Donna Fischer, age 13, of Utica, N.Y., for her question:
HOW MUCH LAND IS AT MOUNT VERNON?
Mount Vernon is the name of the estate where George Washington ~ lived. It is in Fairfax County, Virginia, about 15 miles from Washil~n~ D.C. The mansion, a beautiful building with white pillars, stands on about 500 acres of land.
When the first President of the United States and his wife, Martha, lived at Mount Vernon, it was a plantation with about 8,000 acres of land. About 15 smaller buildings stand at the sides and behind the mansion. Some were living quarters for the servants and craftsmen. Other buildings housed farm equipment and animals.
The mansion is built of wood, but the board siding on the outside is arranged to make it look like stone. The house has great dignity and beauty. It is now a national shrine.
George Washington's father, Augustine, built the main section of the mansion during the 1730s. The elder Washington called the estate the Little Hunter Creek Plantation.
George's elder half brother, Lawrence, inherited the property in 1743. He renamed it Mount Vernon in honor of Admiral Edward Vernon, his former commander in the British Navy.
George inherited Mount Vernon in 1761. He added the piazza, a two story porch along the Potomac River side of the house, after returning from the Revolutionary War.
The mansion stands on a high bluff overlooking the river. There are 19 large rooms. The attic has dormer windows.
A wide, green lawn sweeps away from the east porch and ends in a park at the foot of the hill. Flower gardens and fruit and shade trees surround the buildings on the estate. Washington himself planted many of the trees.
A simple ivy covered tomb where George and Martha Washington are buried stands at the foot of a hill, south of the house.
More than a million visitors come to Mount Vernon each year.
The estate was in a rundown condition in 1853 because it could not be maintained as a self supporting farm. Then a group of women formed the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association to save the buildings and grounds. These women aroused public interest in the project.
Gifts of money from people in all parts of the country enabled the ladies to buy the estate. They restored buildings which had fallen into ruin and repaired the mansion. They recovered many of the original articles of furniture and decoration.
John Augustine Washington Jr., the last private owner of Mount Vernon, presented the key of the Bastille, which is exhibited in the central hall. Lafayette gave the key to Washington in 1790, during the French Revolution.
Other valuable personal articles of the family were also placed in the house.
The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union now cares for the estate.
In 1931, the government completed a scenic Memorial Highway from Washington, D.C. to Mount Vernon. The road follows the banks of the Potomac River.