MOUNT VERNON, the estate of George Washington, in Fairfax County, Va., on the right bank of the Potomac, 15 miles below Washington, D. C. The original name of the estate was Hunting Creek, and it contained about 800 acres. When it came into possession of Lawrence Washington, the brother of George, he changed the name to Mount Vernon, in honor of Admiral Vernon of the British navy. The house is of wood, erected on a bluff 200 feet above the river. It is a two-story house, 96 feet long and 30 feet deep. The main part was built by Lawrence Washington in 1743 and the wings were added, by George Washington ; the estate came into possession of George Washington in 1752 after the death of his brother. In 1859 the house and 200 acres of land around it was bought by the Mount Ver non Ladies' Association; the purchase money was $200,000, raised in great part by Edward Everett. Since then the Association has re stored the house as nearly as possible to what it was in the lifetime of George Washington. A high piazza extends along the front of the house, and the six rooms on the ground floor contain many objects of historical interest con nected with the life and times of Washington. The key of the French Bastille, the furniture used by the family, in the piazza the tiles which were brought from the Isle of Wight, and many other relics are objects of attraction to visitors. In the garden are a number of trees
planted by Washington, and in the coach-house is his carriage. The room at the south end of the first floor is the one in which Washington died. In 1831 the body of Washington was re moved from the old family vault to a tomb, a plain brick structure, which is near a wooded ravine, a short distance from the house. Be hind an iron grating may be seen the two sarcophagi which contain the remains of George Washington and his wife, Martha.
The estate was willed by George Washing ton to Bushrod Washington, and at the death of the latter it came into possession of John A. Washington, from whom the Ladies' Associa tion purchased the house and adjacent grounds. Consult Lossing, 'The Home of Washington' (New York 1865) ; Page, T. N., 'Mount Ver non and its Preservation) (New York 1910); Wilstsch, P., 'Mount Vernon, Washington's Home and the Nation's Shrine' (New York 1916) ; Wineberger, 'Home of Washington at Mount (Washington 1866).