and a mantel, painted cream in the 1790s, framed the space, while blue textiles and wallpaper distinguished it. A unique mix of furnishings acquired over the course of the Washingtons’ lifetimes offered comfortable accommodations and an innovative Rumford firebox provided a warmer, smoke-free stay during the cooler seasons of the year.

This room is often referred to as the Lafayette bedchamber because it is believed that the marquis stayed here while visiting the Washingtons. Lafayette was a young French nobleman who volunteered his services in America's fight for freedom. Like his beloved Washington, he served without pay as a general in the Continental Army, and the two maintained a strong bond. There is always a period likeness of Lafayette on display within this room. In a 1784 letter to the marquis, George Washington wrote, “It is unnecessary, I persuade myself to repeat to you my Dear Marqs. the sincerity of my regards and friendship, nor have I words which could express my affection for you, were I to attempt it."

The Chintz Room was one of the finest of the six primary bedchambers at Mount Vernon. Located on the second floor in the southwest corner, it overlooked the front entrance to the mansion, the bowling green, and the vista to the west. Architecturally, a closet and a boldly-carved mantel with dramatic curves and spirals set this room apart from the others. The room’s furnishings were inspired by the decorative arts of Asia, communicating the western fascination with the perceived luxury and splendor of eastern cultures.

Prior to Washington's expansion of the Mansion to a full two stories in the late 1750s, this room was part of a larger room. In Lawrence Washington's 1753 probate inventory this single room was called the room at the "Head of Stairs." The volume of the room at the head of the stairs was originally substantially smaller because the lower roof of Lawrence's house made this room an attic room with a knee wall and sloping ceiling. Despite the smaller size, in 1753, the room housed two bedsteads, although it is not known if they were assembled or merely stored here. The hall bedchamber created by the 1757-59 work was described as "a Closet with the Window," while the garret stair occupied a space "6 feet by 12 off from the old Store room."

The Washington's bedroom. Located directly above the study in the private south wing was George and Martha Washington's spacious bedroom. Designed according to Mrs. Washington's suggestion that it be simple and functional, the room was also her sanctuary, where she planned her schedule and wrote letters to friends and family members. According to her grandson, she also spent an hour there each day reading the Bible and praying. Washington died of a severe throat infection in this room on December 14, 1799. Upon his death, Martha closed the room and, for the remaining several years of her life, spent much of her time in a bedchamber on the third floor. Purchased in the early 1790s, the bed was described by Mrs. Washington as “the new bedstead which I caused to be made in Philadelphia." Its design is in keeping with the Washingtons' preference for elegant simplicity. At just over six feet, six inches long, it was large enough to accommodate the General, who stood about six feet, two inches tall. In this room you will also find a mantel clock from Washington's presidency and a fine French writing desk crafted of mahogany with a marble top and brass fittings.

Directly underneath the Washington's bedroom was Geoge's private office. After George Washington's return to Mount Vernon at the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783, the study became his retreat from ever-present family and visitors; a place where he could quietly and privately tend to business. Reportedly, no one was allowed in this room without his invitation. From here, he directed the management of his estate, receiving reports from overseers, making daily diary entries, and posting his accounts. The study was also where Washington bathed, dressed, and kept his clothes. Each morning, he rose between 4 and 5 a.m. and went to the study, using the private staircase that led down from the bedchamber. According to the recollections of his step-grandson George Washington (Washy) Parke Custis, he lit his own fire and dressed himself. Washington used this quiet time to write letters or review reports until breakfast at 7 a.m., after which he usually rode out to his farms. In the evening, unless he had a social obligation or lingered talking to visitors after dinner, he returned here to read or confer with his secretary until around 9 p.m., when he went to bed. In this room you will find a fan chair similar to Washington's, which helped him to stay cool on hot summer's days; Washington's chair that he used as President, a portrait of Lawrence Washington, bookcases, a secretary, and other artifacts from Washington's life.

Of course, Washington was well read and had his own excellent library.

In Washington's office, a bust of John Paul Jones looks at a wall. John Paul Jones was, of course, the famous American ship captain who said "I Have Not Yet Begun To Fight!" And that was it. Not a large house, really. It is nothing compared to the palaces Kings were living in over in Europe during this era.

The kitchen was in a separate building from the house.

Front of Mount Vernon.

The original house was built in about 1734 by George Washington's father Augustine Washington. George Washington expanded the house twice, once in the late 1750s and again in the 1770s. It remained Washington's home for the rest of his life. This is a painting of the original house being expanded. The kitchen building is at right.

