We don't usually drive the RV to touristy stops, but Mount Vernon was right on the way from our campground near D.C. to our new home-for-a-week in Williamsburg, VA. We're usually apprehensive about any parking lots (other than good 'ol Sams Club & Walmart), but Mount Vernon was certainly set up for oversized visitors. We parked our home right in line with all the big tour buses. So weird.
The lovely mansion of George & Martha Washington was only one of the things to explore on this 200 acre estate (8,000 acres when owned by the Washingtons including 4 outlying farms). The main rooms were painted with vibrant colors (like the kelly green dining room) and had 10 bedrooms, as they often had guests. With the estate being a day's drive from the capitol, visitors usually stayed overnight. So often in fact, that Washington once said he and his wife hadn't had a meal alone in 20 years!
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| "No estate in United America is more pleasantly situated than this..." -George Washington |
On either side of the home (in which he owned for 45 years) were the slave quarters and many outbuildings used for the jobs that kept the large plantation running.
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| The smokehouse where slaves smoked the salted or pickled meat that would feed the Washington family, guests and many slaves and servants through the winter. |
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| The hot, difficult, dangerous job of the washerwomen took place in this building. They would plunge the laundry into steaming water, hand-scrub it with lye or animal fat soap, rinse it, then dry it in the yard. They would then press the laundry with irons heated in the fire. Twenty five to thirty buckets of water had to be carried by the slaves for each load of laundry and they often worked this job 6 full days a week. |
There was a blacksmith, spinning house, salt house, stable and more.
To help manage this organization, Washington had a personal clerk and several overseers who were especially important during his extended absences. His overseers managed the free and enslaved labor, supervised livestock & crops, and submitted weekly work reports among other responsibilities. One such worker was payed a yearly wage of $133.33 plus "board, bed lodging & washing".
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| Coach houses accommodated the many horse-drawn vehicles Washington owned, including one similar to the small coach shown above. |
We know Washington as our first president, commander of the Continental Army & president of the Constitutional Convention, but he was also a businessman, having had cash crops of tobacco and wheat and having run a whiskey distillery and gristmill at the estate. He was also an innovative & passionate farmer. Owning 5 farms, Washington thought of himself first and foremost as a farmer.
On December 14, 1799 George Washington died in his home. In his will he gave details of the location & structure of his gravesite and said this regarding his slaves, "...it is my Will and desire that all the Slaves which I hold in my own right, shall receive their freedom."
By 1799 there were over 300 slaves at Mount Vernon, many of whom are buried near George & Martha's tomb.
The onsite museum walked us through his life and had such artifacts as Martha's bathing gown, Washington's life mask, collection of swords and even one of his many sets of dentures... none of which were made of wood! (Human and horse teeth, rather)
Did you know... by the time George Washington was inaugurated he only had one tooth???
We then journeyed to our next campground in Williamsburg and started the week enjoying 2 1/2 days at Colonial Williamsburg, the world's largest living history museum. The town, in its original setting with hundreds of historically furnished buildings, was restored (with the help of the Rockefellers) to look as though we were walking through the farms and streets of the 18th century. Costumed interpreters were inside, ready to share stories of the men & women -black, white, native american, indentured & free- and the challenges they faced.
Near the entrance was the Great Hopes Plantation, though a proportionally small area, it represented the lifestyle that most people lived in the 1700's. Simple homes and hard work.
The rest of Colonial Williamsburg represented the upper class. No cars in the streets, just horse drawn carriages. Shop after shop with period dressed interpreters, all so knowledgeable on their history. Fifes occasionally playing in the streets. Colonial goods for sale. And different activities every day... we just loved it here!
