Living in Washington, it is difficult to resist the desire to visit his own house ... Getting to Mount Vernon, as his estate was called, is quite simple. It is located just 24 km south of the US capital, in the state of Virginia. The very place for the future capital was chosen with the expectation that George Washington could easily reach it in his horse-drawn carriage. Now there is a regular bus number 101 to Mount Vernon. It leaves regularly from the Huntington tube station. George Washington's estate is located on the high bank of the Potomac River, so cruise ships go there in the summer.

A visit to the estate museum will cost $ 17, but there are days in the year when you can get to Mount Vernon for free. It happens on George Washington's birthday when he himself greets his guests. Of course, the role of Washington is played by one of the actors of the Historical Theater.

I have visited this Washington estate more than once, including in February, when the country celebrates President's Day. It is celebrated annually on the third Monday in February and was originally established in honor of George Washington, who was born on February 22. On this day in Alexandria (Virginia) a parade-demonstration takes place, including in the form of a historical reconstruction, because the first president of the country himself, along with his wife, sits in a carriage driven by beautifully decorated horses. And among the participants in the parade, a place of honor is given to the soldiers of the Continental Army, whom George Washington commanded during the War of Independence.

However, in February, Mount Vernon does not look as elegant as in spring and summer. Mount Vernon House, Manor and Plantation covers an area of ​​169 hectares. This is one of the most important historical sites associated with the personality of the first president. The credit for reviving Mount Vernon belongs to the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, initiated by Ann Cunningham of South Carolina. It was this organization that purchased the Washington estate from his heirs for $200,000. In 1858, the restoration of the house began to restore its original appearance, and already in 1860 the museum was opened to the first visitors. During the years of the Civil War, Mount Vernon remained a neutral territory for both warring parties, no matter how hostilities unfolded very close to its borders.

The estate became a national historical park in 1960, now it is the second most popular place in the United States after the White House. There is always a huge line of tourists at the entrance. It is visited by over a million people annually.

An endless stream of tourists

In the information center you can take pictures with the Washington family

Mount Vernon, the family home of the Washingtons, is associated with 40 years of the life of the first president. Here he spent several carefree childhood years, here he lived, becoming part of the plantation elite of Virginia, here he constantly returned when his military and political affairs allowed. Here he died and was buried in the family crypt, completed in 1831 according to his will.

He became the owner of the plantation after the death of his half-brother Lawrence, who named it Mount Vernon in honor of the British Admiral Vernon, under whom he served. Mount Vernon Plantation originally covered 1,600 hectares with 18 slaves. George Washington turned out to be an experienced and caring owner, who gradually turned his plantation into a well-established prosperous economy, increasing its area to 8 thousand hectares. The number of slaves owned by Washington reached 300 people. From his diaries one can judge the pastime of a wealthy Virginian planter. His favorite pastimes were: fishing, hunting for foxes and ducks, visiting the church, as well as horse races and cockfights, receiving guests and returning visits, funny feasts, dancing at balls, theatrical performances, cards and billiards.

The centerpiece of Mount Vernon Manor is the elegant main mansion, a striking example of colonial architecture. It is wooden, but finished in such a way that it gives the impression of a stone building. The decoration of the mansion are windows in the Paladian style and a kind of dome-lantern, on which a gilded weather vane depicting the Dove of Peace is hoisted. The dome was a source of light and at the same time served to circulate air in the summer.

Living room

Key to the Bastille. Lafayette's gift

After visiting the mansion, visitors find themselves on a beautiful lawn in front of the house, spread out on the very bank of the Potomac. From here, a stunning panorama opens, which was once admired by Washington itself and its many guests, among whom were: Lafayette, Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison and other famous personalities.

After that, you definitely need to walk around the estate. Not far from the manor house is a carriage house with an elegant carriage, Washington ordered them from England. There are also stables here, as Mount Vernon was famous for its horses.

Tourists can now see various outbuildings and workshops: a laundry, a smokehouse, a smithy, a shoemaker's and a cooper's workshop, etc.

Mount Vernon also attracts visitors because scenes from "living history" are unfolding here all the time. It seems to visitors that the usual everyday life of the 18th century reigns around: they cook food, graze cattle, work around the house, make blacksmith and other products ... You can, if you're lucky, see the teachings of the colonial troops. Everything is as it used to be. Imitation even in the details.

