George and Martha Washington at
Mount Vernon After the Presidency – Part I
Glynna Morse presented the program for the March 8 meeting of the Windsor Historical Society. She reviewed George and Martha Washington’s final years at Mount Vernon after he had served two terms as the first President of the United States during 1789-1797.
In 1797, George and Martha Washington looked forward to returning to Mount Vernon which had become their home when they married in 1759. George Washington did not own Mount Vernon in 1759 but leased it from his brother Lawrence’s widow, Ann Fairfax Washington. Washington inherited Mount Vernon after Ann Fairfax Washington died in 1761. George Washington had started with 3,000 acres at Mount Vernon and had acquired 8,000 acres by 1797. Washington made many changes in Mount Vernon’s main house over the four decades he and Martha lived there. He raised the roof, making it into a two-and-a-half story structure, with twenty-one rooms (10 bedrooms) for a total of 11,028 sq. ft. The exterior walls were made of wood cut and beveled to look like stone blocks and sanded and painted to give a stone-like appearance.
George and Martha Washington had no biological children together, but several family members lived with them at Mount Vernon. They raised Martha’s two children from her marriage to Daniel Parke Custis, her four grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews. George Washington had over 40 nieces and nephews, and Martha, too, had several nieces and nephews, many of whom lived at or visited frequently at Mount Vernon.
A large number of slaves lived at Mount Vernon. Martha Washington brought 64 slaves from her first husband’s estate to Mount Vernon, and George Washington had inherited 10 slaves at his father’s death. More slaves were acquired through inheritance and those born to enslaved families at Mount Vernon. The census of 1799 listed 317 enslaved people were living at Mount Vernon.
To provide food for all the people at Mount Vernon (both free and enslaved persons and visitors) required much food. The Mount Vernon estate included five farms, many acres of timber and woodlands, and home gardens and orchards.
George Washington was a progressive farmer and an advocate of rotating crops. He quit raising tobacco and experimented with different kinds of crops. (The Mount Vernon Ladies Association has a list of more than 140 different grains, crop seeds, and vegetables planted at by George Washington.) Wheat became the main crop at Mount Vernon with part of the wheat used for flour at Mount Vernon and the remainder sold as a cash crop to outside buyers.
Mount Vernon was like a small village with many buildings for agricultural and industrial purposes. Washington designed and built a 16-sided round threshing barn in which horses were used to turn equipment to separate the wheat grains from the stem and chaff. Mount Vernon also had a gristmill where wheat was ground into flour, stables for horses, and barns and buildings for cattle, sheep, hogs, and poultry. Other buildings included a blacksmith shop, smokehouse, storehouse, and a spinning and weaving room.
Part II will continue next week with more information about the life of George and Martha Washington after they returned to Mount Vernon in 1797.
Sources: [1] Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. [2] “Washington Post Presidency,” Wikipedia.Org. [3] “George Washington’s Mount Vernon,” History.Com.
