One of our side trips after our trip to Bethesda, Maryland was to stop at some of the historical sites that we had never visited before. Chris has always been somewhat of a history buff and we have talked about going to Mount Vernon and Monticello forever but never actually made a point of doing it. So the time came and we decided it made sense and we should not miss the opportunity to make the trip even better.
Mount Vernon is the historic home of the first president of the United States – George Washington. There is quite a lot to see on the grounds of Mount Vernon and we started out early with the house tour which proved to be the best strategy. As I get older I find that I don’t like a lot of crowds and doing things like this first spot in the morning seems to be the way to go for us.
First stop was to walk through the Education Center where there were multiple displays and this lovely sculpture.
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As we walked the path to the house it was stunning to see it in the distance.
As we walked closer I was taken by the beauty of the place and loved that we were going to be able to walk through those doors and experience the history.
Our tour guide met us outside and we proceeded to take a brief tour of the house — most of what I photographed were the bedrooms which were mostly used as guest rooms while the Washingtons were in residence. They had a lot of guests apparently.
The ceilings in the rooms were pretty wonderful as you can see from these pictures.
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One of the items that was pointed out to visitors was this key that was displayed prominently in the downstairs central hall of the house. It is the Bastille main prison key which was turned over to Marquis de Lafayette shortly after the Bastille was stormed on July 14, 1789 by angry citizens rioting in the streets of Paris. The Marquis de Lafayette gifted that key to Washington and it has remained as a symbol of the his friendship with Lafayette and the importance of this symbolic key to America.
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And then there is the study and library where books are the highlight. Even if they are not his original books it is still pretty great to be able to see what might have been in George Washington’s library.
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Sadly I neglected to take a picture of my favorite view of the back of the house but you can. just imagine that, can’t you? I did love the cupola and how it tops off the house.
Sit with me as I sit in those chairs on the back of the house overlooking the Potomac and look at the beauty that George and Martha and their guests could take in every single day. Stunning. No wonder they insisted on taking their tea here daily. I would as well.
