For Immediate Release
January 17, 2006
Digital images available
Media Contact:
Emily Coleman Dibella
(703) 799-8607
edibella@mountvernon.org
MOUNT VERNON, Va. - The grand opening of two buildings which will revolutionize the visitor experience at George Washington’s historic estate has been set for October 27, 2006. The Ford Orientation Center and Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center are the major components of a $110 million campaign by George Washington’s Mount Vernon to restore the “Father of Our Country” to his rightful place of honor and distinction in America. These state-of-the-art buildings, designed by GWWO Inc./Architects of Baltimore, Maryland, will complement the historic area experience by illuminating fascinating chapters of Washington’s life including early adulthood, military leadership, and the presidency.
The Ford Orientation Center is made possible by Ford Motor Company Fund. The Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center was made possible by a $24 million donation by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. Robert H. and Clarice Smith of Arlington, Virginia, have also made the new facilities possible by generously contributing more than $10 million.
“We have found in recent years that visitors are coming to Mount Vernon with only the most basic knowledge about George Washington,” said James C. Rees, executive director of Mount Vernon. “To preserve his legacy, we are building new facilities to show visitors specifically why George Washington, the most dynamic leader of his time, was chosen again and again by the founding fathers to lead this country.”
By exploring these buildings, visitors will learn about Washington’s exceptional life and accomplishments through dozens of interactive galleries and media displays, including a major movie, short films produced by The History Channel, and high-tech, multi-sensory experiences. Three life-sized models created by a team of artists and forensic and computer experts will depict Washington as never before seen at three significant stages of his life – including as a land surveying teenager – which will dispel the elder statesman icon and encourage people to think about Washington in a new way: an incomparable American hero who evolved from a young man of modest means into this country’s greatest president.
In the museum, hundreds of objects showcasing the Washington family will be on display in six permanent galleries and one changing exhibition space. Visitors will get an unprecedented look at furnishings, china, silver, clothing, jewelry, Revolutionary War artifacts, rare books and manuscripts, and other personal effects of the Washington family. Many of these treasures will be exhibited at Mount Vernon for the first time in the new museum, which will be five times larger than the Estate’s current exhibition space.
Responding to the desire of Mount Vernon’s regents to ensure that the Ford Orientation Center and Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center did not overwhelm or detract from the historic Mansion, GWWO tucked 65 percent of the large, 66,700-square foot complex under the four-acre pasture just inside Mount Vernon’s main gate, a design which guarantees that the pastoral setting and viewsheds to and from the Mansion will be preserved. Traditional Hogg Island sheep, like those Washington raised 200 years ago, will graze in the pasture, invoking a bucolic setting similar to the Mount Vernon of Washington’s day.
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Public Information: 703-780-2000; 703-799-8697 (TDD); www.mountvernon.org
Since 1858, millions of visitors have made George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate & Gardens the most popular historic home in America. Through thought-provoking tours, entertaining events, and stimulating educational programs on the Estate and in classrooms across the nation, Mount Vernon strives to preserve George Washington’s place in history as “First in War, First in Peace, and First in the Hearts of His Countrymen.” Mount Vernon is owned and operated by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, America’s oldest national preservation organization, founded in 1853. A picturesque drive to the southern end of the scenic George Washington Memorial Parkway, Mount Vernon is located just 16 miles from the nation’s capital.
