Mount Vernon, the plantation home of George Washington, initially came into the Washington family’s hands in 1674 as Little Hunting Creek Plantation. It remained an unimportant part of Washington family holdings until Lawrence, George’s oldest half-brother, inherited the land upon his father’s death in 1743. Soon afterward Lawrence built a two-story house with four rooms on each floor, and he named the house and property Mount Vernon after his former commander, Admiral Edward Vernon of the Royal Navy. Upon Lawrence’s death in 1752, George leased Mount Vernon with the intentions of becoming a prosperous planter. He inherited the plantation in 1761, when his brother’s widow died and control returned to the Washington family.
Washington lived at Mount Vernon for more than 45 years. While under his control, the plantation became highly profitable mostly through its economic diversity. Along with TOBACCO and wheat, Mount Vernon became the base of a thriving fishing fleet that plied the waters of the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay. At its height the estate encompassed nearly 8,000 acres and served as home to George and Martha’s small family and a large slave community. By Washington’s death in 1799, nearly 300 slaves lived there. Washington willed Martha the use of Mount Vernon for the duration of her lifetime, stipulating that his slaves would become free when Martha died, which caused her great anxiety. Fearing that the slaves might expedite her demise, she freed her husband’s bondpeople at the end of 1800.
Further reading: James Thomas Flexner, Washington: The Indispensable Man (Boston: Little, Brown, 1969).
—Brian McKnight
World History
