Open 365 days a year, Mount Vernon is located just 15 miles south of Washington DC.
From the mansion to lush gardens and grounds, intriguing museum galleries, immersive programs, and the distillery and gristmill. Spend the day with us!
Discover what made Washington "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen".
The Mount Vernon Ladies Association has been maintaining the Mount Vernon Estate since they acquired it from the Washington family in 1858.
Need primary and secondary sources, videos, or interactives? Explore our Education Pages!
The Washington Library is open to all researchers and scholars, by appointment only.
In celebration of the George Washington Presidential Library’s tenth anniversary, Mount Vernon hosted its largest symposium yet.
The 2023 George Washington Symposium featured an outstanding lineup of remarkable and thoughtful historians, authors, journalists, and leaders. While discussing our nation’s outstanding example of constitutional democracy, these esteemed panelists looked to the future challenges of safeguarding democratic government for the next generation.
Conversations examined the roles and responsibilities of various sectors in a functioning democracy, such as the military, media, and business communities. How has the United States Constitution evolved over more than two centuries as we strive towards a more perfect union? Is the United States living up to the Founders’ vision, including its first president, George Washington?
Below, listen in on the lively and impactful conversations surrounding our nation’s most precious inheritance—our great democratic experiment.
Lee & Toni Verstandig
Join some of America's most preeminent historians, H. W. Brands, Douglas Brinkley, Joanne Freeman, and Edna Greene Medford, as they discuss the history of our nation's democracy. Moderated by C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb.
Washington Library Director Patrick Spero moderates a conversation about democracy with Founding Era historians Denver Brunsman, Lindsay Chervinksy, and Annette Gordon-Reed.
Mount Vernon President & CEO Douglas Bradburn talks with multiple Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson about his writing covering the American military.
Generals Joseph F. Dunford, John Kelly, and Jim Mattis, in conversation with Pulitzer Prize-Winner Rick Atkinson.
Boston College Law Professor Mary Sarah Bilder, Harvard Law Professor Michael J. Klarman, and President and CEO of the National Constitution Center Jeffrey Rosen join Mount Vernon President & CEO Douglas Bradburn to discuss the history of the US Constitution.
Judge David S. Tatel and attorney Neal Katyal in conversation with President and CEO of the National Constitution Center, Jeffrey Rosen.
President of Campaign Legal Center, Trevor Potter, speaks about the electoral process in the United States with Margaret Hoover, host of PBS's "Firing Line with Margaret Hoover."
David Rubenstein, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of The Carlyle Group, talks with Citadel Founder and CEO Kenneth C. Griffin.
Journalists Jacqueline Alemany, Robert Costa, and Heidi Przybyla discuss journalism's role in a democracy in a conversation moderated by John Harwood.
Johns Hopkins University President Ron Daniels, Washington Post journalist Valerie Strauss, and education leader John White discuss the role of education in a democracy in conversation moderated by historian Johann Neem.
CNN political analyst and anchor John Avlon and Larry Sabato, Founder and Director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, discuss George Washington's prescient warnings in his Farewell Address and where our democracy may be heading. Moderated by George Washington Presidential Library Director Patrick Spero.
