Mt. Vernon - Washington's Home Sweet Home

On Thursday, one week into our trip, we visited Mt. Vernon, the beloved home of our first president, George Washington. The drive there through Virgina was beautiful and the home itself was magnificent, even from afar.

While we waited for our tour, we visited the formal gardens just outside the house.

What a pretty place! I am a sucker for a great flower garden.

It brought back memories of my visit to Monet's garden in Giverny, France.

I would have loved to linger all day if only we had time and it wasn't so hot.

Mt. Vernon is beautiful. I love the red roof, the weathervaned tower, and the oval window.

It is just a charming, romantic place and the people in period costume reminded me of the pastoral scenes in my favorite toile fabrics.

Pretty on the outside...

and fascinating on the inside.

Our tour was wonderful, though there was no photography allowed inside, with the exception of the kitchen. We saw another green dining room, of course, and Washington's office where he took care of plantation and state business, and the bedroom where he died. After his unexpected and quick death, Martha had the room locked, and never slept in it again.

My favorite thing in the house was a huge iron key that was hung in a box in the front hallway. The key was the original main key to the Bastille. They said that Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette had a father/son relationship and Lafayette felt like Washington was a father to him, and a father to all who love liberty, and so when the Bastille fell, he sent Washington the key to the demolished prison as a symbol of freedom and liberty. The accompanying letter said, "Give me leave, my dear General, to present you with the main key to the fortress of despotism. It is a tribute which I owe as a son to my adoptive father, as an aide de camp to my general, as a missionary of liberty to its patriarch." Washington himself hung that key there in the hallway, along with a picture of the Bastille, and it remains there today. That was so cool that I had to get a replica of the key myself.

The curving archways wrap around both sides of the house like a big hug.

There are many outbuildings on Mt. Vernon used for such things as laundry, a smokehouse, stables, and on and on. There was another less formal garden that grew vegetables. It was less colorful, but still a very pretty, peaceful garden.

I got a kick out of the garden design plans left out by one of the gardeners.

There was also a building for weaving, and a tiny garden for exotic and rare plants that George would work himself. One thing I learned about Washington is that he truly loved working the land, and above all else considered himself a farmer. He was so happy to get back to work on the plantation as soon as his stints or general and then president were done. The proud American farmer, who loved to get his hands in the dirt.

The slave quarters were very interesting with the men and the women split up into different quarters. Washington had a huge plantation with a large number of slaves for the day that made the whole huge operation go. I tried to imagine what that life must have been for them, but it is a little too hard to fathom.

Many of the huge old trees were here even before Washington himself was here.

This tree was here when George inherited the plantation. He enjoyed spending time under this very tree overlooking the fiver.

The view of the Potomac River below is just lovely! No wonder he and Martha loved this place so much!

Maybe that view is why Mt. Vernon is famous for it's back porch with it's long row of green Windsor chairs.

I LOVE the chairs! I need a porch like this and a river to look at.

What a great place to sit in the shade and enjoy the incredible view of the river!

Nobody wanted to leave!

My family!

A long walk down the hill past pastures, horses, and more gardens is...

George and Martha's tomb. It is still a reverent place after more than 200 years.

The blue flag with the white stars is the flag of the commander in chief and has since been retired and replaced with the presidential flag.

After visiting the home and the grounds, there is also an amazing Historical Center and an equally impressive museum at Mt. Vernon. They were both really well done. We also saw the original of one of my favorite paintings, Prayer at Valley Forge. Dennis has a copy in his office.

Our visit to Mt. Vernon was just really wonderful! I think we got to understand a bit more who George Washington was and what he loved and why he felt so passionate about his country and liberty. Our country is hurting for another leader like him, I think.

Williamsburg part 2 - Huzzah!

Our visit to Colonial Williamsburg continues:

(One thing you must understand is that if you travel with me, you travel until it hurts. There is no downtime. We go, go, go and see it all until everything closes down, or we drop from exhaustion - thus this is still the same day at Wiliamsburg - so much to see... so little time!)

Next, we visited the Governor's Palace. I was not expecting it to be as grand as it was. I was quite impressed. It was very much like many of the royal residences we saw in Europe, very British, but I guess that make sense since it was built and run by the Brits who wanted something grand to remind the American colonists who was in charge and what kind of wealth and power the Crown held.

The courtyard where we waited for our tour.

The first thing you see when you step into this dark entryway is the most beautiful woodwork decorated with something that took me a second to recognize as weaponry - real working guns and swords and knives. The are everywhere - lining the walls and over the doors, beautifully displayed woven together or in sunbursts.

Displaying an entire arsenal for your guests is supposed to be a bit intimidating, I imagine. I'm sure it worked to keep those colonists in check - at least for a while anyway.

The boys LOVED it, of course, and suggested we do this to our entryway. Hah! Can you imagine? Those weapons would not stay on the wall very long. But the boys sure got a kick out of it. (And Derek added this to the plans of his "spy" dream home he has been working on in his head, to go along with all the trap doors and secret passageways he has already planned for his house when he grows up. Now it has to have a foyer like this too.)

I just love this picture of the bird cage by the window. And can you see me and my camera in the old mirror?

I love the fancy scrolled cornice over the bed.

Above is the "powder room." It turns out that the term "powder room" is not derived from the place where a lady goes to powder her nose, but a small room where the men would go to during a ball to refresh the powder on their wigs, while the women would gather upstairs to rest. (Thus "restroom"... I wonder?)

