Mount Vernon is nominated to the World Heritage List.

Mount Vernon was officially nominated Monday, January 12 to the World Heritage List by US Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne during a ceremony on the Bowling Green. 

What is the World Heritage List?

The World Heritage List is an international listing of cultural and natural properties nominated by the signatories of the World Heritage Convention (1972), an international treaty for the preservation of natural and cultural heritage sites of global significance. The United States was the prime architect of the convention, which is administered by UNESCO.

Why is Mount Vernon being considered for nomination to the List?

Mount Vernon is being nominated to the WHL simply as a means of recognizing the international significance of the home of George Washington. The preservation of Mount Vernon has been scrupulously overseen by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, the private foundation that purchased the site from the Washington family in 1858, and which has operated the property since 1860 as a public trust for the people of the world. The site is not under any threat, and the Ladies’ Association does not seek any financial support from any government for its upkeep.

What is the basis for Mount Vernon’s international cultural significance?

George Washington’s home and the associated outbuildings, gardens, and grounds together comprise an unparalleled example of a well preserved 18th-century Anglo-American cultural landscape and a prime illustration of plantation life and economy. The 14 18th-century buildings are particularly noteworthy in this regard, as they represent the most complete assemblage of original plantation structures in the country that survives from this era. Together with the surrounding formal and utilitarian gardens, lanes and walkways, and vistas and other landscape features, the core of the Mount Vernon plantation marks the height of three centuries of Anglo-American plantation development in the New World. The estate and the surrounding plantation were the product of the slave-based system of labor that was the most significant defining characteristic of colonial society in the American South. The development of Mount Vernon as the seat of a gentleman farmer’s estate was more than simply the result of George Washington’s personal vision. The current British fashions in architectural and landscape design, the constraints imposed by the Virginia climate, the nature of the regional system of enslaved labor, and the dependence on a cash crop plantation system, all were major influences on the development of Mount Vernon, and make it a prime example of 18th-century Chesapeake society.  Read the nomination.

What is the purpose of the List?

The purpose of the World Heritage Convention is to identify and help to conserve natural and cultural sites of global significance. Inscription on the WHL recognizes the most significant cultural and natural treasures on the planet and provides a framework of financial and technical support to assist in conserving the listed sites.

How is a site selected to be included on the List?

In order to be included on the WHL, a proposed site has to meet several U.S. prerequisites in addition to meeting the stringent World Heritage criteria of international importance. The U.S. prerequisites include the written agreement of all property owners to the nomination of their property, general support from stakeholders -- including elected officials -- and a prior official determination that the property is nationally important (such as designation as a National Historic or National Natural Landmark).

Who administers the List?

The National Park Service serves as the principal technical agency for the U.S. Government to the World Heritage Convention, and is charged with coordinating the nominating process for U.S. sites in accordance with 36 CFR 73—World Heritage Convention. The final decision as to whether a site is accepted for inscription on the WHL lies with the World Heritage Committee, the governing body of the World Heritage Convention, composed of elected representatives from 21 nations, who meet each summer to consider the nominations. The earliest that Mount Vernon’s nomination can come before the Committee for consideration is the summer of 2010.

What sites are on the List?

There are 878 sites on the List representing 140 of the 184 signatory countries. Currently there are 20 sites in the United States that are listed, of which 17 are national parks and eight were inscribed based on their international cultural significance. The last year that a U.S. site was added to the WHL was 1995. The U.S. has voluntarily abstained from nominating sites to the List during the period when it served on the World Heritage Committee. The fourth and final term of U.S. membership on the Committee will end in 2009. List of World Heritage Sites.

What is the process of inscription on the List?

The final decision on whether Mount Vernon will be inscribed on the WHL will be made by the World Heritage Committee, no sooner than the summer of 2010. In January 2008 Mount Vernon was included on the new United States Tentative List of sites (14 total) to be considered for nomination to the WHL (a new national tentative list is generally compiled every 10 years, although the previous U.S. Tentative List dated to 1982). The United States has the right to nominate two sites from the Tentative List each year for nomination to the WHL. The Secretary of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne, has designated Mount Vernon and the Papahanaumokuakea Marine Monument, Hawaii, as the initial sites to be drawn from the new Tentative List for nomination to the WHL.

What, if any, legal restrictions accompany inscription on the List?

Neither inclusion in the Tentative List nor inscription as a World Heritage Site imposes legal restrictions on owners or neighbors of sites, nor does it give the United Nations any management authority or ownership rights in U.S. World Heritage Sites, which continue to be subject to U.S. law.