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Of the 10 rooms being used as chambers, or bedrooms, at the end of Washington's lifetime, this was the only one located on the first floor. The room itself is part of the original house, built about 1735. This space may have always been used as a chamber, but there is also evidence to suggest that it might have been a dining room. George Washington was using it as a chamber by 1759 and it appears that the room retained this function for the next four decades.
The 1799 inventory reveals that the Downstairs Bedroom served as an elegant and comfortable guest chamber, complete with a high post bed, window hangings, carpet, and an expensive looking glass. The large oil painting on the east wall of the room is original to Mount Vernon and depicts the Battle of Minden, which was fought in Germany on August 1, 1759. It is listed in the inventory of this room taken in 1799 as "1 Large gilt frame 'a battle fought by Cavalry'". Samuel Vaughan, the Englishman who gave the marble mantelpiece in the Large Dining Room to the Washingtons, also gifted this painting, which originally hung over the Large Dining Room mantelpiece.
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