Small houses of overseers and slaves are located separately, since Washington was a large slave owner.

He treated his slaves quite gently, as the documents show. He freed his slaves by will, which was not so common at that time. Recently, a memorial sign was erected in the cemetery for slaves, who, of course, were buried separately from their owners.

The estate itself is a solid farm, where everything necessary for life was grown and produced. The upper garden, where Martha Washington bred various varieties of flowers, is very beautiful in beauty. There was also an apothecary garden with medicinal herbs. In the 18th century, having medicinal plants on hand was a vital necessity. The lower garden was given over to fruit trees and shrubs, various varieties of berries and vegetables. Apples, cherries, plums, peaches also grew here.

Mount Vernon and other farms grew mainly tobacco, which was exported to Europe. The pier on the Potomac River was the main transportation hub for imports, including household items from England, and for exports.

On the estate you can see special barns designed for drying tobacco leaves. Wheat and corn were also grown here, and flour was sold to the West Indies. The farm had its own water mill, which is still in operation today. There was also a large distillery for those times, producing up to 5 thousand gallons of whiskey per year. The estate raised a solid livestock, as well as poultry. And now you can see special paddocks and fenced pastures.

George Washington, as they say, advanced farmer. He was inventive in improving the tools of labor: he designed a new form of plow, invented a machine for harvesting turnips, and improved the design of a seeder. One of the first in Virginia, he began the fight against soil depletion, resorting to multi-field crop rotation and the use of organic fertilizers. While on his estate, Washington actually rode around his estate every day in any weather. So it was on December 3, 1799, when, while inspecting his possessions, he spent several hours on the saddle and fell under the rain and snow. This led to a severe cold that turned into pneumonia. The medical means of that time could not help him, on the night of December 14-15, at the age of 67, he died. And he was buried in the family crypt, where grateful descendants now come to bow to his memory.

The Mount Vernon estate is so large that for tourists there are small shuttle minibuses that deliver from the Potomac coast to the exit. In Mount Vernon, you can spend a whole day unnoticed. And leaving it, you can buy souvenirs in the store at the modern tourist information center as a keepsake.

Mount Vernon cherishes the memory of the first American president.

Freemasons head to Mount Vernon

George Washington near the city of Alexandria in Fairfax County (Virginia) on the banks of the Potomac River, 24 km south of the US capital. It has been a National Historic Landmark since 1960.

The estate is named after the British admiral Vernon, the elder brother of the politician. George Washington, having inherited the plantation in 1751, built a two-story wooden manor house (1757) and a number of other structures (including a distillery). He lived permanently at Mount Vernon between official duties until his death in 1799. The estate has preserved the furniture of the first US president and his personal belongings. Here he is buried together with his wife Marta.

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An excerpt characterizing Mount Vernon

Do you want me to show you my friends? I suddenly asked.
And without letting her think, I unfolded in my memory our meetings, when my wonderful "star friends" came to me so often, and when it seemed to me that nothing more interesting could be...
“Oh, this is some beauty!...” Stella exhaled with delight. And suddenly, seeing the same strange signs that they had shown me many times, she exclaimed: “Look, it was they who taught you!.. Oh, how interesting it is!”
I stood in a completely frozen state and could not utter a word ... They taught ??? ... Really all these years I had some important information in my brain, and instead of somehow understanding it, I , like a blind kitten, floundering in her petty attempts and conjectures, trying to find some truth in them?!... And all this was already “ready” for me a long time ago? ..
Without even knowing what they taught me there, I simply “seethed” with indignation at myself for such a mistake. Just think, some “secrets” were revealed right in front of my nose, but I didn’t understand anything! .. Probably, they definitely opened it to the wrong person !!!
"Oh, don't kill yourself like that!" Stella laughed. Show your grandmother and she will explain to you.
- And can I ask you - who is your grandmother after all? I asked, embarrassed that I was entering “private territory.”

Welcome to the United States of America!

Mount Vernon Manor is a famous plantation located near the city of Alexandria, on the banks of the river, in Fairfax County,. It is located twenty-four kilometers south of the capital. Since the sixtieth year of the last century, the estate has received the status of a National Historic Monument.

