From Revolution to Revitalization

After extensive investigation, design, and planning, the construction phase of the landmark Mansion Revitalization Project is underway.

We are now ready to begin work to strengthen the Mansion's timber frame and masonry foundation!

This work is extensive and we will rely on your dedicated support every step of the way.

Our team has begun beneath the New Room— removing the previously installed brick and slate inserts and replacing them with carefully crafted wood sills to reestablish strong connections between the walls, floor, and foundation.

The New Room will remain closed until August when it will re-open for the remainder of the Mansion Revitalization Project, giving students and guests the opportunity to visit this Mansion signature room.

Wash House Restoration

Our Preservation team is committed to preserving the historic structures at Mount Vernon. Unlike modern homes, their goal is not to replace what is old with what is new. Our preservation carpenters often use historic methods and painstaking processes to ensure they can preserve as much of the historic structure as possible.

The Wash House restoration began with shoring the building in place—constructing a scaffolding system to support the weight of the wall.

Carpenters then cut the connections between the sill and the vertical posts and studs, allowing the deteriorated part of the sill to be pulled out.

In its place, they inserted a new sill, cut to size from a white oak tree felled on the estate several years ago. To re-attach the studs and posts to the new sill, the team painstakingly designed specific techniques—from wooden lap joints to metal L-brackets—to address particular situations.

The restoration of the Wash House not only provides it with a strong building frame, but also a valuable, hands-on test run of procedures that will be repeated to carry out the much larger-scale sill repairs of the Mansion Revitalization project.

Before this first phase broke ground, we started with an archaeological dig and found some exciting treasures that we want to share with you.

One particularly exciting discovery was a small piece of domino likely from the early 19th century. This is the first domino fragment found in an archaeological excavation; a nearly complete domino was found in the 1930s during construction work. It is common practice at Mount Vernon to do archaeology before breaking any ground.

The military connection at Mount Vernon remains strong! During excavations at the north end of the Mansion, a second War of 1812-era U.S. Army Artillery Corps button was recovered. This button was among the first series of U.S. military regalia to feature an American eagle.

Recently, our team found a wine seal bearing the name of John Posey, who was once George Washington’s neighbor. Bottles with seals like this were seen as signs of gentility, wealth, and individuality among the planter class. The bottle with this seal may have been brought to Mount Vernon by Posey for a social event or it may have arrived after Washington purchased property from Posey in 1769.