Early History of George Washington and Martha Custis, widow of Daniel Parke Custis, were married in Jan. Restoration and I759 uary '759 and took up their residence at Mount Vernon Mount Vernon in the spring of that year. Maintenance Mount Vernon Here they lived the peaceful lives of southern planters The Washington title to Mount Vernon dates from for fifteen years. Mount Vernon has been restored and is maintained the grant in 1674 of five thousand acres to John Wash- by The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, an organi- ington, great-grandfather of George, and Nicholas In 1775 Washington was a delegate to the Second zation founded by Miss Ann Pamela Cunningham, of Virginia Spencer. This tract was divided in 1690' Continental Congress in Philadelphia. That body ap- South Carolina, and chartered by the State I674 The Washington half descended by inher- pointed him commander-in-chief of the Con- I 858 of Virginia. The members of the Associa- itance to Mildred Washington, aunt and I 775 tinental army and he proceeded at once to tion serve without remuneration. Funds godmother of George. In 1726 Augustine Washing- take command. Six years passed before he were raised by individual subscription. and a two- ton, father of George, purchased the tract, then known again saw Mount Vernon, then only to pause briefly hundred-acre tract, including the mansion, wharf and as the Hunting Creek Plantation, from his sister en route to and from Yorktown in the fall of 1781. In all subsidiary outbuildings, was acquired in 1858. Mildred and her husband, Roger Gregory. In 1735, December 1783 he tendered his resignation to Congress The estate had long been unproductive; the buildings when George Washington was three years old, Augus- at Annapolis and, turning homeward, arrived at Mount had unavoidably depreciated; gardens and grounds tine moved with his family from the plantation on Vernon on Christmas Eve. had suffered. A comprehensive plan of repairs and Pope's Creek in Westmoreland County to the Hunt- Mount Vernon as we see it today was planned by restoration was immediately inaugurated. ing Creek Plantation. After several years he again Washington before the Revolution. Though he was While the mansion itself remained, its furnishings removed, this time to the Ferry Farm, on the Rap- called away, the work was carried on by his able man- had been distributed among the members of the Wash- pahannock River near Fredericksburg. ager and distant kinsman, Lund Washington. The ington and Custis families or sold by executors after the death of Mrs. Washington. The Association In 1740 Augustine Washington deeded the Hunt- mansion was enlarged; small wing buildings were re- necessarily refurnished the house with period pieces; ing Creek Plantation to his son Lawrence, elder half- placed by the present structures j the gardens were but year after year, by purchase, donation, and bequest, brother of George, who had just come of age. In 1743 extended. After his return in 1783 Washington carried the furnishings that were at Mount Vernon in the time Lawrence married and settled on his planta- the plan to completion. of Washington are being acquired. At the present I740 tion, renaming it "Mount Vernon," in In 1789 General Washington became the first Presi- time most of the pieces on the first floor, and all of honor of Admiral Vernon, under whom dent of the United States. Except for brief those in Washington's bedchamber, are original. he had served in the Caribbean. Augustine Wash- I 789 periods he was away from home for eight ington died in 1743 and his young son George spent An additional collection of articles related to Wash- more years. a part of his youth with his elder half-brother at ington and his life at Mount Vernon is housed in a Mount Vernon. Washington retired from public life in museum building north of the spinning house. It is not known whether the present mansion was 1797 and again returned to Mount Vernon. The Association derives its income from the admis- begun by Augustine Washington as a residence for I799 Here he died on the fourteenth of Decem- sian fee. This income has made possible the mainte- his young family, or built and first occupied by Law- ber, 1799; here he was buried. Martha nance of the property and the introductionof all proper rence in 1743. The evidence is conflicting and in- Washington died in 1802 and was interred with him in means of protection. During the early years, when in- complete. the old family vault. come was small, progressive restoration was made pos- sible by contributions from members of the Association and other interested individuals or patriotic groups. Since 1858 the tract has been enlarged to four hun- George Washington and dred and seventy-five acres, an area of sufficient size to The Tomb insure the property against undesirable encroachments. Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is one of the best remaining exam ples A few months before his death Washington selected of the plantations around which centered the highly In 1752 Lawrence Washington died and two years the site for a new family burial vault and developed social and economic life of the South in the later the Mount Vernon title passed to I 83I included in his will directions for its build- eighteenth century. ----- I 752 George. ing. The new vault was completed in 1831 and the transfer was then made. Mount Vernon is open to the public every day in Issued By During the next five years active military the year from 9:00 o'clock. Entrance gate closes from operations against the French and Indians kept the The old vault, a short distance east of the new, has March 1 to October 1 at 5:00 P.M. and from October I The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association young proprietor away from his plantation. , been restored and retained as a point of interest. to March I at 4:00 P.M. of the Union DIM-,-55 © M.V.L.A.