A Weekend Away — Chaletmomma

Recently I visited Washington, D.C. with my sister for a family celebration. We managed to sneak in a bit of time to tour the National Gallery of Art and Mount Vernon.

We only had an hour at the National Gallery of Art. We chose to visit the West Building. We quickly made our way through an incredible collection of Furniture to the Impressionists, then we viewed the Leonardo da Vinci, Ginevra de' Benci and finished with the Dutch Masters. Both the art and the buildings architecture were equally enjoyable.

Sunday we headed out of DC to Mount Vernon.

I hadn’t been to Mount Vernon since I was quite little maybe 5 years old. I was super excited!

When we purchased our tickets we picked the timed option for the Mansion Tour. I would suggest allowing at minimum 20 mins at the Ford Orientation Center prior to your tour time to get acclimated, look around and make sure staff reviews your ticket. We paid for Guidebooks we didn’t receive. Then we made the 10 min walk to the Mansion entrance line. We didn’t understand we would not be reentering this building. After your tour you are led to the Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center - which you should allow time to visit. Our schedule was getting tight once we were done touring the grounds and we quickly made our way to the Food Court and Shops before heading home.

We were on property for 3 hours but, easily could have been for 4 or more.

A Brief History

1674: The property was granted to George Washington's great-grandfather, John Washington, by King Charles II of England. John Washington and his friend Nicholas Spencer were awarded a 5,000-acre land consisting of the peninsula in the Potomac River, bordered by Dogue Run and Little Hunting Creek. The land would be divided equally between Washington and Spencer, but the entirety of the land would one day become Mount Vernon.

1698: Tenants living at what was then Little Hunting Creek Plantation.

1726: George’s father Augustine Washington acquires the property from his sister.

1734: Augustine Washington resides at Hunting Creek Plantation with his second wife Mary and children including George. The home is a story and a 1/2 in height with 4 rooms of equal size off of a central hall. This is still the center-most part of Mount Vernon.

1754: George leases Mount Vernon from his half-brother Lawrence’s widow. The structure was continually modified and added to until 1787.

Mount Vernon website has amazing images and a virtual tour.

The New room is currently closed to visitors for preservation work. The Mount Vernon Ladies Association has been maintaining the Mount Vernon Estate since they acquired it from the Washington family in 1858.

**The New room is closed. this image is from their website.**

Green paint was very expensive and was made with copper. This let guests know you are very wealthy. Notice the woodwork is painted as well.

We were told the fact that George and Martha always had visitors and had not eaten dinner by themselves for 20yrs.

We learned the meal schedule at Mount Vernon: Breakfast at 7am, Formal Dinner at 3pm and Tea at 6:30pm and often times tea was taken in the bedroom. This is why we see dining chairs in the sleeping chambers.

**Garret Bedchamber on the 3rd Floor Where Martha moved after George’s death**

So many blooms; the Irises, Peonies and Snapdragons were beautiful.

The Shops at Mount Vernon had a variety of wonderful treasures.

Both my sister and I came home from the weekend with a post card of the van Gogh painting Green Wheat Fields, Auvers and a copy of the Guide Book. The snafu of our buying them twice has been rectified. This little book packs a ton of details and I highly recommend. You can also purchase on-line.

If you have a trip planned to the area I highly recommend visiting both. Til next time friends be well and I’ll see you over on the Gram!