NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Although we celebrated Presidents Day on Monday, today, February 22, is actually the birthday of our first president, George Washington. This occasion brings to mind fond memories of my trips to Washington, D.C.
For me, as with many other tourists, a highlight of the trip to our nation’s Capital was a visit to Washington’s home, Mount Vernon. Situated on a hill overlooking the Potomac River, Mount Vernon was named by Washington’s half brother Lawrence in honor of a British Admiral, Edward Vernon, with whom he once served.
Washington loved Mount Vernon. It was his home from 1754 until his death in 1799. He once wrote an English correspondent, “No estate in United America is more pleasantly situated than this.”
On June 15, 1790, he wrote to David Stuart, “I can truly say I had rather be at Mount Vernon with a friend or two about me than to be attended at the Seat of Government by the Officers of State and the Representatives of every Power in Europe.”
Sitting on the wide back porch and gazing across the park-like area between the home and the nearbyriverbank, I found it easy to understand his feelings.
In January of 1759, Washington married Martha Dandridge Custis, a widow with two young children. Settling with his new family at Mount Vernon, he began to enlarge and improve his house and farms, an activity that would absorb him for the rest of his life. Farming was his first love, and under his management Mount Vernon became one of the outstanding estates in Virginia. He expanded the original 2,126 acre tract into five independently managed farms comprising 8,000 acres.
Early in his farming career, Washington diversified his crops, turning from soil-depleting tobacco to wheat and other grains. He was ahead of his time in using such practices as crop rotationand preventing soil erosion. Grain was ground at his mill for export as well as for use on the plantation. The wharf accommodated river boats and an extensive fishing industry. During his many absences from home, Washington corresponded with his farm managers and revealed a detailed knowledge of every aspect of the operation of the estate.
Mount Vernon was farmed principally by slave labor. In a census taken the summer before his death, Washington listed 317 men, women and children who lived and worked on the five Mount Vernon farms. Throughout his life, his writings show a constant concern about the institution of slavery, and the freeing of his slaves was an important provision of his will.
The development of the home, grounds andoutbuildings was carefully planned by Washington. Today, with the exception of a reconstructed coach house and the greenhouse-slave quarters (destroyed by fire in 1835), all of these buildings are original. Washington’s formal landscaping and gardens have been restored, and some of the trees he planted along the formal front walks still survive.
The Washingtons’ peaceful life at Mount Vernon was not without interruptions. At the Second Continental Congress in June, 1775, George Washington was unanimously elected Commander-in-Chief of the American Army. He returned to Mount Vernon only twice during the eight years of the Revolutionary War, on his way to and from Yorktown in 1781. It was not until Christmas Eve of 1783 that he was finally able to return homefollowing the resignation of his commission to Congress.
Washington’s retirement from public life did not last long. In the summer of 1787, he traveled to Philadelphia to preside over the Constitutional Convention. In 1789 he went to New York City to begin his two terms as the first elected President. After concluding his second term in Philadelphia in 1797, he returned to Mount Vernon and actively managed the estate until his death on Dec. 14, 1799. According to his wishes, he was buried in the old family vault at Mount Vernon. Martha Washington died in May of 1802 and was entombed beside her husband.
Susan Holland, who works for the Westside Eagle Observer, is a lifelong Benton County resident.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 02/22/2012