We had such an amazing experience at Mount Vernon! It was as if some little elf was plotting our experience so that we would optimize every second of it.
That statement is almost literal. When we first got there, we went in and purchased our admission ahead of several large school groups in matching shirts, and were apprehensive about sharing our tourist experience with hoards of elementary school kids... the visitor's center was already a zoo. An elderly museum volunteer saw our apprehensive faces, grabbed us, and whisked us away to another information center that hadn't seen a single human being yet that day - it was blissfully quiet. He showed us some highlights of the exhibit, like Washington's wooden teeth and other museum wings to hit later, and plopped us down in a film about Washington's exploits as a war general. After enjoying a private viewing, we exited the theater to see the first waves of the schoolchildren lining up outside the theater. Our little helper found us and whisked us back through another exhibit yet untouched, showed us some more highlights, and showed us on the map the best course of action for the day.
So, remaining just one step ahead of the worst of the school groups, we went over to see the main attraction of the estate, the mansion itself. It was smaller than I expected, and the tour through the inside was a brief and somewhat hurried walk-through most of the rooms... during the winter, I'm sure it's more beautiful and less rushed. No photographs were allowed inside, and the outside was having a bit of restorative work done, so photos of this part of the day were not fantastic. Still, it was neat to see a revolutionary-era house, where Washington lived and died (eerily, we saw the bed and room where that happened), helping to humanize an otherwise monolithically legendary character in American history.
The mansion, with the scaffolded wing cut off from view - when looking straight on, the layout of mansion/side wing / archway / side structure is symmetrical.
View of the Potomac river from the mansion - the tree has been there since Washington's time.
Another view of the mansion, up to the scaffolding.
On either side of the house, connected by arched walkways, are functional rooms for the home - such as the kitchen.
Portion of the kitchen.
After the house tour, we walked down the path lined with structures associated with keeping up an estate - the butcher's hut, the stables, etc. We came across the old tomb structure, where Washington was entombed with other family members while his own structure - as dictated in his will - was being built farther along the path.
Stables at Mount Vernon.
Path leading down to the old tomb.
The old tomb (taken by Loren).
The new tomb, where George and Martha Washington are entombed.
Placard outside the new tomb (taken by Loren).
When we got to the "new" tomb, we got there just as a twice-daily wreath laying ceremony was about to start. Each day, at 10:00am and at 2:00pm, the gates to the tomb are opened, and a wreath is dedicated to Washington. Volunteers are taken from the crowd to participate, and two veterans are asked to do the actual wreath-laying. When the crowd was asked for veterans, my dad raised his hand, and was selected to participate! It was an awesome experience, and I caught the entire thing on video:
(taken by Loren).
(taken by Loren).
Happy parents after the ceremony (taken by Loren).
After the ceremony, we continued down the path to the water, where there was a small dock. There were cruises leaving from there that went up and down the river, but we were doing a similar activity later in the week, and decided to go back up to the visitor's area to find some lunch and browse the gift shop.
Loren and I on the path from Washington's tomb to the river.
We got lunch at the "Mount Vernon Inn," a lovely little tavern-style restaurant with waiters in historic clothing. After all the crowds of schoolchildren we had to swim through all day, and especially through the gift shop to get to the restaurant, it was so lovely and peaceful. Our food was delicious as well. All in all, it was the perfect way to end the excursion.
The patio-esque room in which we dined, complete with period-dressed waiters.
My cup of delicious cold strawberry soup.
Loren's meaty meal.
To get to and from Mount Vernon, we drove along the George Washington Memorial Parkway, which is a beautiful glorified trail along the river with great views of trees and water. It's even better to take the bike path that runs between the road and the river, if you have the time and physical energy (which we did not).
The view from the car - so green!
We took this road to and from Alexandria, the topic of the next post.
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