Mount Vernon is the former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. An American landmark, the estate lies on the banks of the Potomac River in Fairfax County, Virginia. It is located 15 miles south of Washington, D.C., and Alexandria, Virginia, and is across the river from Prince George's County, Maryland.
The Washington family acquired land in the area in 1674. Around 1734, the family embarked on an expansion of its estate that continued under George Washington, who began leasing the estate in 1754 before becoming its sole owner in 1761.
The mansion was built of wood in a loose Palladian style; the original house was built in about 1734 by George Washington's father Augustine Washington. George Washington expanded the house twice, once in the late 1750s and again in the 1770s. It remained Washington's home for the rest of his life. Following his death in 1799, the estate progressively declined under the ownership of several successive generations of the family as revenues were insufficient to maintain it adequately.
In 1858, the house's historical importance was recognized and it was taken over by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association; this organization acquired it together with part of the Washington property estate. The mansion and its surrounding buildings did escape damage from the American Civil War suffered by many properties located within the Confederate States of America.
Mount Vernon was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is still owned and maintained in trust by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, being open to the public daily in recognition of George Washington's 1794 acknowledgement of public interest in his estate: "I have no objection to any sober or orderly person's gratifying their curiosity in viewing the buildings, Gardens, &ca. about Mount Vernon."
Name
When George Washington's ancestors acquired the estate, it was known as Little Hunting Creek Plantation, after the nearby Little Hunting Creek. However, when Washington's older half-brother, Lawrence Washington, inherited it, he renamed it after Vice Admiral Edward Vernon, who had been his commanding officer during the War of Jenkins' Ear and captured Portobelo from the Spanish. When George Washington inherited the property, he retained the name.
Buildings and grounds
The estate contained when Washington lived there.
Today's property consists of , with the Mansion and over 30 outbuildings being situated near the riverfront.
Architecture
The present mansion was built in phases from approximately 1734, by an unknown architect, under the supervision of Augustine Washington. This staggered and unplanned evolution is indicated by the off-center main door. As completed and seen today, the house is in a loose Palladian style. The principal block, dating from about 1734, was a one-story house with a garret. In the 1750s, the roof was raised to a full second story and a third floor garret. There were also one-story extensions added to the north and south ends of the house; these were torn down during the next building phase. The present day mansion is .
In 1774, the second expansion began. A two-story wing was added to the south side. Two years later a large two-story room was added to the north side. Two single-story secondary wings were built in 1775. These secondary wings, which house the servants hall on the northern side and the kitchen on the southern side, are connected to the corps de logis by symmetrical, quadrant colonnades, built in 1778. The completion of the colonnades cemented the classical Palladian arrangement of the complex and formed a distinct cour d'honneur, known at Mount Vernon as Mansion Circle, giving the house its imposing perspective.
The corps de logis has a hipped roof with dormers and the secondary wings have gable roofs with dormers. In addition to its second story, the importance of the corps de logis is further emphasized by two large chimneys piercing the roof and by a cupola surmounting the center of the house; this octagonal focal point has a short spire topped by a gilded dove of peace. This placement of the cupola is more in the earlier Carolean style than Palladian and was probably incorporated to improve ventilation of the enlarged attic and enhance the overall symmetry of the structure and the two wings; a similar cupola crowns the Governor's House at Williamsburg, of which Washington would have been aware.