Timeline

Protecting Mount Vernon's Viewshed

In August 1955 before development could move forward, Frances Payne Bolton, Mount Vernon’s Vice Regent and a member of Congress from Ohio, purchased 485 acres of the contested land at her own expense with the intention of “giving, selling, or bequeathing it” to the federal government or other entity that promised to keep it in its natural state. 

Alice and Henry Ferguson acquired the Hard Bargain Farm in 1922 and became pioneers in environmental conservation. Alice was responsible for taking the first step toward protecting the area’s natural landscape and preserving the beauty of the land and the open space across from Mount Vernon. After World War II, she purchased hundreds of acres of neighboring land and sold it to conservation-minded individuals who began building homes in the area, establishing the Moyaone Reserve community. Following Alice’s death in 1951, Henry established the Alice Ferguson Foundation in 1954 as a non-profit organization. When the Potomac shoreline was threatened with industrialization in the 1960s, the Alice Ferguson Foundation donated all of its riverfront land to help establish Piscataway Park in 1968, which preserves and protects the viewshed from Mount Vernon across the river in Virginia.

The alliance concentrated its efforts to establish federal legislation to protect the land directly across from Mount Vernon by establishing a national park there. Bolton and other Vice Regents appealed to congressional representatives who might draft and introduce a bill in the House chamber.

Community hearings were held and brochures distributed. The Citizens Committee on Natural Resources, an independent citizens action group, printed progress updates and placed a placard with a quote by Regent Rosamond Beirne next to the Mansion’s piazza for all to see: “This is a national heritage from the past, it must be our legacy to posterity. We of the present do not have the right to destroy it.”

Operation Overview had some friends in the government. Two House representatives, John Saylor of Pennsylvania and Wayne Aspinall of Colorado, introduced corresponding bills to authorize the Department of the Interior to “acquire and administer lands” along the Potomac River in Prince George’s and Charles County, Maryland.

Public Law 87-362 was passed and signed by President John F. Kennedy, leading to the establishment of Piscataway Park, administered by the National Park Service. The legislation allowed Congress to acquire land through fee simple terms for the national park and for the acquisition of scenic easements over lands associated with the hills beyond. Easements were made possible through cooperation between the federal government and the Maryland state legislature by authorizing real estate tax credits and income tax deductions for donated scenic easements. The bill also authorized the National Park Service to accept donations of land from the Accokeek Foundation and the Alice Ferguson Foundation.

The National Park Service received a transfer of scenic easements on 1,300 acres of land outside of the park’s fee simple area. It also negotiated the purchase of the final 106 acres remaining in the park’s fee simple area. Today, the park has grown to approximately 5,000 acres.

National Colonial Farm took shape under the management of the Accokeek Foundation. This historic farm museum is a centerpiece of Piscataway National Park and portrays to the public the characteristics of a colonial farm along the Potomac River. 

The MVLA hired an environmental design firm to complete a geographic data study to analyze “the heights of structures and their effect upon the view from Mount Vernon.” The results, accompanied by reports of interested corporations eyeing land near the viewshed, led to a push to extend the boundaries of Piscataway Park. 

Mount Vernon acquired a one-acre parcel known as the Stalker property. The Stalker property was of critical importance. It lies along the Capt. John Smith National Historic Trail and is entirely surrounded by Piscataway National Park. The Stalker property also lies prominently within the viewshed of Mount Vernon. At the time the Stalker property was offered for sale, the MVLA, in partnership with The Conservation Fund, acquired the property with the understanding that the National Park Service would acquire the property from the MVLA.