BGuthrie Photos: VA -- Mt. Vernon -- George Washington's 283rd Birthday

VA -- Mt. Vernon -- George Washington's 283rd Birthday:

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Description of Pictures: Monday, February 16 - Free Admission!
* 10:30am- 11:00am -- Official observance of George Washington's Birthday.
* 11:15am- 11:30am -- Military demonstration by the U.S. Army District of Washington, featuring the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry, the Old Guard Fife & Drum Corps and the Commander-in-Chief's Guard.

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. MTVEB1_150216_013.JPG: Rob Shenk (right) recognizes the intrepid photographer
2. MTVEB1_150216_021.JPG: (left to right) Barbara Lucas (Regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association), Curt Viebranz (President & CEO of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association), Megan and Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA).
3. MTVEB1_150216_037.JPG: Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA)
4. MTVEB1_150216_039.JPG: Curt Viebranz (President & CEO of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association)
5. MTVEB1_150216_043.JPG: Barbara Lucas (Regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association)
6. MTVEB1_150216_098.JPG: Rob Shenk
7. MTVEB2_150216_023.JPG: Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan
8. MTVEB2_150216_032.JPG: The military parade arrives
9. MTVEB3_150216_07.JPG: "George Washington" arrives
10. MTVEB3_150216_59.JPG: Bentley Boyd author of "George Washington Leads the Way"
11. MTVEB3_150216_66.JPG: Rob Shenk
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Wikipedia Description: Mount Vernon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mount Vernon, located near Alexandria, Virginia, was the plantation home of the first President of the United States, George Washington. The mansion is built of wood in neoclassical Georgian architectural style, and the estate is located on the banks of the Potomac River.

Mount Vernon was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is owned and maintained in trust by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association.

History:

The early history of the estate at Little Hunting Creek is separate from that of the home, which was not erected until 1741-42 and occupied for the first time in 1743. In 1674, John Washington and Nicholas Spencer came into possession of the land from which Mount Vernon plantation would be carved. When John Washington died in 1677, his son Lawrence, George Washington's grandfather, inherited his father's stake in the property. In 1690, he agreed to formally divide the estimated 5,000 acre (20 km�) estate with the heirs of Nicholas Spencer. The Spencers took the southern half bordering Dogue Creek (originally called "Epsewasson" in the September 1674 land grant from Lord Culpeper, after the former name of the creek), leaving the Washingtons the portion along Little Hunting Creek.

Upon Lawrence Washington's death, he left the property to his daughter, Mildred. In 1726, at the urging of her brother Augustine Washington (George Washington's father), Mildred sold him the Potomac River estate. In 1735, Augustine Washington moved his young, second family to the estate, settling into a 'Quarter' alongside Little Hunting Creek. In 1738, Augustine recalled his eldest son Lawrence (George's half-brother) home from The Appleby School in England and set him up on the family's Little Hunting Creek tobacco plantation, thereby allowing Augustine to move his family back to Fredericksburg at the end of 1739.

In 1739, Lawrence, having reached his 'majority' (age 21), began buying up parcels of land from the adjoining Spencer tract, beginning with the land around the Grist Mill on Dogue Creek. In the summer of 1740, Lawrence received a coveted officer's commission in the Regular British Army, and made preparations to go off to war in the Caribbean with the newly formed American Regiment. Part of his preparations included ensuring his father had legal control over the tracts Lawrence had purchased from Spencer. While he was away at war (the War of Jenkins' Ear, 1739-1743), Lawrence wrote to his father from Jamaica in May 1741, that, should he survive the war, he intended to make his home in the town of Fredericksburg, building a town home on one of the three lots he owned there.

At this same time, the Spencer family was in a legal dispute over additional land sales to Lawrence's neighbors. To adjudicate the boundary line dispute, a general court for Prince William County ordered a new survey of the entire 5,000 acre (20 km�) Washington-Spencer land grant. The surviving map of that 1741 survey, a plat, by County Surveyor Robert Brooke, revealed the estate had been grossly mis-measured back in April 1669, and it contained only about 4,200 acres (17 km�), not the 5,000 acres conveyed in the 1674 land grant. The gross mis-measurement can be attributed to the fact that the property was bounded on three sides by water, and that neither the River nor the two creeks ran straight. Pursuant to the Culpeper land grant, the original 1669 surveyor was charged with estimating an area of 5,000 acres (20 km�) and then blazing a straight-line "back" boundary along a tree line between the winding courses of Dogue Run and Little Hunting Creek. More importantly, this surviving May 1741 property survey by Brooke reveals that the location of the present-day mansion house was then vacant, with the Washingtons depicted as having their Quarter alongside Little Hunting Creek (as was shown on a similar, larger-scale Potomac River survey of 1738).

Upon receiving word of Lawrence's intent to live in Fredericksburg, Augustine Washington appears to have undertaken to erect a modest farm house on the vacant bluff overlooking the Potomac River (where the mansion house now sits) in 1741-42. It is estimated Lawrence received news of his father's plans in late 1741, while at Jamaica, and presumably wrote back instructing his father to call the new home "Mount Vernon" in honor of Captain Lawrence Washington's commanding officer, Vice Admiral Edward Vernon (then regarded as the greatest military hero of the age in England.) In early August 1742, the place name "Mount Vernon" first appears in a surviving letter, penned by Lawrence's Potomac River neighbor, William Fairfax, of Belvoir. Lawrence Washington returned from the war in late 1742, buried his father in April 1743, married into the Fairfax family and took up residence at his "Mount Vernon" in July 1743. By the late 1740s Lawrence undertook an expansion of the home Augustine had built for him.

