Mount Vernon
On this glorious Easter Sunday, Mount Vernon is sparkling in a symphony of luscious greenery and azalea blooms worthy of a magical palette. The colonial white mansion with its signature red roof, sits on a bluff overlooking the Potomac River, across from Maryland. White picket fences surround adjacent quarters dedicated to household chores befitting such a large mansion.
A solarium with tropical plants is a novelty for this era. There is a smithy, a greenhouse, overseer?s quarters, salt house, gardener?s house, kitchen, clerk?s quarters, seed house, coach house, stables, and ice storing facility, a smoke house for curing meat, a bakery, a laundry, a saddle maker, and slave quarters.
The mansion is well preserved, with all the finery and porcelain of colonial times. The dining room is painted in an interesting shade of blue-green, an expensive novelty of the time that was hard to procure and was shipped from Europe. The plantation entertained many guests and Martha?s delicious recipes were famous.
Martha and George Washington?s bedroom in crisp and white linens looks like the occupants had just left for a carriage ride for the day. President Washington loved to ride horses across the plantation.
George Washington died in the master bedroom at Mount Vernon on December 14, 1799 from a throat infection that could have been easily cured now with antibiotics. Many illnesses then were treated through bloodletting, which further weakened the patient?s immune system.
His will directed the burial site on his beloved Mount Vernon. He even selected a place for a new brick tomb to replace the original one when it would deteriorate. The tomb, completed in 1831, is flanked by two American flags and brick walls. Martha?s remains, George?s, and other family members were moved to this location in 1831. As I was paying my respects to our first President, there was a wreath laying ceremony underway at the simple tomb.
I imagine the landscape during George Washington?s time and the road winding down to the dock. The stables still hold saddles, tools, and carriages that Martha and George used on their trips to visit friends or to attend the nearby Pohick Church.
Records give testimony to Washington?s faith in God that guided many of his decisions. ?I never knew so constant an attendant at church as [Washington],? said The Reverend Lee Massey. ?And his behavior in the house of God was ever so deeply reverential that it produced the happiest effect on my congregation, and greatly assisted me in my pulpit labors. No company ever withheld him from Church. I have been at Mount Vernon on Sabbath morning when his breakfast table was filled with guests; but to him they furnished no pretext for neglecting his God and losing the satisfaction of setting a good example. For instead of staying at home, out of false complaisance to them, he used constantly to invite them to accompany him.? (pohick.org)
Pohick Church, ?the Mother Church of Northern Virginia,? was established prior to 1724 near the Pohick Creek in a location identified by George Washington?s map in a long-lost wooden building near the current site of Cranford Methodist Church.
Virginia General Assembly established Truro Parish in 1732 and the colonists elected twelve men to serve on the Vestry, a type of governing board. One of the vestrymen was Augustine Washington, George Washington?s father.
The only surviving artifact inside the Pohick Church today is the baptismal font, a large medieval marble mortar from the twelfth century, possibly taken from a monastery kitchen in England. When some monasteries closed during the Martin Luther?s Reformation, many objects were shipped to the colonies for liturgical use. (pohick.org)
In 1767, a durable church of colonial brick was erected. Under the supervision of George Washington, George Mason, and George William Fairfax, the new church that stands today was completed in 1774, just before the Revolutionary War.
?Armed with survey maps, Washington was said to have argued for the new site, two miles north of the old church, as being more centrally located, on the highest spot in the area,? just like the biblical city set on a hill. ?You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.?? (Matthew 5:14)
The four-century history of attendance by luminaries and ordinary people, use as a stable, neglect, abuse, and repeated destruction of this wonderful church is a testament to our faith in God, endurance, and our strength as Americans.
Several enclosures at Mount Vernon hold goats, horses, cows, and sheep. There is a four-acre demonstration farm. A 16-sided treading barn on the 50-acre plantation reflects Washington?s master entrepreneurial spirit of finding new ways for animal husbandry. He experimented with crop rotation in order to increase yield.
A fully functioning distillery and gristmill are located three miles down the road. The gristmill was built in 1771 to increase the production of flour and cornmeal and to export to the West Indies, England, and Europe. Scottish farm manager James Anderson suggested the building of a whiskey distillery near the gristmill. Built in 1797, it became the largest in America, producing 11,000 gallons of whiskey in 1799, one of the most successful economic enterprises at Mount Vernon. (mountvernon.org)
George Washington learned a painful lesson in government economics at Valley Forge, Pa when his army almost starved to death. The Pennsylvania legislature, although well meaning, unwisely decided to experiment with price controls on commodities used by the army. Prices of uncontrolled goods rose sharply. Farmers, who had large families to support, refused to sell their produce at unfair prices to Washington?s army, and secretly sold food to the British who paid in gold. The dire food situation awakened Washington?s entrepreneurial spirit to look for ways that would increase crop yields and prevent the possibility of starvation.
The plantation was a mini-village with gardens, beautiful bluffs overlooking the Potomac, pastures, wooded areas, and a huge tree in front of the mansion that is hundreds of years old and still alive.
Slaves and free black men worked twelve-hour days spinning wool and linen, laundering and pressing clothes for the Washingtons and their guests, cooking food, serving it, smoking and salting meats, caring for horses, other animals, and keeping the plantation running.
?The slave burial ground is marked by a memorial to honor the slaves who lived and worked at Mount Vernon. The land was used as a cemetery for slaves and free blacks who worked for the Washington family during the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century. The graves are unmarked and the identities and numbers of those buried there are largely unknown, although William Lee, George Washington?s personal servant during the Revolutionary War, is known to be buried at the site.? (mountvernon.org)
| Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh Most recent columns ? ?Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh ( Romanian Conservative) is a freelance writer (Canada Free Press, Romanian Conservative), author, radio commentator, and speaker. Her book, ?Echoes of Communism, is available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle. Short essays describe health care, education, poverty, religion, social engineering, and confiscation of property. Visit her website, ileanajohnson.com. Dr. Johnson can be reached at: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) |
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