After two terms as President, Washington returned to Mount Vernon for his final days. Despite his 65 years, he embarked on many new projects, including a successful distillery. On Dec. 14, 1799, the young nation was cast into mourning at the dawn of a new century with the death of the illustrious George Washington. Two hundred mourners came to Mount Vernon to say good-bye to their leader.

The Mount Vernon property was owned by the Washington family for seven generations-from 1674 when King Charles II granted the land to John Washington, George Washington's great-grandfather, until 1858 when John A. Washington, III, George's great-grandnephew, could no longer afford to keep Mount Vernon running. To save the home of our first president, the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association formed and purchased the home and 200 acres. Today, Mount Vernon welcomes over one million visitors a year.

For more information, call (703) 780-2000 or e-mail: mvinfo@mountvernon.org.

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The Mansion

When Washington inherited the estate, the house consisted of four rooms, the central passage on the first floor and three bedrooms on the second. The long process of enlarging and improving the house began in the years before his marriage, when Washington raised the Mansion from one and a half stories to two and a half stories and extensively redecorated the interior.

The house is constructed of pine, but is rusticated, an exterior decorative treatment that gives the appearance of stone. Washington himself designed the stunning two-story piazza overlooking the Potomac River and the Maryland shoreline. Here family and guests would gather in warm weather and enjoy the breeze off the river. Washington also added the cupola and, after the war, the beautiful "dove of peace" weathervane.

Prior to the installation of a modern drainage system around the foundation of the Mansion, archaeologists excavated a trench four feet wide to record the layers of soil and recover the artifacts. Thousands of small artifacts (straight pins, buttons, broken ceramic and glass sherds, fish bones, tobacco pipes) were swept out into the grass especially near the doorways.

Excess moisture in the Mansions basement was a concern for George Washington. A series of brick drains installed about 1775 were part of an elaborate system to channel water away from the house.

Large Dining Room

This two-story room is the largest in the house. Comprising the entire north wing of the Mansion, it was a perfect area for entertaining a large number of guests or for dancing.

Washington, ever practical, did not place a dining room table in the room. Instead, boards were placed on sawhorses, set with fine linen and china, and guests never knew they were seated at a makeshift table. After dinner, the temporary table could be easily cleared away to make room for dancing or other entertainments.

Visitors to the room were left with no doubt as to the General's interests. He personally selected decorative plaster ornamentation of crops and tools that reflected his love of farming. The stunning green color was also a favorite of Washington's, and the design of the magnificent Palladian window was adapted from a popular architectural book of the day.

To complete the decor, Washington ordered two sideboards and 24 chairs from Philadelphia cabinetmaker John Aitken. The landscapes and scenic paintings adorning the walls were chosen by Washington and reflected his life-long love of nature and the frontier.

The room was also the site of significant beginnings and endings in American history. The American presidency began here when, on April 14, 1789, Charles Thompson, Secretary of Congress, informed George Washington that he had been unanimously elected first president of the United States. Ten years later a nation mourned while Washington's body lay here for three days after his death on December 14, 1799, before being buried in the family vault at Mount Vernon.

Little Parlor

Music played an important part in the life of the Mount Vernon household, as in the typical genteel Virginia home of the period. The music master would travel from home to home, instructing the young, and his presence often inspired lively social gatherings at which music and dancing were the principal recreations. Although Washington could not play an instrument, he did love music. He purchased a spinet for his step-daughter Pasty Custis and a violin and German flute for her brother Jacky. Years later, he purchased a fine harpsichord and English guitar for his step-granddaughter, Nelly Custis.

Front Parlor

Before the completion of the large dining room, the west parlor, was considered by George Washington to be "the best place in my house." The elegant room was a public space, where guests to the home enjoyed the company of the Washington family. As the principal parlor, this room received much use. It was here that tea and coffee were customarily served during the winter months and on rainy days, and where the family gathered in the evenings to read and discuss the latest political news.

The architectural elements of this room make it one of the most interesting and finest surviving examples of colonial Virginia architecture. The design of the mantel was adapted from a popular 18th-century book, The British Architect, by Abraham Swan. The mantel combined with the two Palladian door frames and fully paneled walls, make the Front Parlor one of the most architecturally significant rooms in the home. In 1787, changes were made to update the room, and the very fashionable and expensive Prussian blue paint was used. The ceiling was also replaced and decorated in the neo-classical style. Throughout the room, one can find evidence of the Washington family, from the family portraits that adorn the walls to the Washington family coat-of-arms in the carved mantel and the family crest on the decorative fireback.

Study

This room, part of the south wing expansion begun in 1774 and completed in 1776, was Washington's private sanctuary. Upon his return to Mount Vernon in 1783 at the end of the Revolutionary War, the study became the place where he retired from ever-present family and guests to tend to business without distraction. No one was allowed in without specific invitation.

It was from this room that he directed the management of his estate. He received the reports of his overseers, made daily entries in his diary, and posted his accounts.

Throughout the room personal objects reflect the varying interests of Washington, including an impressive library of 884 books. This room served not only as an office, but also as a chamber where he bathed, dressed and kept his clothes. Each day, he would rise between 4 am and 5 am and go down to the study using the private staircase leading from the master bedroom. If the weather was cold, he lit his own fire and prepared for the day with little assistance from his body servant.

He used the quiet time to write letters or review reports until breakfast at 7am. He then generally rode out to his farms. In the evening, unless he had a social obligation, he would often return to his study to read or confer with his secretary until he retired at about 9 pm.

Master Bedroom

Located directly above the study in the private south wing, it was the sanctuary of Mrs. Washington and provided a quiet retreat from family and many guests. Designed with suggestions from Mrs. Washington, the room is simple with functional closets for the storage of linens and clothes. It was here that she planned her schedule, wrote letters to friends and family members, and kept careful watch over the operations of the house and kitchen staff. According to her grandson, she also spent an hour each day reading the Bible.

Portraits of her grandchildren adorn the walls, and it was in this room that she assisted with their school lessons. A Chinese lacquered dressing glass and a French mantle clock, purchased in Philadelphia during the presidency and brought back to Mount Vernon, provided elegant touches in the otherwise tasteful but simply decorated room.

Although this room was associated most closely with Martha Washington, history has tied it indelibly to George Washington. It was here that he died on December 14, 1799 of a severe throat infection diagnosed by his doctors as quinsy. Upon his death, Mrs. Washington closed the master bedroom for the remainder of her life and retired to a room on the third floor. It seems she did not wish to remain in a part of the house that held so many memories of her life with George Washington, her husband of 40 years.