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The Women Who Saved George Washington's Home
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March 7, 2018
“If the men of America have seen fit to allow the home of its most respected hero to go to ruin, why can't the women of America band together to save it?”
In 1853, Louisa Bird Cunningham wrote these words to her daughter, Ann Pamela Cunningham, after seeing the decrepit state of George Washington's home while traveling on the Potomac River.
Inspired by her mother's words, Cunningham took it upon herself to challenge the nation to save Mount Vernon. She founded the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association in 1853 and by 1858 had raised $200,000 dollars to purchase the mansion and two hundred acres.
Learn more at http://mountvernon.org/mvla