“It’s raining. I so don’t understand why we’re doing this,” Cathy said as we drove through a light drizzle south on the George Washington Parkway toward Mount Vernon, Virginia.
We had chosen this day, gray and with a 100 percent forecast of rain, to start the Presidents Project.
What a more fitting way to start than a visit to Mount Vernon, Washington’s home for 40 years. (Sure, we could have gone to the Washington Monument in D.C., but the giant obelisk wasn’t constructed until 1885, so it didn’t fit our criteria of being important to the president himself.)
Location
Mount Vernon is about eight miles south of Washington, D.C., along the Potomac River (or “Potowmack,” back in Washington’s day).
Entrance
We entered the grounds through the Texas gate, which was commissioned by the Texas Freemasons in 1899 and dedicated to fellow Freemason, George Washington.
Entrance to the expansive Mt. Vernon estate will cost you $15 ($14 for seniors, $7 for youths). That gets you a tour of the mansion, visits to the numerous buildings on the 200 acres of grounds, the gardens and the spectacular views of the Potomac River. Sitting on the green, high-backed chairs on the back porch of the mansion, overlooking the Potomac, might alone be worth the price of admission.
Mount Vernon is owned by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association who purchased it in 1858. Thus the need to purchase tickets. (The idea of buying tickets to museums and historical spots is odd for Washingtonians, like us, who grew up with the free Smithsonian museums).
Orientation Center
The Orientation Center holds two theaters, a model of the Mansion, stained glass images of Washington’s life, life size bronze statues of George and Martha Washington and two grandchildren. We were ushered into a movie theater to see two short films. The first was an introduction to Mount Vernon hosted by Pat Sajack (of “Wheel of Fortune” fame). The second, a live-action 18-minute overview of the Revolutionary War years, is not bad, with the actors actually spouting believable dialogue.
The Estate
First a confession: We didn’t go into the mansion itself. The line was just too long. Instead, we walked to the porch at the back of the mansion, sat in wooden, green chairs and admired the view of the Potomac River and the Maryland shore.
The grounds of Mount Vernon are huge and include 200 acres of buildings and fields.
Wandering around Mt. Vernon, what impressed us most was the self-sufficiency of the estate: The plantation workers grew, fruits, vegetables and wheat; they raised sheep, cows and other farm animals; they fished along the banks of the Potomac. An interesting tidbit about Washington is that he was somewhat obsessed with creating “live fences” (hedges and trees) around the property to keep out wild beasts.
Most of the work on the plantation was done by slaves—More than 300 by 1799--who now have been memorialized with a monument on the grounds where 150 slaves are thought to be buried. Mt. Vernon holds a ceremony on the anniversary of the erection of the slave memorial in September 1983 to pay tribute to the slaves and their descendants, many of whom attend the event. Coincidentally, we caught the tail end of this year’s service. (We didn’t know about it until we arrived). A purple-clad gospel choir of African Americans sang the phrase, “I don’t believe” as they filed out of the memorial site and tossed branches of same kind on the memorial. Allie Johnson King, 104 years old, was one of the slave descendants who came to the ceremony. She was pushed in her wheelchair accompanied by four additional generations of her descendants. They politely posed for pictures.
Among the highlights of the plantation is the tomb that holds the bodies of George and Martha Washington and 25 relatives. During the Civil War, Mount Vernon (which was in the South) was declared a neutral ground. Soldiers from both the North and South would leave their guns at the gate and pay their respects to Washington. A docent told us that the soldiers carved their names into the bricks. However, the carvings were so intricate that it didn’t seem possible that they were original. Plus, the dates didn’t match those of the Civil War. (A dead giveaway.)
Museum and Education Center
The new Museum and Education Center is exactly that – educational. It is an impressive display of facts and films about Washington’s life. Particularly impressive is a reverse 3-D likeness of Washington’s face that appears to look at you no matter where you stand. Another don’t-miss is the interactive movie theater. During the 14-minute movie, the seats vibrate as cannons are shot and imitation snow falls during the Valley Forge scenes. The Education Center also houses Washington’s famous dentures--surprisingly realistic. (We had been brought up on the tale of the wooden dentures. But these dentures were made of ivory.)