Following Washington's death in 1799, the estate progressively declined under the ownership of several successive generations of the family as revenues were insufficient to maintain it adequately. By 1858, Mount Vernon was in pretty bad shape, as you can see below. In 1858, the house's historical importance was recognized and it was taken over by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association; this organization acquired it together with part of the Washington property estate. The mansion and its surrounding buildings did escape damage from the American Civil War suffered by many properties located within the Confederate States of America. Mount Vernon was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is still owned and maintained in trust by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, being open to the public daily in recognition of George Washington's 1794 acknowledgement of public interest in his estate: "I have no objection to any sober or orderly person's gratifying their curiosity in viewing the buildings, Gardens, &ca. about Mount Vernon." Let's hear it for the Moutn Vernon Ladies' Association, who have done such a superb job of preserving this American historic treasure!

Looking at the house across the bowling green.

Mount Vernon was a farm and therefore had farm animals.

Down by the river. Mount Vernon had it's own wharf to take advantage of trade via the Potomac River.

This is the first I've heard of a Riding Chair. Makes sense, though.

The Mount Vernon was a self-sustaining plantation. They grew their own food and made everything they needed.



They made their own clothes for the workers.

Before the industrial revolution, there was the loom.

Working the iron!

The visit concluded with the very interesting George Washington museum. What did George Washington really look like? There are a lot of familiar pictures of him, but they never quite agree with one another, and more were made when he was old than when he was young. So when the people who run Mount Vernon, Washington’s estate on the Potomac River in Virginia, wanted exact life-sized likenesses of him at the ages of 19, 45, and 57 for their new visitors’ center, they turned to the tools of forensic anthropology. Those tools produced arresting and utterly convincing results. Link The effort was led by Jeffrey H. Schwartz, a physical anthropologist at the University of Pittsburgh who has worked both in reconstructing early hominids and in a county coroner’s office. “Usually you would use bones,” he says, “but we didn’t have permission to look at Washington’s bones.” So he turned to what he calls secondary and tertiary sources of information. The secondary sources were the life mask of Washington made when he was 53 by the French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon, as well as the bust and full-length statue made from that mask; “surviving and provenanced dentures” (George Washington’s false teeth); and clothing. The tertiary sources were portraits and letters, diaries, and other written sources. Digital 3-D scanning of the Houdon mask and bust revealed that the bust followed the mask very accurately. “My collaborators and I have made inroads into fusing science, art, and history in ways that were hardly imaginable even a few years ago.” We've all seen the old George Washington on the dollar bill, but not much is known about what he looked like as a younger man. A team of forensic experts used everything they had -- tooth loss, hair samples, paintings, Washington's clothing -- to come up with this George Washington at 19 years old.

A diorma of the battle at Fort Necessity, which took place on July 3, 1754, in what was then in the middle of nowhere on the frontier. It had major world history implications. What makes it fascinating is that a young George Washington was at the center of it all. As British Statesman Horace Walpole wrote: "A volley fired by a young Virginian in the backwoods of America ... set the world on fire." Would you like to know more? See my page on our visit to Fort Necessity a few years ago: Link.

George Washington at age 45, when he was the Commanding General of the Continental Army.

Washington probably could have become dictator-king of America after leading the Continental Army to victory in the Revolutionary War, had he wanted to. He rejected that course of action completely. "No one who knew Washington well was surprised. Everyone else, in varying degrees, was astonished at this singular failure of the corruption of power to work. And, indeed, it was a rare moment in history. In London, [the King] George III questioned the American-born painter Benjamin West what Washington would do now he had won the war. 'Oh,' said West, 'they say he will return to his farm.' 'If he does that,' said the king, 'he will be the greatest man inthe world.'" -- Paul Johnson: George Washington, the Founding Father.

GW was truly a rennaisance man. Among his many accomplishments was introducing mules to America. You could say he was the Father of the American Mule. He began breeding them in 1786. Mules, which are the offspring of male donkeys and female horses, work harder and longer than most draft animals. They were "more docile than donkeys and cheap to maintain."

Another accomplishment was producing a best-selling whiskey, 12,000 gallons a year!

GW played a key role in the Constititutional Convention which miraculously produced the American Constitution.

A map of Washington's journey from Mount Vernon to New York where he was to be sworn in as President. It was no trivial thing to travel back in those days. There was no I-95 and Booking.com.

George Washington at age 57, being sworn in as the first President of the United States. So ended our visit to Mount Vernon, home of George Washington. Truly a great man. They don't make politicians like him anymore, that's for sure.


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June 2, 2023 - Mount Vernon