The ballroom was a very important room of the governor's mansion, and the largest room in the colony of Virginia at the time. The governor entertained many of our founding fathers here, and one wonders what kind of conversations were whispered in this hall - talk of revolution.

Next to the ballroom is the dining room. You know it is the dining room, because it is green. Dining rooms were always green back then, and what a fantastic shade of green this is too! At the ball, when the clock struck midnight, the doors to the dining room would open and the long table would have been piled with fancy party food for the famished party goers to eat while music was played on this cabinet organ.

The crest if the colony of Virginia - the lion and the unicorn.

Luke sits outside the window of the dining room.

Out back, there are some beautiful formal gardens - like a tiny little Versailles.

It was very manicured, and pretty, and green.

I loved it!

There was even a maze in the back that the kids loved! Luke made it first!

This building is called the Magazine, and it is where the military stored their weapons (those that weren't hanging in the governor's palace), and where the military would gather for drills. I was told the revolutionary war in Virginia started right here at the magazine.

An old parish church is nearby.

It is still an operating church today.

I love the bench that they put right at a gravestone. RIP Reuben Smith.

It was a pretty old church, but the sundial in front told us that time was short, and everything would be closing soon.

Right across the street was a garden and nursery. It was lush and beautiful!

There, under a tent was a little gardening shop with everything you might need to grow a 18th century garden. I'm a sucker for fun shops like this.

But the boys were more interested in the well, where they were "allowed to" pull up buckets of water and carry them across the garden to the huge water barrel.

Those guys worked so hard, of their own free will, to lug water back and forth...

...happily working.

Maybe I should "allow" them to clean their rooms or do the dishes. Why are they not this excited to to work so hard to do chores around the house?

But soon it was closing time, and that was the end of their fun with the water.

The only thing that was still open was an open air shop under a tent selling all kids of period things...

Drums, fifes, and 3 cornered hats of course.

Wooden scoops and feather pens and ink...

and toys of the period. This doll is called a Hotch-Potch and they used them in the schools to teach letters to the kids - twisting his arms and legs into the different letters. I though he was adorable, so he came home with us, along with a few fifes.

Quittin' time. All of the colonial shopkeepers closed up shop and trotted off - probably to their cars. It was kind of hard to believe that these folks were heading home to pop something in the microwave and sit in front of the TV to watch a game instead of stoking a fire and darning socks.

It wasn't quite all over, though. There was one last reenactment of the day, a review of the troops. and we stopped to chat with this fellow who was on his way over to it. He was a member of the Williamsburg militia. It was quite interesting to talk to him. He says he volunteers to do this, and that they have a huge costume department that gets him all geared up with authentic period clothes and gear. The only thing reenactors are allowed to wear are their wedding rings. Even their perscription glasses have to be filled in period frames. His gun was real, and he let Dad take a good look at it.

Off to battle.

While we waited for the militia to organize themselves, I took a few more pictures of the town, now that the crowds had cleared.

While I was wandering around taking pictures I lost track of my family. They had discovered something that wasn't closed yet - hidden behind one of the houses is a little place where they refill your refillable drink mugs with soft serve ice cream. Yep, for free. I found them cooling off with some ice cream. I decided to make mine a root beer float. It tasted so good to me on such a hot and humid day! Perfect!

Suddenly there was the sound of the fife and drum corps marching down the street. We jumped up to join them. Luke was marching right along with them.

Behind them marched the colonial militia, ready to show us their stuff with a review of the troops on the green behind the courthouse. But first, Patrick Henry, arrived on horseback to address and inspire the troops with talk of liberty!

Then the militia loaded up their weapons with powder and ball...

and fired on command. It was very cool.

They would march forward a bit, then stop, load and fire again on command.

Then came the big guns - they rolled out the cannon and shot it twice. It was great!

The kids really loved this part - what a way to end the day - with a BANG!

Then the fifes and drums started up again, and the troops got into formation and marched away.

I love this picture because it shows these militia men are not young professional soldiers, but the colonial militia wasn't either. They were farmers and workers from the ages of 16 to 60, willing to fight and die for freedom's sake, and only won because God was on their side.

The kids pulled out their new fifes hoping to join in the band and we followed them as they marched away.

The early evening light made everything so pretty - so more pictures.

This guy stuck around playing his very rare and unusual instrument - I think he called it a serpentine. He talked to the kids about it and played them a tune.

But soon it really was time to leave.

But Luke, inspired by the fife and drum corps, would only march out while playing his little tin flute.

At the gift shop in the Visitors Center, Caleb talked his dad into getting him a drum, so Luke had a drummer to march with. They strutted their stuff and played their tune all over the courtyard...

..while Grandpa and the boys studied a 3D model of the town.

Soon Dylan was recruited to the band. They practiced getting their marching together with their tune. They got so good, they decided to go pro - so they put out a hat hoping to get a coin or two tossed in by some apprecitiave soul in thier audience. Grandpa tossed some cash into the hat.

For dinner we stuck around to eat at a resturant called Huzzah, of course, that had huge and fantastic pizza - just like they used to eat in the colonies.

Williamsburg was definately a stop for our map!

Three cheers for Colonial Williamsburg! Hip-hip-Huzzah! Hip-hip-Huzzah! Hip-hip-Huzzah!