Last week, my history-teacher-husband and I traveled to Mount Vernon, the Virginia home of George Washington, for a research trip. The staff at Mount Vernon were beyond amazing. Gail Cassidy gave us an in-depth, specialized tour of the mansion and its surroundings (including special access to places like the basement, and the cupola). We met with Jaclyn Jecha in the education department, and the librarian, Sarah Myers, gave us a personalized, in-depth tour of the library and its holdings. We also met with a Mount Vernon historian (the delightful Mary Thompson), who has written about a billion pages of Mount Vernon history in clear, inviting prose (I told her she needs to write for kids), and who fielded my unending barrage of questions about GW and eighteenth century social history.
I spent long hours in the library, poring through binders and journals and letters that Sarah pulled for my personal use.
I wish I’d taken more pictures, but here are a few:
Our accomodations in the “scholars’ residence”:
The entrance to the library:
My view from my desk:
Alexander Hamilton, hovering just above my head and channeling smart-vibes:
Just some of GW’s papers (they’re still compiling more):
The necessary, on the grounds of Mount Vernon:
A peek inside—yep, a three-seater
The dismal slave quarters, which must have been freezing cold in the winter.
Me standing next to life-sized George. One of the burning questions I had for Mary was how tall WAS he? Some sources say 6’3. But in multiple letters to his tailor, GW himself describes himself as being six feet tall. Mary thinks that’s why his clothes never seemed to fit well. She thinks he was, in fact, just shy of 6’3.
The ha-ha, which runs around the whole upper property and ornamental gardens. What? You don’t know what a ha-ha is? You can read about them here.
And maybe my favorite thing: here’s GW’s personal copy of the brand-new Constitution. Sarah says he didn’t habitually write in his books, but he did write in this one: can you see where he penciled in “President?” Those would be his perceived duties, as president of the new country.