The Real George Washington (Parry & Allison)
Volume 3 of the
American Classic Series
—————
Part I
George Washington: The Man Who United America
(A History of His Life)
By Jay A. Parry and Andrew M. Allison
Part I:
George Washington—The Man Who United America
Jay A. Parry and Andrew M. Allison
[p.3]Enlarging and Beautifying The Mount Vernon Mansion
The Real George Washington, p.73
After completing several busy weeks of service in the House of Burgesses, Washington prepared to move his new family northward to Mount Vernon. He wrote ahead to his estate manager to ensure that everything would be in order for their arrival:
You must have the house very well cleaned, and were you to make fires in the rooms below it would air them.
Inquire about in the neighborhood and get some eggs and chickens, and prepare in the best manner you can for our coming.29
In early April 1759 he reached Mount Vernon with Martha and the children. The home had been greatly expanded since the previous year. Washington himself had designed the changes, relying on English architectural manuals and borrowing ideas from other structures in the area. His friend George William Fairfax had served as his construction supervisor while he made the 1758 expedition to Fort Duquesne.
In accordance with Washington's plans, the roof of the old farmhouse was raised atop a new second story, and a handsome staircase was built in the central hallway. Palisades mounted on low brick walls connected four service buildings to the main residence, creating the impression of a larger mansion. The wooden exterior of the house was given the illusion of stone blocks by an ingenious innovation: vertical grooves were cut into the horizontal boards used for siding, and sand was mixed with the paint to produce a roughened surface. At least part of the interior was also redecorated. The west parlor, for instance, was now adorned with rich paneling, a marble chimneypiece and an oil landscape imported from London, and columns and pediments around the doorways.30
Additional improvements would come in the years that
[p.75] followed. As the number of guests at Mount Vernon increased, the length of the home was gradually doubled—first by an extension on the west end which included a first-floor library and several second-floor bedrooms, and later by an extension on the east end that boasted a large, high-ceilinged reception hall. Following the Revolutionary War, the appearance of the home was further enhanced by the placement of an attractive pediment over the northern front and a cupola in the center of the roof. And constructed along the entire length of the south side, which overlooked the stately Potomac River, was "the first extensive colonnaded two-story porch in Virginia, presag[ing] what became almost the hallmark of Southern pre-Civil War architecture."31A view of Mount Vernon from the air. At the time of Washington's marriage, the estate consisted of more than nine thousand acres, about half of which were in woodlands.
Besides serving as his own architect, Washington also filled the role of landscape designer. On the grounds around the
[p.76] mansion he arranged for beautiful flower and vegetable gardens bordered by decorative paths and hedges. Over the years he transplanted many varieties of shrubs and trees from the western territories, and he even imported numerous exotic plants from Europe. Throughout his eventful life Washington preferred his "small villa" at Mount Vernon above all other places on the continent. When the completion of public obligations permitted him to return home, he wished for nothing more than to enjoy "domestic ease under the shadow of my own vine and my own fig tree, with the implements of husbandry...around me."32[p.77]