The estate got its name in honor of the British admiral Vernon from the elder brother of the prominent politician. Inheriting the plantation in the mid-eighteenth century, George Washington built a two-story wooden house on its territory and a number of other structures, among which was a distillery.

Until the seventy-fourth year of the eighteenth century, Washington devoted itself entirely to Mount Vernon, as well as to its nearby Custis plantations. On the coast of the Potomac River, he grows not only tobacco, but also wheat. A little later, Washington began to export flour and fish to the West Indies.

The politician permanently resided in Mount Vernon between the performance of his duties until his death in one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine. The estate still has personal belongings and furniture of the first US president. Together with his wife, he was buried here.

In Mount Vernon, you can see how much of America lived in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, visit the house where Washington and his family lived, and admire the stunning view of the Potomac coast from the front lawn of the president's house.

The estate itself makes a rather simple impression - in it you can see only the most necessary for a decent living. Even the house for the servants of the guests is more like a tavern, where they could not only have a bite to eat, but also, if necessary, stay the night. Sheep, cows and pigs were bred on the farms of the estate, and peaches, cherries and apples grew in the gardens located nearby. It was possible to hunt in the forest nearby, and a small pier adorned the river bank.

All :

The original name of the estate is "Little Hunting Creek" (after the name of the stream next to it). However, Washington's older half-brother, having inherited the estate, named it in honor of Vice Admiral E. Vernon, under whose command he once served. George Washington retained this title.
In 1674, John Washington and Nicholas Spenser became the owners of the land on which the estate is located. John's son Lawrence divided the estate with the Spencer heirs: they got most of the 5,000-acre plot of land, while Washington received land along Little Hunting Creek and, in compensation, 2,500 pounds of tobacco.
In 1726, the estate went to George Washington's father, Augustine Washington. He moved his second wife and family to it, but in 1739 gave the land to his son from his first marriage, Lawrence. He began to increase the plot, buying up the Spencer lands, then went to war in the Caribbean on the side of England (as part of the American Regiment) and wrote home that if he managed to survive the hostilities, he would like to settle in the city of Fredricksburg. After this, Augustine Washington began building a small house on the site where the mansion now stands; It was around this time that after Lawrence's letter the estate was named "Mount Vernon".
In 1742, Lawrence returned home, in 1743 he buried his father, and a little later he began expanding the house built on the estate.
In 1752 Lawrence died; most of the estate went to George Washington. Later, when he bought her share from Lawrence's widow, he became the absolute owner of Mount Vernon. In 1757, Washington began the first of two renovations to the mansion, eventually more than quadrupling its size. It is not known exactly who supervised the work, but there is reason to believe that it was the architect John Ariss, a close friend of George Washington.
From 1759 until the war, Washington enlarged his estate, and, being an excellent agronomist, obtained an excellent return on it.
After the war, Washington returned to Mount Vernon and in 1785-1786. worked hard on its further development.
During the years spent as President of the United States (1789-1797), Washington spent only 434 days on his estate, but then he again began to give him a lot of his time, dealing with the repair of buildings, and raising livestock, and growing crops. Among other things, Washington in "Mount Vernon" was founded and the production of whiskey, which soon became one of the largest in the United States.
The ashes of George and Martha Washington lie at Mount Vernon, in the family burial vault, completed in 1831 in fulfillment of George's will.
George's heirs were unable to maintain the estate, and in 1848 it was put up for auction. Vlas "" from Virginia and the USA refused to buy, and only in 1858 "Mount Vernon" was bought by the "Mount Vernon Ladies" Association of the Union "; she literally saved the estate from desolation and neglect.
During the years of the Civil War, Mount Vernon remained a neutral territory for both warring parties, no matter how hostilities unfolded very close to its borders.
In 1960, Mount Vernon was named a National Historic Landmark, then entered the National Register of Historic Places and is currently owned by the same Association and is independent of the state.
"Mount Vernon" attracts tourists not only for its historical value, but also for the entourage of the estate of the second half of the eighteenth century, as well as beautiful landscapes.
... And in 2007, the distillery was restored in its original form, producing up to 5,000 gallons of whiskey per year for sale in a local gift shop.

