Temporary Paving Stone Removal
Friday, August 23, 2024
During the ongoing Mansion Revitalization Project, significant work has been undertaken to remove masonry outside the New Room and on the piazza—a crucial step in ensuring the long-term preservation and stability of Washington's beloved home.
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Masonry Work in the Cellar
Monday, August 05, 2024
A significant aspect of the Mansion Revitalization Project involves repairing sections of the Mansion’s masonry. The brick and stone foundation walls and chimney bases in the cellar provide the strong underpinning upon which the Mansion stands. As with the home’s framing, some necessary interventions in past decades, using "modern" materials, ha...
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Creating a 3D Model of the New Room Floor
Monday, July 08, 2024
A major task of the Mansion Revitalization Project involves repairing sections of the Mansion’s framing, necessitating the temporary removal of the original 18th-century floorboards in the Mansion’s New Room.But before the first floorboard was lifted, the Preservation team undertook the critical step of documenting the floor's condition using a ...
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Preparing the New Room
Friday, June 14, 2024
Following the de-installation of the New Room, during which Mount Vernon’s Fine and Decorative Arts Collections team removed the room’s objects for safe storage, the next step was to prepare the space for the following phase of the Mansion Revitalization Project— removing the mopboards and floorboards in order to access and repair the home's fra...
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Pipe Fragment Discovered
Friday, May 24, 2024
Have you ever found crystals growing inside a rock? Sometimes, bricks hold hidden surprises, too. This brick was removed from the brick flooring next to the dry well in the Mansion cellar during recent archaeological excavations ahead of the Mansion Revitalization Project. The brick had broken apart, revealing a large fragment of tobacco pipe bo...
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Mortar Analysis
Thursday, May 23, 2024
One of the many types of analysis undertaken by Mount Vernon conservators is mortar analysis, using mortar samples like the one seen above. By breaking down the components of a mortar sample, mortar analysis helps staff identify approximate dating, material types and ratios used in creation, and geographic sources. This information also helps th...
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North Siding Removal
Wednesday, May 22, 2024
As part of the Mansion Revitalization Project, Mount Vernon’s Preservation team spent several days removing the lower courses of siding on the Mansion’s north end. This was a slow, delicate process, as the vast majority of the Mansion’s siding is original to the 18th century. Removal of the north siding allowed Mount Vernon’s Preservation staff ...
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A Missing Lid
Thursday, May 02, 2024
In the world of archaeology, every artifact has a story to tell. Ahead of the Mansion Revitalization Project, Mount Vernon archaeologists excavated the area north of the Mansion. While examining a ceramic fragment excavated near the north end of the piazza, archaeological lab analysts Angela Bailey and Alice Keith identified it as a lid from the...
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Processing Artifacts
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Archaeological Laboratory Analyst Angela Bailey catalogs artifacts recovered by the Archaeology team during the Mansion Revitalization Project. (MVLA) While the Archaeology field crew excavates in the cellar (as part of the Mansion Revitalization Project), the lab crew facilitates the processing, researching, and cataloging of the artifacts bein...
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Ductwork Removal from the Cellar
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
The Preservation and Project Management teams reached an important milestone by overseeing the removal of the existing ductwork in the Mansion cellar. The removal of this ductwork will make way for its replacement with a more efficient HVAC (heating/ventilation/air conditioning) system, which will provide climate control in the cellar for the fi...
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Preservation
Mansion Revitalization Project
Mount Vernon has embarked on a landmark preservation project to ensure the Mansion's structural integrity for generations to come.