Mount Vernon was the adult home of our nation's first president, George Washington. He inherited it from his father when it was just a small house practically in the middle of nowhere.
This is the home as it looked in 1735. It was a modest size, and was one and a half stories tall. (There was a small loft/attic area as it was a farm house.) This is the house as it was passed down to Augustus Washington.
This is the house a few years after George inherited it. He spent much of his time and fortune remodeling and renovating his estate. His home by the end of his many additions to it is large even by today's standards, but in the late 1700's an average Virginian home could fit inside just one of the Washington's rooms. The room most commonly used for this comparison is the New Room (Named so by the Washington family as it was the last addition to the house) an elegant two story room on the right wing of the house, with a fine light green walls.
(Above: The New Room, photo acquired online as we were not allowed to take pictures inside the mansion itself. I added it because I know that many of the students that went on the 8th grade trip a few years ago didn't get to see the new room as it was being renovated at the time.)
The construction of the New Room was a long and complicated one, both because of its intricate design and also due to the fact that George was away from his estate during its construction. Resources for the room were hard to come by, as were many things during the Revolutionary War. The paint that was used on the walls in this room was considered very rare in those days, and was a symbol of wealth and prestige. The chairs are aligned against the walls because this room was a social room. In his later year, George was known to take guests into this room for conversation, dancing, and flaunting it off. (Our first president was not afraid to boast from time to time.) Much of the decoration of the room is centered around agriculture. The designs on the ceiling actually have many farm tools carved in. The addition was George's way of paying homage to the agricultural nature and pride of Virginia.
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