The center is devoted mostly to Washington’s war-time heroics and Mt. Vernon itself, and very little to his presidency. The characteristic that most impressed us was his unwavering fortitude and leadership. During the Revolutionary War, he was somehow able to convince a beaten army of sick, underfed, ill-clothed troops to cross the Delaware River in the middle of Christmas Eve night of 1776, march nine miles in the snow, and finally attack Hessian troops in Trenton, New Jersey. And win. He managed to accomplish this without losing a single person and captured 900 Hessian troops to boot. This is one of many stories of Washington’s perseverance and flat out bravery.
Washington’s main accomplishment during his two terms ((1789-1793 and 1793-1797) was to stabilize the new nation – not easy since the North and South were already fighting over such major issues as power of the federal government vs. power of the states as well as slavery.
He created the first Cabinet, with many of the same posts that we still have today: Department of State (Thomas Jefferson), Department of Treasury (Alexander Hamilton), Secretary of War (Henry Knox), and Attorney General (Edmund Randolph). He appointed the Supreme Court, led by John Jay as Chief Justice. He established the Bank of the United States and began work on creating Washington, D.C., as the nation’s capital. He even declared Thanksgiving as the first national holiday. And his military exploits were not over. In 1791 he led 13,000 militia men against the whiskey tax protesters in western Pennsylvania. The show of force caused the rebellion to evaporate with no bloodletting. Perhaps his biggest accomplishment was to avoid another war with Great Britain by sending Chief Justice John Jay to England to negotiate a truce—at terms that were less than favorable to the United States. This cost Washington some of his popularity but gave our young nation time to strengthen before the War of 1812.
Initially, some called for Washington to be crowned king. It is to his credit that he resisted such calls and became president. It also is to his credit that he did not run for a third term (which he would have won handily) and instead retired to his farm, where he died two years later.
Writings
George Washington was a prolific writer. A collection of his writings (Rhodehamel, 1997) covers more than 1,000 pages.
To his nephew, George Steptoe Washington, he advised (March 23, 1789): “ The first and great object with you at present is to acquire, by industry and application, such knowledge as your situation enables you to obtain, and as will be useful to you in life. In doing this two other important objects will be gained besides the acquisition of knowledge—namely, a habit of industry, and a disrelish of that profusion of money & dissipation of time which are ever attendant upon idleness. …When you have a leisure to go into Company that it should always be of the best kind that the place you are in will afford; by this means you will be constantly improving your manners and cultivating your mind while you are relaxing from your books; and good Company will always be found much less expensive than bad.”
To his step granddaughter, Eleanor Parke Custis, he wrote of love and marriage (January 16, 1795): “Love is said to be an involuntary passion, and it is, therefore, contended that it cannot be resisted. This is true in part only, for like all things else, when nourished and supplied plentifully with aliment, it is rapid in its progress; but let these be withdrawn and it may be stifled in its birth or much stinted in its growth. For example, a woman (the same may be said of the other sex) all beautiful and accomplished, will, while her hand and heart are indisposed of, turn the heads and set the circle in which she moves on fire. Let her marry, and what is the consequence? The madness ceases and all is quiet again. Why? Not because there is any diminution in the charms of the lady, but because there is an end of hope.”
To John Price Posey he unleashed his anger on the disposition of the estate of one of his wife’s relatives (August 7, 1782): “If what I have heard, or the half of it be true, you must not only be lost to thee feelings of virtue, honor and common honesty; but you must have suffered an unwarrantable thirst of gain to lead you into errors which are so pregnant with folly and indiscretion, as to render you a mark for every man’s arrow to level at….Conscience, must have kicked out of the doors before you could have proceeded to the length of selling another Mans Negros for your own emolument…Conscience again seldom comes to a Mans aid while he is in the zenith of health, and reveling in pomp and luxury upon ill gotten spoils; it is generally the last act of his life and comes too late to be of much service to others here, or to himself hereafter.”
To his sister, Betty Washington Lewis, regarding his mother death (September 13, 1789): “Awful, and affecting as the death of a Parent is, there is consolation in knowing that Heaven has spared ours to an age, beyond which few attain, and favored her with the full enjoyment of her mental faculties, and as much bodily strength as usually falls to the lot of four score….It will be impossible for me at this distance, and circumstanced as I am, to give the smallest attention to the execution of her will…The Negros who are engaged in the crop, and under an Overseer must remain I conceive on the Plantation until the crop is finished..after which the horses, stock of all sorts, and every species of property, not disposed of by the will…must by law be equally dived into five parts, one of which you, another my Brother Charles, and third myself, are entitled to.
Rhodehamel, J. (ed.) 1997. George Washington Writings. The Library of America.
