Visit to Mt. Vernon

On Sunday I went out to Mt. Vernon. I would have to recommend either going on a weekday, or at the very least getting there right when it opens at 8am. I decided to sleep in which was not a good idea. It was completely overrun with tourists, and I bet if you were there during a less-crowded time, you'd have an entirely different experience from mine, which mostly consisted of waiting in lines. I would think the estate would be very quiet and peaceful, and more conducive to thinking about the previous owner's history as our first President than it was when I was there. I am glad I went, but I definitely want to go back at a less busy time for a second look.

Below is a view of the main house from the front. There are attached outbuildings on either side, connected by these neat covered walkways, but I couldn't get them all in the picture. That's actually why I didn't take very many pictures there - for almost every shot I wanted, I really needed a panoramic shot, and I couldn't find how to do that on my camera....thus, very few pictures.

The house is actually smaller than I had pictured it. It's easy to forget that their mansions were not the size of what we'd call mansions today. It was huge for their time though. The Mt. Vernon Ladies Association has managed to find many of the original belongings and have them returned to the house, so that about 40% of what you see is original to the house, which is pretty amazing for a house that old.

Below is George & Martha's back porch. They have a row of wooden chairs lining the porch, so you can sit there and enjoy the view just as they must have. Take special note of the authentic eighteenth-century traffic cone to the left of the porch:

This is the view of the Potomac from the backyard. The Mt. Vernon Ladie's Association has purchased about 4,000 acres across the river in Maryland, so that the view will always be unchanged, essentially what is was in the Washingtons' day.

I was on the path to the tomb, and I just had to take a picture of this sort of glade. I finally had a bit of the path to myself, and it was so peaceful and pretty.

George & Martha were actually buried in the "old tomb" initially, but the family crypt was falling apart, and before he died, George commissioned a new one. It wasn't ready until quite some time after they both died, but when it was, they were both re-interred in the new and improved tomb, pictured below: