Mount Vernon

Mount Vernon
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Virginia Landmarks Register
The Mount Vernon mansion in April 2020
Location	Fairfax County, Virginia
Nearest city	Alexandria, Virginia
Coordinates	38°42′29″N 77°05′10″W / 38.7080°N 77.0861°W / 38.7080; -77.0861
Area	500 acres (200 ha)
Built	1758; 266 years ago (1758)
Architectural style	Palladian
Restored by	Mount Vernon Ladies' Association
Website	mountvernon.org
NRHP reference No.	66000833[1]
VLR No.	029-0054[3]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	October 15, 1966[1]
Designated NHL	December 19, 1960[2]
Designated VLR	September 9, 1969[3]

Mount Vernon is the former residence and plantation of George Washington, a Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States, and his wife, Martha. An American landmark, the estate lies on the banks of the Potomac River in Fairfax County, Virginia, approximately 15 miles south of Washington, D.C..

The Washington family acquired land in the area in 1674. Around 1734, the family embarked on an expansion of its estate that continued under George Washington, who began leasing the estate in 1754 before becoming its sole owner in 1761.^[4]

The mansion was built of wood in a loose Palladian style; the original house was built in about 1734 by George Washington's father Augustine Washington.^[4] George Washington expanded the house twice, once in the late 1750s and again in the 1770s.^[4] It remained Washington's home for the rest of his life. Following his death in 1799, the estate progressively declined under the ownership of several successive generations of the family as revenues were insufficient to maintain it adequately.

In 1858, the house's historical importance was recognized and was taken over by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, which it along with part of the Washington property estate. The mansion and its surrounding buildings escaped damage from the American Civil War, which damaged many properties in the Confederate States of America during the Civil War.

Mount Vernon was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is still owned and maintained in trust by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, being open to the public daily^[5] in recognition of George Washington's 1794 acknowledgement of public interest in his estate: "I have no objection to any sober or orderly person's gratifying their curiosity in viewing the buildings, Gardens, &ca. about Mount Vernon."^[6]