Buy Tickets

Mount Vernon

Plan Your Visit

The Estate

George Washington

Preservation

Education

Washington Library

The Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington

Explore the wide range of subjects related to George Washington’s world and the colonial and founding eras.

The Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington was generously supported by Richard and Bonnie Dial in memory of Irby and George Prendergast.

Agriculture (14)
American Revolution (134)
American West (18)
Animals (12)
Artists (15)
Enslaved Community and Slavery (52)
Family (28)
Food and Drink (14)
Gardens (5)
Mansion (15)
Military (31)
Mount Vernon (22)
Objects (13)
Personal (71)
Politics (28)
Preservation (20)
Presidency (37)
Servants and Laborers (58)

Agriculture

Muddy Hole Farm

Muddy Hole Farm was one of the five farms that made up the Mount Vernon estate. Located in the northeast corner of the plantation, running alongside Little Hunting Creek, Muddy Hole is said to have lived…

Learn More

American Revolution

Siege of Charleston - 1776

The 1776 Siege of Charleston, South Carolina, was a short but important military episode in the early years of the American Revolution. A small American Patriot force defending Charleston under the overall…

Learn More

American West

Northwest Ordinance

After gaining independence from Great Britain, one of the many contentious issues facing the United States were competing claims to western lands. These lands were generally referred to as the Northwest…

Learn More

Animals

Hogs

Months before his death, George Washington admitted that while he had "a large stock of Hogs—the precise number is unknown." During this period, Washington let his hogs run free to feed on vegetable…

Learn More

Artists

Washington Irving

Washington Irving was one of the most famous American authors of the nineteenth century. While he is primarily remembered for short stories such as “Rip van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow…

Learn More

Enslaved Community and Slavery

Hercules

Hercules, a member of the Mount Vernon enslaved community, became widely admired for his culinary skills.

Learn More

Family

Elizabeth Parke Custis Law

Elizabeth Parke Custis Law was the eldest of Martha Washington's four surviving grandchildren.

Learn More

Food and Drink

Recipe for Small Beer

George Washington’s recipe for “Small Beer” appears in a 1757 notebook of his, which can be found today in its original form at the New York Public Library.

Learn More

Gardens

Upper Garden

The upper garden was established in the 1760s and paralleled the lower or kitchen garden to its south. This garden was initially planted with fruit and nut trees, and was walled and rectangular in shape…

Learn More

Mansion

New Room

Washington's New Room is the largest and most ornate of the rooms found within the Mount Vernon mansion.

Learn More

Military

Jumonville Glen Skirmish

On May 28, 1754 Virginia Regiment Lieutenant Colonel George Washington and Mingo chief Tanacharison led a party of roughly forty men in a raid against twenty-nine French soldiers in present-day western…

Learn More

Mount Vernon

Tomb

Learn more about the New Tomb at Mount Vernon - the Washington's final resting place.

Learn More

Objects

Acts of Congress

One of the early responsibilities of the Congress' official printer was to prepare bound copies of the?

Learn More

Personal

George Washington and Ballooning

During George Washington?s lifetime lighter-than-air travel was first demonstrated. As a person who embraced new technologies, he was aware of and showed interest in the development of balloons.

Learn More

Politics

Aurora General Advertiser

Founded by Benjamin Franklin Bache, the Aurora General Advertiser was published in Philadelphia between 1794 and 1824. Bache, the grandson of Benjamin Franklin, established the Aurora as a Republican newspaper…

Learn More

Preservation

Foreign Leaders and Post World War II Diplomacy (1951-1955)

During the decade after World War II, Mount Vernon became an important space for visiting political leaders whose countries had received aid from the United States.

Learn More

Presidency

Neutrality Proclamation

On April 22, 1793, President George Washington issued a Neutrality Proclamation to define the policy of the United States in response to the spreading war in Europe.

Learn More