Mount Vernon Snapshot

Mount Vernon, located just south of Washington D.C. in 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 is located on the banks of the Potomac River.

When Augustine Washington (George Washington's father) owned the estate, it was known as Little Hunting Creek Plantation. Lawrence Washington, George's older half-brother, inherited the estate and changed its name to Mount Vernon in 1742 in honor of Vice Admiral Edward Vernon famed for the War of Jenkin's Ear* and capture of Portobelo, Colón.

*I leave as an exercise to the reader to learn about the War of Jenkin's Ear!

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 managing the plantation. Lawrence's widow, Anne Fairfax (1728-1761), however promptly remarried into the Lee family and moved out.

Anne Fairfax was the granddaughter of Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron. The present day Fairfax county, Virginia named for her uncle, Thomas Fairfax. Anne was a distant aunt to Robert E. Lee, who married Martha Custis Washington's granddaughter, Mary Anna Rudolph Custis.

In any event, in the treasure trove of lost photographs, I found this badly damaged photo rolled up with in a bundle with my grandmother's High School and College diplomas, neither of which I had ever seen before. Apparently my grandfather was bothered by the fact she not only finished High School (which he did not), but had also gone on to get a college dregee so my grandmother never hung the diplomas in their house out of "deference" to him.

The Kensington High School Party, February 11, 1925. My grandmother is just right of center in the middle row with the red ^ pointing to her. She looks like she is a bit chilly!

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 and is open every day of the year.

After the deaths of George Washington (in 1799) and his widow Martha (in 1802), Mount Vernon, remained in the family for three generations. John Augustine Washington, Jr., a great-great-nephew of George Washington, eventually became owner of the property, but could not afford to maintain it. By the 1850s the home was beginning to crumble. However, John Washington would not sell to commercial developers and insisted that the new owner preserve Mount Vernon as a historic site.

He offered to sell the estate to either the Federal government or the Commonwealth of Virginia, but the legislatures declined, saying it would not be proper to spend tax-payers' money to acquire private property.

In 1853, South Carolina socialite Louise Dalton Bird Cunningham saw Washington's home in poor condition. She wrote her daughter, Ann Pamela Cunningham, saying~~

If the men of America have seen fit to allow the home of its most respected hero to go to ruin, why can't the women of America band together to save it?

Ann Pamela founded the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association and invited influential women from each state (there were 30 at that time) to serve as its original Vice-Regents. It was the first nation-wide women's organization in America.

Miss Cunningham and the Association launched a nationwide fund raising effort. John Washington agreed to sell the property to the Association and the contract was signed in Richmond on April 6, 1858. The agreement was to sell the Mansion, outbuildings and 200 surrounding acres to the Association for $200,000.

Mount Vernon as it appeared when the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association bought it.

Ann Pamela Cunningham's original vision became the Association's mission statement which remains the same today~~

Ladies, the home of Washington is in your charge - see to it that you keep it the home of Washington. Let no irreverent hand change it; no vandal hands desecrate it with the fingers of progress. Those who go to the home in which he lived and died wish to see in what he lived and died. Let one spot in this grand country of ours be saved from change. Upon you rests this duty.

The Association maintains a headquarters on the Mount Vernon property, and consists of a Regent, or chairman, and 30 trustees, or Vice Regents, who represent their home states. The non-profit Association still receives no federal or state financial aid and relies solely on admission fees, revenues from food and gift sales, and donations from foundations, businesses, and individuals.