George Washington's Mount Vernon

Mount Vernon is the home and burial place of George Washington with the 18th-century two-story Georgian mansion overlooking the beautiful Potomac River.

As the leader of American Revolution War and Founding President, Washington had the wisdom to give up power when he could have been crowned king. He was the wealthiest colonial American not only because he married to Martha Custis, a 27-year-old widow who inherited considerable properties from her died husband, but also because he was an innovative farmer. Washington switched from tobacco to wheat as his main cash crop in the 1760’s, diligently experimented with new crops, fertilizers, crop rotations, tools, and livestock breeding. His whiskey distillery was one of his most successful enterprises. He even creatively designed a 16-sided barn to thresh wheat more efficiently using horses.

Washington never had any biological children. He treated his stepchildren as his own. Lost his father and discontinued his schools at 11, Washington wanted to give his stepson the best education. After their 17-year-old daughter had a seizure and died, and their 26-year-old son, John, died of army camp fever at Yorktown, Washington and Martha started to raise their grandchildren.Read more