For the ultimate learning experience, give your group its own guided tour. This opportunity is offered exclusively to groups with 20 or more and is led by guides with expertise in just about everything and anything you’d want to know about George Washington and his estate!

During this one-hour walking tour, the guide will emphasize slave life, gardens and landscapes, National Treasure, or Martha Washington, depending on your group’s interests. Guided walking tours take place around the grounds and at significant stops throughout the estate. Your special tour ends at the line to the Mansion. Guide Service does not include the Mansion, and does not give the group preferential line status.

For your convenience, these popular tours may be scheduled three times daily at: (maximum of 75 per tour time)

• 10:00 am
• 1:00 pm
• 3:00 pm

Expert Guide Service is $5 per person in addition to admission. Please scroll below to the bottom of the page for Policy and Instructions on Guide Service. Reservations are required at least 2 weeks prior to arrival.

Adult Group Guide Service Themes

Landscape Tour
The emphasis of this tour is General Washington’s skill as an amateur landscape architect. General Washington considered not only the mansion, but also its setting. During the years between being a Revolutionary War general and the first constitutionally elected President of the United States, Washington turned his attention to creating the gardens and vista that would enhance his home, and yet have the work buildings ready and convenient to the main house—a vision both beautiful and practical that tells us much about the man.

Slave Life Tour
The focus of this tour is to introduce the guests to the enslaved families at Mount Vernon who wove a community of rich traditions and social and cultural identities despite great odds. They’ll learn about the typical day in the life of a slave, of the skilled workers whose hands formed the rusticated siding on the mansion, and of the field hands and mill workers whose labor made the farms, mill, and distillery economically successful.

They’ll hear the stories of people like Hercules, the Presidential cook, whose life took a dramatic turn after General Washington’s decision not to serve a third term, of Oney Judge who decided that she didn’t want to be a slave when she was informed by Mrs. Washington that she would be given to Mrs. Washington’s grand daughter Eliza as a wedding gift, and of Frank and Lucy for whom freedom brought both joy and pain. Guests will also learn of General Washington’s changing attitude toward the institution of slavery.

Adult Walking Tour
This tour is a broad overview of General Washington’s accomplishments, character, and vision through the estate he created here at Mount Vernon. It culminates in a private wreathlaying at General Washington’s Tomb.

Each of the tours runs between 45 and 60 minutes covering various terrain of the Mount Vernon Estate. Please see the Policy and Instructions for Guide Service document for more information.