The Saga of D.C. {Part 3}

Well, oh well. How can a week go by without my noticing that there hasn't been a post up here? Do you ever notice how they never seem to write themselves? Irksome nerve...

Tuesday in D.C. finds us at Mount Vernon. I know why George and Martha never wanted to leave. There are tourists milling everywhere, but it's so serene and peaceful and the views are absolutely breathtaking - though I don't envy anyone who had to bring supplies up to the house from the river. 

Everything in D.C. (and the surrounding areas, so it seems) have introduction videos. This is a good one. Pat Sajak (of Wheel of Fortune fame) tromps around Mount Vernon in colonial garb, filling you in on all the tourist experiences you can enjoy while wandering around the grounds and that is followed by a short film of George Washington's life. Real actors. Wow!

   

Then we wander through the paths that don't make sense and end up at the circle drive in front of Mount Vernon. I could die of historical bliss. There it is!

We line up for the tour. Unfortunately pictures aren't allowed in the house, so I make a point to try and memorize as many details as I can. 

The first building we enter is the visiting servant's quarters. Oh well, every tour starts out slow. 

We take the covered walkway to the house and peek in the windows since there's a tour ahead of us and we can't get in yet. I'm so excited I can hardly stand still.

The first room we enter is the formal dining/ball room. It's a lot smaller than I would expect a room  that needs to hold a posse of petticoats and skirts to be. But rumor has it that Washington planned the Battle of Yorktown in that room.

Then we step outside onto the back portico to see the view that greeted George and Martha every morning. 

When the tour in front of us moves on, we go through the double doors in the back (original to the house - now I know why Colonial houses are so drafty! I could stick a finger in the cracks.)

The foyer is rather small, but there are four rooms around it. One holds the harpsichord that their granddaughter Nelly played and one is the dining room painted green. A algae sort of green. I wonder at their taste until the guide explains that green is the most expensive type of pigment and thus a display of wealth. 

I still wonder at the taste.

We go up the curving stairs, aided by the original railing. I'm a history buff, so I get a thrill out of touching it. =D

Upstairs is the room where Lafayette stayed - the bed is quite short - and the room where Nelly Custis had her first babies. We walk through the yellow room to get to George and Martha's. The bed that George died on is there. 

Then down the stairs to George's office and out to the kitchen. Imagine cooking there in the middle of summer! 

There's quite a collection of outbuildings to go through. Stables, blacksmith shops, carriage house, secretary's quarters, barns, gardens, spinning house, laundry house and so on. We get to some of them and then replan and head out to go to Washington's Gristmill and Distillery. It's a few miles away from Mount Vernon.

We feel a bit awkward when we realize that we we're the only ones present for the tour. Not the worst thing that could happen. It'll be up close and personal at any rate! 

Some light summer reading

The mill and distillery are fascinating - as are the period costumes the guides wear. I've always wanted one.
A period costume that is, not a mill and distillery.

Back at Mount Vernon we have lunch and then give ourselves stomach aches by running down to the pier to board the Miss Christin for a tour of the Potomac. 

After we recover our land legs (took about a tenth of a second after disembarking) we visit Washington's tomb where he and Martha are buried side by side. And then a trek through the orchards and seed gardens. 

We go back up to Mount Vernon and take some snaps at the back of the house.








Then we walk to the servants quarters and the greenhouse.
There's a lovely garden out back with very intricately trimmed
boxwood hedges. I've read about that in books.

We've had our fill of gardens after a few minutes and we head on out to the museum. 

The museum is small and full of china (Martha was, so I heard, an avid collector of dinnerware) and then we go to the giftshop. I find the books.

Someday, I'll go back. It's been on of the most 

incredible days of my life.  

Now I feel as if I've accomplished something today. 

Till next time!