Mount Vernon is the former home and plantation of the first President of the United States
George Washington, located in Virginia. Spanning 8,000 acres, Mount Vernon features the Washington
family tomb, presidential artifacts, alleged ghosts, and a memorial to slaves.
Mount Vernon sits on indigenous lands and was granted to Washington's grandfather John
back in 1674 by colonial governor Lord Culpeper. At the time, some 15 Indigenous tribes were
living in Virginia. By the late 1700s however, many of them were forced to give up their
lands to the United States government. Not until President George H.W. Bush's designation
of National American Indian Heritage Month in 1990 did states begin looking harder at
America's Indigenous history. Beginning in 2016, Virginia State Delegate
Paul Krizek recognized 11 of Virginia's tribes of people and how important they were to the
state's history. Then In 2019, high school students Dominic Anderson and Jared Phillips
discovered a 6,000-year-old Native American ax at Mount Vernon during an archaeological
dig. Archaeological curator Sean Devlin commented
that, "Artifacts such as this are a vital resource
for helping us learn about the diverse communities who shaped this landscape throughout its long
history."
Mount Vernon spanned an amazing 8,000 acres when Washington inherited the property in
1761. Four expansive gardens, five farms, and the mansion were maintained by over 300
enslaved people. True to slave ownership of the time, "field slaves" received only two
sets of clothing and one pair of shoes per year. Those who worked within the home wore
better clothes, but all were forced to live in simple barracks or one-room cabins with
no insulation and only a blanket to stay warm. Like all slave owners of the day, George Washington
could resort to cruel means of punishment. He approved of whipping when he felt it was
"warranted," or even selling his enslaved workers if they attempted to escape. Punishments
were meted out to those who broke too many tools, worked too slowly, or stole food. Roughly
47 slaves made escape attempts, some in large groups.
In 1983, the official Slave Memorial was installed in the cemetery once used for Mount Vernon's
enslaved people. There, some 50 to 100 of Washington's slaves are buried. Nobody seems
sure of the exact count due to the number of unmarked graves, but elsewhere on the grounds
are at least six buildings dedicated to the hundreds of enslaved laborers who toiled at
Mount Vernon. Notably, there is a wreath-laying presentation almost daily.
George Washington was raised to believe slavery was acceptable and owned ten enslaved workers
by age 11. But at the very least, as a plantation owner, Washington recognized marriages between
slaves and prevented separating couples when he could. He also gave them holiday time off.
However, there is overwhelming evidence that Washington did separate his enslaved workers
from their families. He eventually grew uncomfortable with the idea of owning human beings, but
didn't free any of his slaves during his lifetime, stipulating instead in his will that they
would only be freed after his wife's death. Still, Washington did come to accept the awfulness
and inhumanity inherent in slavery. And his conscience ate at him for most of his life
after the end of the American Revolution. William Lee, George Washington's personal
valet, was the only slave emancipated immediately upon the death of the former president. Martha
Washington, however, freed the rest of her husband's enslaved workers a year later. Despite
freeing George's slaves, Martha willed her own enslaved workers to her children from
her first marriage. Washington's descendants continued to keep slaves at Mount Vernon until
the Civil War.
In 1796, George Washington opted out of seeking a third presidential term. He retired to Mount
Vernon, keeping up his daily habit of overseeing the vast estate. Doing so on a stormy and
very cold day on December 12, 1799, however, proved his undoing.
Returning home late, Washington opted to dine in his wet clothes so as not to disappoint
his guests. The next day, he again went out in inclement weather. By evening, the former
president fell terribly ill. Various doctors were summoned. Per their orders, Washington
gargled with molasses, vinegar, and butter, which choked him. He inhaled steaming vinegar.
His throat was swabbed with a mixture that included dried beetles. He was given an enema
and drank herbal teas. Nothing helped. Worst of all, the physicians
applied bloodletting, wherein the sick man's blood was drained for a bit of time, until
some 40% of it had been taken. Much weakened by the measure, the sickly Washington was
fed up by December 14. It’s reported that he told his doctors, "You had better not take
any more trouble about me, but let me go off quietly. I cannot last long."
They didn't listen and continued applying more useless and even damaging remedies until
the first president died later that night. Although scientists have since theorized over
what really killed Washington, they have yet to arrive at the true cause of the president's
death.
Around 10 o’clock on the night of George Washington's death, Martha stood wringing
her hands in anxiety at the edge of her husband's bed. Washington feared being buried alive
when he issued a final command before he passed, saying, quote, "I am just going!"
In fact, he is further reported to have said as his last words…
"Have me decently buried; and do not let my body be put into the vault less than three
days after I am dead. Do you understand me? ... Tis well!"
Martha Washington was so bereaved that she did not attend Washington's funeral. And in
the days following, the widow locked up their bedroom, possibly because she was so despondent
at her loss she couldn't bear to stay in the room. Martha then moved her things to a different
room on another floor and used it for the rest of her life.
Until she died nearly three years later, the bedroom Martha shared with George Washington
remained locked away from the rest of the world. But the grieving widow did another
strange thing too: She burned nearly every letter Washington wrote to her, perhaps hoping
to keep her relationship with him private. Today only three letters survive. Two were
found in a desk Martha gave to her granddaughter and a third which Martha missed in her husband's
personal papers.
Today, George and Martha Washington lie in a family tomb overlooking the Potomac River
at Mount Vernon. But that tomb is not the only one on the property. The couple was originally
in an older family mausoleum that included upwards of 25 other family members. The two
oldest interments were Washington's nieces, Jane and Sarah, who died in 1745. Other nephews
and nieces were also laid to rest there, as well as George's half-brother Lawrence and
Martha's daughter from her first marriage, Martha Parke Custis.
