The Mount Vernon estate was divided into five separate farms, including Mansion Farm, River Farm, Union Farm, Muddy Hole Farm, and Dogue Run Farm. Each of these properties were managed by an overseer who was either a hired free, white male, or a person enslaved by George Washington or Martha Washington. These overseers were often supervised by a farm manager who reported to Washington on a weekly basis.
The enslaved population at Mount Vernon typically worked from the time the sun rose in the morning until it set in the evening, with about two hours off for meals in between. During the winter, enslaved toiled for around eight hours each day, while in the summer the workday might have been as long as fourteen hours. Sunday was a day off for everyone at Mount Vernon, both free persons and slaves. Throughout the year some enslaved people were also given a few holidays off from laboring, including Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. During certain times of the year when jobs such as fishing or harvesting had to be completed in a limited time period, enslaved people had to work through days they would typically not have to labor for the Washingtons, however they were often reimbursed either through cash payments or another day off when the job was finished.
The jobs done by enslaved workers at Mount Vernon varied considerably from person to person. Of the 316 enslaved people working on the Estate in 1799, 42% were either too old or too young to work. Of the remaining people, 28% were skilled laborers working as house servants, blacksmiths, barrel makers, cooks, dairy maids, gardeners, millers, distillers, seamstresses, shoemakers, spinners, knitters, ditch diggers, wagon drivers, or postillions driving the carriage. Most enslaved people considered "skilled" were men, who held nearly 75% of these jobs. Some enslaved people considered "skilled" appear to have been of mixed race.
Almost three-quarters of enslaved laborers at Mount Vernon completed agriculture labor. Over 61% of those engaged in agriculture were enslaved women who hoed and ploughed, harvested, and built fences around the Washington's properties. Enslaved people who were physically disabled in some way were often given less physically demanding jobs such as making clothing or shoes, or picking the seeds of wild onions out of the oat seeds.1
Notes:
1. The statistics here are culled from "Washington’s Slave List, June 1799," Founders Online, National Archives.
Bibliography:
Pogue, Dennis J. "Archaeology of Plantation Life: Another Perspective on George Washington's Mount Vernon," Virginia Cavalcade, Autumn 1991, 79.
Thompson, Mary V. “The Only Unavoidable Subject of Regret”: George Washington, Slavery, and the Enslaved Community at Mount Vernon. Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 2019.
Schoelwer, Susan P., ed. Lives Bound Together: Slavery at George Washington's Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon, VA: Mount Vernon Ladies Association, 2016.
