FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 8, 2004

Mount Vernon, VA – A rare riding chair owned by Mount Vernon – considered the most complete example still in existence from the 18th century – has been authentically reproduced and will make its debut in front of the Mansion on October 18 at 11:00 a.m. when costumed reenactors hitch a horse up to the carriage to demonstrate how it operates. Tradesmen from the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, working with Mount Vernon staff, researched and handcrafted the remarkable one-person vehicle, which features a Windsor-style chair bolted to the platform of a two-wheeled carriage.

A common means of transportation around a plantation, in town, or on extended trips, riding chairs were popular in the 18th century but fell out of favor in the 1800s, making surviving examples extremely unusual. “Mount Vernon is very fortunate to have the best example of what was once a ubiquitous object in the 1700s,” said Carol Borchert Cadou, curator at Mount Vernon. “George Washington owned a riding chair as a young man - quite possibly his first vehicle - so it is important that we show visitors how he and his contemporaries traveled. Having a reproduction of an 18th-century riding chair will allow us to demonstrate this.”

Mount Vernon’s riding chair did not belong to Washington but rather to his neighbor Thomas, the sixth Lord Fairfax. A higher-end model dating to the last quarter of the 18th century, the original riding chair was analyzed and found to feature vibrant paint colors. The reproduction was painted primarily in deep green and purplish gray with yellow and scarlet highlights.

Mount Vernon commissioned the Historic Trades Department of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation to manufacture the new riding chair last year after receiving a generous donation from Robert Gibby, a member of The Life Guard of Historic Mount Vernon – a prestigious volunteer leadership group that takes its name from the small circle of soldiers who bravely protected General Washington throughout the Revolutionary War. The reproduction will be placed in the Coach House so that the original riding chair can be moved to and preserved in a climate-controlled environment.

Public Information: 703-780-2000; 703-799-8697 (TDD); www.mountvernon.org

George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens, open to the public since 1860, communicates the character and leadership of Washington to millions of Americans each year through a variety of interpretive programs on the Estate and in classrooms across the nation. Mount Vernon is owned and operated by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, founded in 1853, making it America’s oldest national preservation organization. Mount Vernon is located at the southern end of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, just 16 miles from Washington, D.C.

Hours of operation: April-August, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; March, September, October, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; November – February, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Regular admission rates for 2004: adults, $11.00; senior citizens, $10.50; children age 6-11, when accompanied by an adult, $5.00; and children under age 5, FREE. Admission fees, restaurant and retail proceeds, along with private donations, support the operation and restoration of Mount Vernon.