Gardens & Landscapes

George Washington's mind was rarely far from the lush gardens and majestic views at Mount Vernon.

George Washington oversaw all aspects of the landscape at Mount Vernon. He extensively redesigned the grounds surrounding his home, adopting the less formal, more naturalistic style of 18th century English garden landscape designer Batty Langley. Washington reshaped walks, roads, and lawns; cut vistas through the forest, and planted hundreds of native trees and shrubs. The well-ordered gardens provided food for the Mansion's table and were also pleasing to the eye. Eighteenth-century visitors to Mount Vernon were delighted by bountiful offerings of fresh vegetables and fruits, and reveled in after-dinner walks amongst all manner of opulent flowering plants.

10 Facts

Top Ten Facts about the Gardens at Mount Vernon

Ten Facts

The Vaughan Plan

Vaughan sketched a plan of the Mount Vernon mansion and the formal area around it in his journal, embellishing it with a perspective of the river and the Maryland shore beyond.

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Saving Washington's View

For more than 50 years the Ladies of Mount Vernon have been working to preserve George Washington’s view across the Potomac.

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Washington's Failed Vineyard

While Washington's grape-growing efforts in the early 1770s gave the locality its name, that endeavor quickly proved to be unsuccessful.

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Botanical Garden

No place at Mount Vernon better shows off the secret George Washington - his desire to be self-sufficient, his enchanting curiosity, and his determined optimism, undeterred by considerable failure - than his botanical garden.

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A Paddock for Deer

Following aristocratic British practice, George Washington fenced off 18 acres on the slope, between the Mansion and the Potomac River, to serve as “a paddock for deer” or deer park.

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10 Facts

Ten Facts About Mount Vernon's Landscape

George Washington possessed a strong interest in landscape design and architecture throughout his adult life.

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