George Washington’s Mount Vernon

While we were in D.C. we headed over to Mount Vernon {George Washington’s estate} in Virginia.

Let me just say, wowee.  It sits right on the Potomac River, and they fished from extensively to provide food for the entire plantation .  It consists of several out buildings, and the mansion, that George Washington built himself over the course of  21 years {it’s hard to imagine that kind of patience and persistence nowadays}.

During George Washington’s life {and the subsequent generations that inherited the estate until the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association acquired it and restored it} the estate operated as a plantation.

The slave cabins have been reconstructed, as well as the 16 sided barn and 4 acres were taken to create the Pioneer Farm–where they show you how a plantation/farm would have operated in Washington’s time.

The slave quarters were a bit of a sobering insight into our country’s past.  Washington and Martha owned 300 plus slaves during the height of the plantation.

There’s also a lot of discrepancies as to George Washington’s character as a slave owner–some say he treated them better than typical, some say worse.  Though, by the end of his life, he wrote that he regretted the treatment of the slaves, and wished he had done better–decreeing that the estate would care for any elderly or sick slaves for the duration of their lives.

The Pioneer Farm was one of our favorite areas. It truly shows how innovative Washington was for his time.  He experimented with crop rotation, fertilizers and plows {like, two men holding a plow attached to horses}.  And Washington farmed wheat instead of tobacco–which was the cash crop of the day.

Can you even imagine being the President and a farmer?

The upper vegetable gardens take up more than 6 acres of the estate, and I am pretty sure I could have just hung out there the entire time if the HH wasn’t freaking out about us getting in to see the house. 😉

The garden was  immaculate.

During his time Washington used the gardens to try out new varieties of plants, grow his own vegetables and fruits, and for purely aesthetic reasons–there are perfectly trimmed hedges and tons of flowers.

There is even a fruit orchard in the garden.  Washington documented all of his trees and during his life, he had 11 pear trees, 4 apple trees,  3 peach trees, 2 cherries, and several plum trees. I don’t know why but I thought he would have had about four times that amount.

Although I fell in love with Thomas Jefferson’s Garden at Monticello, George Washington’s Mount Vernon was the highlight of my trip.

I don’t know what it is about old homes and vegetables gardens, but I just can’t get enough of them.

~Mavis

Dining with the Washingtons: Historic Recipes, Entertaining, and Hospitality from Mount Vernon