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| The Governor's Palace at the head of the Palace Green was open for tour. It's stately entrance displayed 500 weapons, including swords and muskets. |
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| Colonial games were available to try on the Palace Green |
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| We watched a performance at the site of the first theatre in English America, built in 1716. |
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| The wig shop was one of our favorites. We watched how the wigs were put together with horse, pig, yak or human hair and learned interesting facts like: the longer the wig, the wealthier the owner... hence the term "Big Wig". And... George Washington never wore a wig, just had his hairdresser fix & powder his hair to look like one. |
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| At the courthouse we attended a mock trial where Jim was chosen to represent a man charged guilty for ruining a woman's tobacco shipment he'd delivered. |
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| Natalie was a little too excited about locking up her sister! |
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| The colonial apothecary not only carried medicines, but also served as doctor- making house calls, acting as man-midwives & performing surgeries. And like drug stores today, they carried a variety of other items: the tooth extractor, silver baby bottle (with a silver nipple!), and toothbrush made from licorice caught our attention. |
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| Each afternoon the town stops to reflect on Williamsburg's role in one of America's defining historical periods. Our first day held "Building a Nation". We heard from Martha Washington (above), George Washington (below), a black preacher, and an injured soldier regarding their differing perspectives of this upcoming "freedom". |
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| Alayna and I toured the Rockefeller Folk Art Museum where she especially loved the "Down on the Farm" display. We followed the pages of a story, written about a feisty dog who ventured around a farm. The "pictures" were displayed through the art pieces with each page. |
We also attended a "Polite Academy" (just us 3 girls, of course) where 4 Colonial ladies taught us proper tea etiquette, how to curtsy & demonstrated examples of colonial music and dance. |
| Just outside of the historic town, we found Trellis... home of the Death By Chocolate cake! |
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| Awwww.... |
We then explored the nearby Jamestown & Yorktown together in one day. Jamestown is home to the first permanent English settlement in North America. In 1607, 104 English men & boys (wealthy & unaccustomed to manual labor) settled on the banks of the Virginia James River. Their journey was sponsored by the Virginia Company of London in hopes of striking it rich from resources of the New World. Instead, the early years in Jamestown were of hardship. By the time ships arrived in 1608 with more settlers and supplies, only 38 of the original colonists were still alive.
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| This monument was built in 1907 to commemorate Jamestown's 300th anniversary What was so cool about this destination (other than being the first English settlement!!) was that it is an active archaeological dig site. We toured the area with one of the archaeologists and got a peak at the History Channel filming on site. |
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| This is the site of the excavated first substantial Jamestown church built in 1608. This church was the scene of one of the most significant weddings in American history, where Chief Powhatan's daughter, Pocahontas, married John Rolfe in April of 1614. The replicated palisades in the background are set directly above the original fort wall remains. In the spring of 1607, the colonists constructed the triangular fort walls in just 19 days as protection from the Virginia Indians. Other excavations have revealed the settlement's first well, a storehouse, blacksmith shop & bakery. |
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| Hidden burials took place inside the fort (some of which have now been excavated and identified) in order to conceal the colony's weakness from the Virginia Indians. |
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| John Smith was an arrogant & boastful man with low social position. When he was named to the first Council in May 1607, many were infuriated, believing this role demanded one of higher status. He learned to communicate with the Indians, became the colony's principal Indian trader and proved himself a strong & resourceful leader. He led with the guiding principle of hard work; "He that will not work shall not eat." In 1608 the Council elected him Governor of Virginia for a one year term. |
Twenty miles east of Jamestown was Yorktown, site of the last major battle of the American Revolution in 1781.
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| Officers from both sides met here at the Moore House on October 18, 1781 to negotiate the terms of surrender for Cornwallis's army. Nearby was Surrender Field where Cornwallis's army (minus the "ill" Cornwallis) marched, laying down its arms the following day. |
Monticello was a 2 hour drive out of our way, but so worth the visit. The tour of Thomas Jefferson's home & plantation gave insight to the person he was and issues, like slavery, of his time.
Jefferson designed the house, then redesigned, built & rebuilt for more than 40 years. The entry hall was like a mini-museum, housing collections from American Indian cultures, western civilization & American natural history. He often had unexpected visitors (no secret service yet!) that would wait hours in this room to see him.
Items throughout the home proved that he was an inventor & scientist. He wrote thousands of letters he was able to copy with the use of his polygraph machine.
Other gadgets were his revolving book stand, cipher wheel that created secret messages in code, and indoor-outdoor clock, powered by heavy weights hung on ropes descending on either side of the clock, through the floor, to the cellar below. The days of the week were displayed on the moving ropes.
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| This underground passageway connects the home to the dependencies... the work rooms under the house used by his many slaves. We took a slave tour getting insight into his position on slavery. |
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| The beautiful 5,000 acres once held tobacco & wheat cash crops, sheep, fruit orchards, flower gardens, and a 1,000 foot vegetable garden. He loved his gardens and experimented with plants and growing techniques. |
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| Jefferson died on July 4, 1826- the 15th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. It was his wish that his tomb stone reflect the things that he had given the people, not the things the people had given to him (such as title of President). In fact he once said, "No man will ever bring out of the Presidency the reputation which carries him into it. To myself, personally, it brings nothing but increasing drudgery and daily loss of friends." "HERE WAS BURIED THOMAS JEFFERSON AUTHOR OF THE AMERICAN DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF THE STATUTE OF VIRGINIA FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND FATHER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA BORN APRIL 2, 1743 DIED JULY 4, 1826" |
A) Mount Vernon
B) Colonial Williamsburg
C) Jamestown
D) Yorktown
E) Monticello
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