For Immediate Release
September28, 2007
Digital images available
Media Contact:
Melissa Wood (703) 799-5203
mwood@mountvernon.org
MOUNT VERNON, Va. – Mount Vernon welcomes the autumn season with Fall Harvest Family Days, October 20 and 21 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The entire family will enjoy autumn activities including wagon rides, wheat treading in the 16-sided barn, a straw bale maze, and early-American games and music. Potomac River sightseeing cruises are half-price and each child receives a free pumpkin while supplies last. Fall Harvest Family Days is included with admission to the estate this weekend: $13 adults; $12 seniors; $6 children 6-11; free for children under 5. George Washington’s Distillery & Gristmill are free this weekend with estate admission.
During Fall Harvest Family Days, visitors join the Mount Vernon staff in bidding farewell to farming season with a traditional harvest celebration that includes live performances by musicians and candle making and farrier (blacksmithing) demonstrations. Children can create and take home their own cornhusk dolls. Costumed field workers demonstrate open-fire cooking and children participate in the cooking by roasting their own apple slices. The Mount Vernon Inn offers concessions on site.
When visitors purchase a ticket to the estate during Fall Harvest Family Days, they will receive complimentary admission to George Washington’s Distillery & Gristmill, located 3 miles from the estate. This weekend at the Gristmill visitors can watch as millers work the Oliver Evans milling system. The system is an intricate system of pullies and levers that won U.S. Patent #3. Watch as water from Dogue Creek goes through the Gristmill, setting the massive gears into motion, and see the end result: cornmeal ready to use.
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Events, programs, and activities are subject to change.
Public Information: 703-780-2000; 703-799-8697 (TDD); www.mountvernon.org
Since 1860, over 80 million 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.
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: adults, $13.00; senior citizens, $12.00; children age 6-11, when accompanied by an adult, $6.00; and children under age 5, FREE. Admission fees, restaurant and retail proceeds, along with private donations, support the operation and restoration of Mount Vernon.
