Spinning House

Enslaved and itinerant weavers worked in the Spinning House to produce basic textiles for use at Mount Vernon. As disputes with England grew, Washington tried to improve the quality of the cloth they made. For the production of more utilitarian textiles, he practiced selective breeding of sheep, grew flax and hemp for making linen cloth and rope, and experimented with cotton and silk. Finer materials for table linens and clothing still had to be ordered from England.