Livestream Events

Join us for a BONUS members-only livestream this month with Lydia Mattice Brandt, PhD Associate Professor, School of Visual Art and Design at the University of South Carolina and recipient of the Dr. William M. and Betty H. Busey Family Fellowship alongside Mount Vernon Curator Adam Erby for a journey of American art and the memory of George Washington.

Best known for his history painting The Baptism of Pocahontas for the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, John Gadsby Chapman was a key figure in the canonization of Washington-related images and sites in the early nineteenth century. Painted between 1832 and 1836, these picturesque images were also a key component of a larger research project for Chapman's painter, Knickerbocker author and Washington biographer James Kirke Paulding. Together, Chapman’s paintings and Paulding’s biography reveal that Americans used historic places to advocate for a significant and historically rooted national identity earlier and in a more sophisticated way than many historians have assumed.

Click here to become a Mount Vernon member and tune in to these special livestreams, and to learn more about membership perks.

The members-only livestream originally scheduled for Monday, Dec. 7 has been postponed and rescheduled for Monday, Dec. 14. Join Washington Post Publisher and CEO Frederick J. Ryan on his new book "Wine and the White House" which illustrates how wine, carefully selected and served, has become much more than a pleasant drink to sip with meals: It plays an important role in White House hospitality, the nation's diplomacy, and America's history

Click here to become a Mount Vernon member and tune in to these special livestreams, and to learn more about membership perks.

Every other Monday, we'll be hosting a special livestream just for our Mount Vernon members! On Monday, November 23, Chef Justin Cherry will join Mount Vernon's Steve Bashore for a fascinating look at 18th-century foodways and how early Americans celebrated around the table.

Click here to become a Mount Vernon member and tune in to these special livestreams, and to learn more about membership perks.

Join Andrew O’Shaughnessy and Kevin Butterfield for a virtual discussion with early career scholars breaking new ground in early American history. Alexi Garrett, Michael Blaakman, Krysten Blackstone, and Derek O’Leary will each discuss their new research.

This event is co-sponsored by the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon and the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello.

George Goodwin will discuss his latest research on George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and the propaganda and intelligence that shaped the War of Independence.

This event is co-sponsored by the Benjamin Franklin House in London.

On Friday, Alan Price, Director of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, will talk about the historic and closely contested race for the presidency in 1960, when Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon.

This year's online George Washington Symposium focuses on elections that shaped the American presidency.

Join us for a special live Q&A on horses and the role of horses in early America, co-hosted by Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and George Washington’s Mount Vernon!

Monticello’s Associate Curator Emilie Johnson will discuss Thomas Jefferson’s horses, Monticello’s restored stables, and the role of enslaved hostlers. Mount Vernon’s Livestock Stable Manager, Lisa Pregent, will discuss George Washington’s horses and his livestock stables.

On Tuesday, Jeffrey Pasley of the University of Missouri will talk about the first American presidential elections, from Washington’s unanimous election to two terms in office to the first contested election in our history, when John Adams defeated Thomas Jefferson in 1796, only to lose to him in 1800.

This year's online George Washington Symposium focuses on elections that shaped the American presidency.

On select Mondays, we'll be hosting special livestreams just for our Mount Vernon members! On Monday, October 19, Philadelphia high society hosts Elizabeth and Samuel Powel welcomed numerous prominent individuals of the Founding Era into their home -- considered the epicenter of political discussion and entertainment. George Washington was a frequent guest, seeking political insight and intellectual conversation with Elizabeth, whom he considered one of his closest friends.

Join Washington Library Reference Librarian Samantha Snyder and Kayla Anthony, Executive Director of The Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks (PhilaLandmarks) for a discussion on the intimate friendship between the Powels and the Washingtons, as well as the longstanding institutional connection between the Mount Vernon Ladies Association and PhilaLandmarks.

Click here to become a Mount Vernon member and tune in to these special livestreams, and to learn more about membership perks.

Join Mount Vernon for a digital Ford Evening Book Talk with Nathan Raab in conversation with the Washington Library's Executive Director Kevin Butterfield. They will discuss Raab's new book, The Hunt for History.

George Washington’s Mount Vernon joins Black Women United for Action in remembering the enslaved people who lived and worked at Mount Vernon with a virtual program and wreathlaying ceremony at the Slave Memorial on Saturday, October 3 at 11:00 am ET.

