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 help with homework? Our Digital Encyclopedia has all of the answers students and teachers need.
The Washington Library is open to all researchers and scholars, by appointment only.
The General's Plate — $15
Bread with salt pork butter, clothbound cheddar, and smokehouse bacon
Single Slice — $8
A warm piece of "midling bread" with salt pork butter
"Midling flour" was a coarse, middle-grade flour that sometimes matched the price of common flour but was only a step above Ship Stuff. In 1773, George Washington wrote in a letter that midling flour, "in my opinion, makes better bread than common Flour.”
| Loaf of Midling Bread | $14 |
| Loaf of Midling Bread and Cheese | $25 |
| Salt Pork Butter | $6 |
Quantities are limited.
In 1773, George Washington writes in a Letter to Lamar, Hill, Bisset, and Company: ”I expect you will likewise, from Mr. Newton of Norfolk, receive Ninety Barrls of Burr Midlings belonging to me, which in my opinion makes better Bread than common Flour.”
Midling flour was a coarse middle-grade flour that sometimes matched the price of common flour but was only a step above ship stuff.
Included is a proper portion of clothbound cheese, in the style of English cheddars of old but made in an American creamery.
| Loaf of Brown Bread | $14 |
| Package of Ginger Bread | $6 |
| Loaf of Bread and Cheese | $25 |
| Salt Pork Butter | $6 |
Quantities are limited.
Sometimes referred to as “Thirded Bread,” this loaf is made up of wheat, corn, and rye—in equal thirded parts—with the addition of molasses.
In 1786, George Washington included 1¼ pounds of Brown Bread as part of a daily ration for Ditchers working in the Mill Swamp.
This loaf contains Black Seashore Rye, one of the
oldest varieties still cultivated in the United States of America.
At Morristown 1780, a receipt was signed by Christopher Ludwick—Superintendent of Bakers and Director of the Baking Department for the Continental Army—that included nine pounds of butter, milk, allspice, caraway seed, and ginger. The gingerbread was for Washington himself.
A loaf of bread and a proper portion of clothbound cheese, made in the truckle style of English cheddars of old but made in an American creamery.
Culinarian historian Justin Cherry is Mount Vernon's Resident Baker and is the chef and owner of the Half Crown Bakehouse, which specializes in colonial foodways.
Cherry was a 2019 Fellow at the Washington Library. His research focused on the 18th-century foodways culture at Mount Vernon.
Cherry uses grains ground in Mount Vernon's gristmill whenever possible.
The first white Lammas wheat ground at the Gristmill since Washington’s day was baked in Cherry’s mobile 18th-century clay oven and sold at Revolutionary War Weekend in May 2019.
Cherry continues to facilitate collaboration between heirloom grain specialists and Mount Vernon’s Historic Trades Team.
In March 2020, Cherry and the Historic Trades Team installed a bake oven in Washington’s Farm. Bake ovens, also known as beehive, masonry, brick, pizza, or bread ovens, were a staple in early America.
These thick clay domes were built into kitchens next to the hearth, like the original oven in the Mansion’s Kitchen, or built outdoors. The design of Mount Vernon’s reproduction oven resembles those used throughout the Chesapeake region.
Evidence of ovens like this has not been found at Mount Vernon, but similar ovens may have existed around the estate.
Face masks are recommended indoors for all persons, vaccinated or unvaccinated.
Face masks are required for all unvaccinated guests.
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