Mount Vernon is the family estate of the first American president, which he inherited after the death of his parents and older brother. He lived on this estate from his retirement from the army in 1759 until his death in 1799. On estate farms, he grew tobacco and wheat and was one of the largest producers of whiskey.
Adult visitors to Mount Vernon, of course, are interested in learning about Washington's everyday habits, understanding and feeling how American society developed, literally touching the chairs behind which sat those who developed and adopted the Constitution. For children, a special interactive museum has been created here, which tells the biography of Washington, films about the war for independence are shown, scenes from the life of the estate are played in the puppet theater. Also on a special stage, surrounded by portraits of senators, you can take the oath and feel like the president of America for five minutes. Therefore, Mount Vernon is attractive to visit at any time of the year!

And every year from November 27 to January 6, all visitors have a unique opportunity to celebrate Christmas in the same way as George Washington, the "father of the American nation", celebrated it.

It is also interesting that the estate in the form in which we see it now was designed by Washington himself. Rebuilding and expanding the house took almost thirty years! And, despite the fact that the house seems large from the outside, the rooms are quite small, especially by modern standards (and, of course, when compared with the houses of modern politicians). But it offers a magnificent view of the Potomac River!

The estate consists of a whole complex of buildings. On the ground floor in the main house there is a dining room, a salon in which George Washington received his guests, a small salon used by his wife Martha, Washington's study, on the second and third floors there are small bedrooms and a playroom, which was also used as home school. It is interesting that the kitchen itself and the “cold” room, in which the shot game and dairy products were stored, are not in the common house, and the slaves had to carry heavy dishes to the dining room. Inside the house, by the way, you can’t take pictures, but even from the official, allowed for release photo of George Washington’s bedroom, you can see how small the rooms were

Pay attention to the dome - Washington “planted” a dove on the weather vane, which is a symbol of peace. Himself a former military man and intelligence officer, he could not help but appreciate this

Not far from the right wing of the house are, as I already mentioned, a “cold” room and separately built houses in which slave women worked - laundresses, seamstresses and dishwashers. There are also stables, blacksmith and carpenter houses and residential barracks for slaves.

For special tourists like us, who are surprised by the double standards and do not really understand how it is possible to be a slave owner and oppose slavery at the same time, there are explanatory signs. Tour guides also tolerantly explain that Washington released all the slaves in his will, and before his death he could not do this simply because "they had nowhere to go." Of course, I could not restrain myself and asked why, in that case, he did not offer them to settle and work on the estate for a salary, as free people, but the guide looked so sternly in response that I immediately felt the whole blasphemous intention of my question

In memory of the slaves, a small monument was erected relatively recently at the site of their cemetery.

Here, on the estate, is the grave of George Washington - so to speak, the American "post number one"

Museum staff tried and recreated in Mount Vernon the style of subsistence farming that was carried out under the first American president. The orchard here grows the same varieties that grew in the eighteenth century, the same flowers and herbs are grown in the garden, the same breeds of sheep, cows and pigs graze in the fields.

And even the park paths are kept in the same form in which they were under their famous owner.

In the fields, in memory of the military past of George Washington, a tent camp has been set up. This is where costume fights take place.

At the entrance to the modern complex, where an interactive museum, cafes and shops are located (where without them!), You are greeted by the owner and his family

As I said above, you can imagine yourself as the President of America

And you can also try chocolate made in the traditions of the eighteenth century (by the way, the exact same one is sold in another open-air museum - Colonial Williamsburg, which is also located in Virginia. I wrote about it)

In addition to other souvenirs, you can buy whiskey produced using the technology of George Washington in the store. The official picture is incredibly beautiful, the price is incredibly high, the taste is quite ordinary. Perfect for a keepsake or gift

By the way, about gifts. At one time, George Washington, wanting to please the children of his wife, their friends, as well as the children of slaves (yes, the well-known fighter against slavery was himself a major slave owner), for Christmas ordered a real camel for 18 shillings. Washington generally had a weakness for exotic animals and often invited traveling circuses and zoos with sea lions, leopards and monkeys to Mount Vernon. But everyone liked the camel as a Christmas entertainment so much that it was decided to arrange such a gift for children every year.
For several years now, a camel named Aladdin has been brought to Mount Vernon from a zoo in Berryville, Virginia. He is so popular that clothes with his image and toy Aladdins are successfully sold in Virginia, and he even has his own page in