Before his death, Washington noted that the old family tomb was deteriorating, enough
that he wished to replace it. In his will, he decreed that part of his estate money would
be used to build a new tomb where he and the rest of the family were to be reinterred.
What is officially referred to as the "New Tomb" was completed by 1831 when the family
fulfilled Washington's request. Visitors can still see the Old Tomb on the grounds, which
is just as dank and uninviting inside as one might guess. The New Tomb, meanwhile, is gated
but the doors are open for guests wishing to peer inside.
Not even the caretakers of Mount Vernon can deny that George Washington's ghost continues
to wander around his beloved home. President Washington has reportedly been seen on the
premises of the estate for a long time. In fact, Josiah Quincy III claimed to have seen
Washington's spirit as early as 1806 while visiting Mount Vernon, sleeping in the former
president's bedroom. During the night, Quincy saw Washington's ghost, and surmised that
he was angry because the shroud on his coffin was tattered due to "relic hunters." It’s
claimed that the spirit even moves stuff around and speaks to visitors.
"I never come in here." "You say that, but sometimes when I come back, everything's kind
of been touched and moved. So…" "Oh. Well maybe it's a ghost!"
Some even say that a "dark shadow" can be seen in Washington's bedroom. It only seems
natural that the bedroom is the biggest draw for seeing Washington's ghost. Over the years,
plenty of supposed photographic evidence claims to have captured the ghost of President Washington
as he haunts the grounds of his old home. Ghost hunter Rob Gutro talks on his blog of
visiting Mount Vernon and feeling a stabbing pain in his throat in an upstairs bedroom.
Minutes later, he said the docent on duty claimed that Washington also had a sharp pain
in his throat just before he died. Gutro was standing just outside of Washington's bedroom
at the time. Today, Mount Vernon playfully uses some of the ghost stories as a scare
tactic to keep visitors from touching artifacts.
Apparently, George Washington's spirit is not the only one floating around Mount Vernon.
The place is so rife with ghosts there are accounts of hauntings by various spirits that
date back over a hundred years. One story, which was reported by New York World in the
1890's, focuses on Washington's bedroom which still contains the bed he died in. A Mrs.
William Beale and her friend were sleeping in the late president’s chambers when their
candle, situated in the middle of a water basin for safety, began "sputtering."
Okay, perhaps ghost stories didn’t have to be quite as terrifying in the 19th century…
The ghosts that haunt Mount Vernon, and the stories they generate, are almost too many
to count. They vary from mild - seeing figures drifting through the mansion, alarms going
off at odd hours, hearing the sound of keys being carried - to absolutely bonkers.
For instance, there’s the visible ghost of former director Colonel Harrison Howell
Dodge who shouted "What the hell is going on here?" at a docent as a school group passed
through. Another time, two security officers patrolling at night watched in horror as a
small girl on the path ahead of them suddenly appeared right beside their vehicle. A ghost
also has been seen hanging around Washington's tomb. And many visitors and docents alike
have seen people moving about and heard songs being sung around the slave memorial.
Although some of Washington’s belongings were sold after his wife died, some items
such as clothing, furniture, tableware, and personal items, were kept and returned to
Mount Vernon over time. These include, oddly enough, a chamberpot used by the couple in
their early years. More curious is a set of George Washington's dentures. It’s pretty
commonly known that Washington had terrible teeth, losing them one by one until he wore
a set of dentures by 1789. And contrary to folklore, they weren’t made of wood. The
president's chompers are actually made of combined materials that include ivory, metal,
... and human teeth. They are believed to have been purchased from enslaved or poor
people by Washington's dentist in New York. There's more: In 1766, Martha ordered material
to make a dozen chair cushions and spent 36 years applying her own needlework to them.
Six of the cushions, which were purchased in 1960, survive.
And, if one man's trash is another man's treasure, Mount Vernon's old trash pit is a veritable
gold mine. An archaeology project known as Mount Vernon Midden lists hundreds of items
dug up over time. The artifacts include pieces of pottery and china, but also buttons and
beads, buckles, and even a couple of Native American spear points and tools. But the trash
pit also dates well beyond the Washington family's time. A 1926 Brownie Scout ring has
also been unearthed, as well as a modern Gumby doll.
It's hard to believe, but had it not been literally saved from falling apart, Mount
Vernon might not stand today. Here's what happened.
George and Martha Washington had no children, so Martha left the estate to her husband's
nephew, Bushrod Washington. Bushrod also died without children and left the estate to a
distant relative. Subsequent owners did little for the place, and by the mid-1800s, Mount
Vernon began suffering serious wear and tear. There was no National Trust or any other preservation
organization to buy it and the owner at the time, John Augustine Washington III, put Mount
Vernon up for sale for $200,000. Enter Louisa Bird Cunningham, who was traveling along the
Potomac River one evening in 1853 and happened to notice what bad shape Mount Vernon was
in. Cunningham wrote a letter about the situation to her daughter, Ann Pamela Cunningham.
Ann Cunningham began writing letters to newspapers asking for help. The letters spread nationwide,
spurring a bevy of support for saving the estate. The end result was the purchase of
Mount Vernon by the Mount Vernon Ladies Association in 1858, making them the first national historic
preservation organization in America. The Association still owns Mount Vernon, with
22 board members overseeing its care, and they are always working to continue the preservation
efforts of the estate. "So that the next generation that comes in
can continue this amazing effort that the Ladies Association started back in 1858."
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