Upon Lawrence's untimely death in July 1752, his will provided that his widow should own a life estate in Mount Vernon, with the remainder interest falling to Lawrence's beloved half-brother, George. George Washington was already living at Mount Vernon and probably managing the plantation. Lawrence's widow, Anne Fairfax, promptly remarried into the Lee family and moved out. Upon the death of Anne and Lawrence's only surviving child in 1754, George, as executor of his brother's estate, arranged to lease "Mount Vernon" that December. Later, he bought his sister-in-law's life estate and became owner of the property. In 1757, George began the first of two major additions and improvements to the home. The second expansion was begun shortly before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. On those occasions he entirely rebuilt the main house atop the original foundations, doubling its size each time. The great majority of the work was performed by slaves and artisans. It is important to note that while he twice rebuilt the home, George never changed its patriotic British name.

Upon Anne Fairfax Washington Lee's death in 1761, George was the only claimant to the Mount Vernon estate. From 1759 until the American Revolutionary War, Washington, who at the time aspired to become a prominent agriculturist, operated the estate as five separate farms. Washington took a scientific approach to farming and kept extensive and meticulous records of both labor and results. One of his most successful ventures was the establishment of a distillery; he became one of the new nation's largest, if not the largest, distillers of whiskey.

Following his service in the war, Washington returned to Mount Vernon and in 1785-1786 spent a great deal of effort improving the landscaping of the estate. It is estimated that during his two terms as President of the United States (1789-1797) Washington spent 434 days in residence at Mount Vernon. After his presidency, Washington tended to repairs to the buildings, socializing, and further gardening. The remains of George and Martha Washington, as well as other family members, are entombed on the grounds.

After Washington's death in 1799 , plantation ownership passed through a series of descendants who lacked either the will or the means to maintain the property. After trying unsuccessfully for five years to restore the estate, John Augustine Washington offered it for sale in 1848. The Commonwealth of Virginia and United States governments declined to buy the home and estate.

In 1860, the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, under the leadership of Ann Pamela Cunningham, acquired the mansion and a portion of the land for $200,000, rescuing it from a state of disrepair and neglect. The estate served as neutral ground for both sides during the American Civil War, although fighting raged across the nearby countryside. Mount Vernon was designated a National Historic Landmark on December 19, 1960 and later administratively listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The mansion has been restored by the Association (without accepting any state or Federal funds), complete with period furniture and decor, and today serves as a popular tourist attraction. The estate is also well known for its exceptional landscaping and ancillary buildings.

Touring:

Mount Vernon is open seven days a week, every day of the year, including holidays and Christmas. Visitors are invited to tour the Mansion house and more than a dozen outbuildings including the slave quarters, kitchen, stables, and greenhouse. Stroll four different gardens, hike the Forest Trail, and explore the George Washington: Pioneer Farmer site, a four-acre working farm that includes a re-creation of Washington's 16-sided treading barn. George and Martha Washington rest in peace in the tomb where wreathlaying ceremonies are held daily, and scouts are welcome to participate. The Slave Memorial and Burial Ground is nearby. George Washington worked tirelessly to expand his plantation from 2,000 acres to 8,000 and the mansion house from six rooms to twenty one.

The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association purchased Mount Vernon from the Washington family in 1858 and opened the estate to the public in 1860. Since that time, nearly 80 million visitors have toured Washington's home. Mount Vernon is independent of the government and no tax dollars are expended to support the 500-acre estate, its educational programs or activities.

English boxwoods, taken from cuttings sent by Maj. Gen. Henry Lee III "Light Horse Harry" (Governor of Virginia and father of Robert E. Lee), were planted in 1786 by George Washington and now crowd the entry path. Cuttings of these same boxwoods are now on sale at the Mount Vernon gift shop for $8.00 dollars or they can ship.

A museum dedicated to the life and death of George Washington is on the grounds. The museum has George Washington's survey equipment, weapons, and clothing, as well as dentures worn by the first President.

Recent development:

On March 30, 2007, Washington’s Mount Vernon estate officially opened a reconstruction of Washington’s distillery. This fully functional replica received special legislation from the Virginia General Assembly to produce up to 5,000 gallons of whiskey annually, for sale only at the Mount Vernon gift shop. The construction of this operational distillery cost $2.1 M and is located on the exact site of Washington's original distillery, a short distance from his mansion on the Potomac River. Frank Coleman, spokesman for the Distilled Spirits Council that funded the reconstruction, said the distillery “will become the equivalent of a national distillery museum” and serve as a gateway to the American Whiskey Trail.

In October 2006, following a $110 million fund raising campaign, two new buildings designed by GWWO, Inc./Architects were opened as venues for additional background on George Washington and the American Revolution. The Ford Orientation Center introduces visitors to George Washington and Mount Vernon with displays and an 18-minute film about Washington's life entitled "We Fight to be Free." The Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center houses many artifacts related to Washington along with multimedia displays and further films using modern entertainment technology.

On November 7, 2007, President George W. Bush hosted French President Nicolas Sarkozy for a general press conference on the front lawn of Mt. Vernon following Sarkozy's address to a joint session of Congress earlier the same day, briefing the press on the two leaders' earlier meetings.
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