Learn more about the ceremony & memorial

On September 25 at noon ET, Washington College, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and George Washington's Mount Vernon will announce the winner of the 2020 George Washington Prize live.

The George Washington Prize is one of the nation’s largest and most prestigious literary awards, recognizing the year’s best new books on early American history. The prize ranks among the largest and most prestigious honors in the publishing industry. Learn more about the GW Prize and this year's nominees.

We'll be hosting a special livestream just for our Mount Vernon members each week! On Tuesday, September 22, join us for an exclusive interview with Michelin three-star chef Patrick O’Connell, founder of the Inn at Little Washington. He talks with Doug Bradburn about his efforts preserving a small town’s architectural history over the last 42 years, one building at a time, in “Little” Washington, Virginia -- a place where as a young surveyor George Washington first named the streets back in 1749.

Click here to become a Mount Vernon member and tune in to these special livestreams, and to learn more about membership perks.

Every Monday, we'll be hosting a special livestream just for our Mount Vernon members! On Monday, September 14, National Constitution Center President & CEO Jeffery Rosen joins Washington Library Executive Director Kevin Butterfield in advance of Constitution Day. They will reflect on the world-altering significance of the document's creation in 1787, as well as the National Constitution Center's ongoing efforts to educate the public today.

Click here to become a Mount Vernon member and tune in to these special livestreams, and to learn more about membership perks.

Every Monday, we'll be hosting a special livestream just for our Mount Vernon members! Join Mount Vernon curator Adam Erby as he takes a deep dive into our collection -- sometimes sharing rarely seen treasures. This month he shows off Intimate Objects: Portrait Miniatures Owned by the Washington Family.

Click here to become a Mount Vernon member and tune in to these special livestreams, and to learn more about membership perks.

Join Mount Vernon and Monticello for a digital talk with Dr. Frank Cogliano of the University of Edinburgh to discuss his project exploring the complicated relationship between George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. This event is co-sponsored by the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon and the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello.

Join Mount Vernon for a digital Ford Evening Book Talk with Dr. Stephanie Jones-Rogers in conversation with Kevin Butterfield, Executive Director of the Washington Library They will discuss Jones-Rogers's new book, They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South.

Join Mount Vernon and members of the Military Order of the Purple Heart and the National Museum United States Army for a livestream of the estate’s official National Purple Heart Day Wreath Laying at Washington’s Tomb and Commemoration Ceremony in the Tomb Grove, beginning at 10:00am. The ceremony will include music and remarks by special guests.

Learn more about the event

On select Mondays, we host special livestreams just for our Mount Vernon members! On Monday, August 3, join Join Mount Vernon's Director of Horticulture Dean Norton as he takes you on a tour of the trees of Mount Vernon.

Click here to become a Mount Vernon member and tune in to these special livestreams, and to learn more about membership perks.

Join us for a livestream with Mount Vernon's resident fifer, Don Francisco, for an abridged version of his Music of the Revolution program with a focus on three African-American Revolutionary War fifers.

Dr. Jessica Lowe of the University of Virginia School of Law will discuss her book Murder in the Shenandoah: Making Law Sovereign in Revolutionary Virginia.

Join us for a special Mapping Monday livestream with our the Teaching Tuesday crew! Sadie Troy and special guest Jim Ambuske will explore the world of maps and the powerful impact they can have within the classroom using the Washington Library’s Richard H Brown Revolutionary War Map Collection.

Arthur Burns and Zara Anishanslin will talk about their experiences with the Georgian Papers Programme.

On Friday, July 10 at noon ET, join Genealogist and Family Historian Steve Hammond for a live discussion with Brenda Parker, Mount Vernon Character Interpreter & African American Interpretation & Special Projects Coordinator, on the Syphax family lineage and their connections to historic sites in the area, including Mount Vernon.

Every Monday, we'll be hosting a special livestream just for our Mount Vernon members! On Monday, July 6, we welcome star of stage and screen Christopher Jackson, who will talk about what it was like originating the role of George Washington as part of one of the biggest pop culture phenomenons in history -- the Broadway cast of Hamilton.

Click here to become a Mount Vernon member and tune in to these special livestreams, and to learn more about membership perks.

If you can't join us in person at Mount Vernon, join us virtually on Independence Day at 9:30 am ET to watch General Washington inspect the troops and read the Declaration of Independence!