Presence of a Lady - Mount Vernon, 1861-1868

History

Muir, Dorothy Troth

Americas

Mount Vernon Ladies' Association

Greetings From Mount Vernon : 24 Historic Postcards From the Mount Vernon Collection

Unknown, Author

This volume provides a fresh historical focus on George Washington as a pioneer farmer actively engaged in a new approach to agriculture: one based on a more scientific attitude toward crops, farm animals, and the land. As Alan and Donna Jean Fusonie examined his correspondence and diaries, the emerging profile of Washington was of a tireless experimenter eager to share his results with visitors and with farmers in other parts of the country and abroad. In his correspondence Washington used the power of his pen to convey important agricultural thoughts. He increasingly expressed his concern about the ruinous agricultural practices of many of his fellow farmers. Washington's complex shift to a more self-reliant and integrated system of agriculture proved him to be an informed, forward-thinking decision maker who focused on the long-term productivity and conservation of his land at Mount Vernon. The authors, also practicing farmers, are intrigued by the similarity between Washington's outlook and that of an increasing number of today's farmers who use more sustainable approaches.

George Washington: Pioneer Farmer (George Washington BookShelf)

Biographies & Memoirs

Fusonie, Alan

Historical

George Washington: Man and monument

CUNLIFFE, Marcus

A Nation mourns: Bishop James Madison's memorial eulogy on the death of George Washington, delivered February 22, 1800 in Bruton Parish Church, Williamsburg, Virginia

Madison,James

George Washington’s long career as soldier began with defeat as a young line officer in the bloody frontier skirmishes of the French and Indian War; it culminated in the role of commanding general of the Continental army in victory over the British army. This soldier’s life included long years of Spartan campaigning, the creation of a professional army, the honing of innovative tactics and strategies, and the development of crucial international military alliances.
In this history of George Washington’s career as an army officer, Dave Palmer reveals the many qualities of character that made Washington an extraordinary military commander, qualities that allowed him not only to lead a fledgling army to secure the independence of his newly formed country but to define the role of the military in a free and democratic society.

George Washington: First in War (George Washington BookShelf)

Palmer, Dave R.

George Washington inherited his first slave at the age of eleven, and he was the only founding father to free his slaves in his will. This highly readable selection of articles focuses on Washington’s changing attitudes toward the institution of slavery and his everyday relationships with the slaves who shared his Mount Vernon estate. Along with his insightful introduction, editor Philip J. Schwarz has included James C. Rees’s essay "Looking Back, Moving Forward: The Changing Interpretation of Slave Life on the Mount Vernon Estate," Dennis J. Pogue’s essay "Slave Lifeways at Mount Vernon: An Archaeological Perspective," and Lorena S. Walsh’s essay "Slavery and Agriculture at Mount Vernon," as well as essays by Jean B. Lee, Mary V. Thompson, and Edna Greene Medford.

Slavery at the Home of George Washington (George Washington BookShelf)

In many ways Martha Dandridge Custis Washington represented the ideal woman of the new American republic. She was not born of the aristocracy, but she gained the admiration and respect of all classes of people. She was devoted to her family and home, but she readily made personal sacrifices to join her husband in his public duties. During the Revolution, which she referred to as our cause, she gave up the comforts of Mount Vernon to travel every year to General Washington's winter quarters, and during his presidential administration she was called both dignified and democratic as she forged the role of the president's wife that would be followed for generations to come. She neither sought nor relished her public positions, yet by all accounts she carried out the duties thrust upon her with enormous consideration and care. A line from an Alexandria newspaper's obituary for Martha Washington aptly summarizes the essential role she played: She was the worthy partner of the worthiest of men.

Martha Washington (George Washington BookShelf)

Clark, Ellen Mcallister

Community & Culture

The General in the Garden provides an engaging, informative, and richly illustrated introduction to George Washington’s landscape at Mount Vernon―arguably the best-documented, best-preserved complex of gardens and grounds to survive from eighteenth-century America. The book’s three essays, by Adam T. Erby, J. Dean Norton, and Esther C. White, chronicle Washington’s transformation of the estate in the years between the American Revolution and the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the stewardship of its gardens by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association since 1860, and the archaeology that led to the recent restoration of Washington’s showplace upper garden. Mount Vernon assistant curator Adam Erby examines Washington’s critical role in developing Mount Vernon’s landscape, arguing that the general drew on British design sources and gardening manuals but adapted them to his own circumstances, creating a truly American garden. J. Dean Norton, Mount Vernon’s director of horticulture, traces the evolution of the estate’s landscape and recreated gardens across the two centuries since Washington’s death. And Esther White, Mount Vernon’s director of historic preservation and research, shows how groundbreaking archaeological methods facilitated the discovery of Washington-era garden beds and borders of flowers, shrubs, and vegetables in his upper garden―a remarkable find that yielded one of the most significant eighteenth-century garden recreations of our time. Also included is a lavishly illustrated guide to Mount Vernon’s landscape features, introducing Washington’s beloved estate to a modern audience.
This book will appeal to many readers―from students of American history and culture to gardening enthusiasts to Mount Vernon visitors curious to know more about the estate to which George Washington devoted intense and sophisticated care.
Distributed for George Washington’s Mount Vernon

The General in the Garden: George Washington's Landscape at Mount Vernon

This historically accurate graphic adventure is divided into seven chapters which address George Washington s leadership qualities. The honesty of the young Virginian, the perseverance of the upstart colonial officer, the responsibility of the family man, the innovation of the gentleman planter, the integrity of the Virginia statesman, the bravery of the Commander-in-Chief and the fairness of the first president are presented in a colorful, easy to read format.

George Washington Leads the Way

Bentley Boyd

Children's Books

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Books by Mount Vernon Ladies' Association