Mount Vernon, the home of our First President, George Washington, gives the receptive visitor a feeling of what it was like to be a landed aristocrat during the formation of our nation. The home itself reflects the taste and wealth of the upper strata of new-world plantation life - and their workers. While he did free them on his death, Washington's expansive agricultural holdings were only economically possible because of his use of slaves. The restored slave quarters and an expanded interpretive program lets today's visitors to Mount Vernon understand the critical value of the contribution of African American slaves to the success of early America and be able to appreciate the level of their relative comfort and daily lives.
Washington was certainly one of the most enlightened farmers of his day, taking personal interest in crop rotation, soil fertilization, progressive animal breeding, and even innovative design of farm buildings such as the recently reconstructed unique hexagonal barn. His expansion of cash crops from tobacco to wheat and the construction of a mill to produce more easily transported flour is but one indication of his continual business management efforts to improve the farm's productivity. The mansion itself also provides an understanding of the social interaction of the highest levels of aristocracy in the new country. Taking as its model the manor houses of the titled nobility of England, the house of the Father of our Country is the latest word in 18th Century elegance. Formal rooms and the very best of imported furniture, textiles, and tableware and decorations highlight the level of society and entertainment that made up the leisure lives of the new-world nobility. Handsomely costumed interpreters acting the roles of house keeper and Washington’s confidant and secretary, let the visitors know that "General Washington is sorry to have missed them, but he is just recently been called away to see to a very important matter." In his absence they explain the workings of the farm and life in the mansion as it "is" in the 1790's.
Lives of the “other half”
Approximately twenty five miles away in Langley, Virginia, the Claude Moore Farm lets you experience the other end of the 18th economic spectrum. A single room log cabin, a few acres of tobacco, a simple kitchen garden, approximately 100 acres of woods, and a few domestic animals give visitors a view of the much more prevalent colonial frontier family. Less elaborately dressed, but just as enthusiastic docents are eager to discuss their everyday experiences and the news of the day - in the 1700's.
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