Just Outside DC
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Mount Vernon, home to George and Martha Washington | |||||
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From Alexandria, the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway (Route 400) heads south providing
scenic views of the Potomac River until Route 400 ends at Mount Vernon.
Further south, off Route 1, the Mount Vernon Highway (Route 235) intersects twice with Route 1 and travels through lovely treed communities of homes until you reach Mount Vernon. Further south along Route 1 is the National Marine Museum ( 
the map)
at Quantico.
Parking at Mount Veron is free and convenient. The gift shop, fast food, bathrooms and a nice restuarant are available to the public without an entrance fee. Throughout the year Mount Vernon strives to provide a series of special programs (hands-on history tent, gardening days, baby farm animals, horse drawn wagon rides during fall harvest, wine festival, candle light tours weekends Thanksgiving through Christmas, etc.). Check the Mount Vernon website for information and schedule. Archaeologists and volunteers have been working for over 20 years to return Mount Vernon to its appearance of 1799 (when George Washington died). Fifty acres of Washington's farm is open to the public. The entrance fee provides access to the beautiful 21-room main mansion, outbuildings, numerous gardens and pathways, the Ford Orientation Center and the Reynolds Museum and Education Center). The morning we approached Mount Vernon we found, as we neared Mount Vernon, a long line of commercial buses parked along the roadway. Going past all of them, we went by the Mount Vernon post office then approached the rather large parking lot areas of Mount Vernon. | |||||
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There are two parking lots for cars. Lanes are tight, as the photo shows but parking is provided for
oversize vehicles.
A few picnic areas are available in at least one of the parking lots. Plus access to the 17-mile long Mount Vernon bicycle path that travels along the Potomac River. |
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| Photo at right was taken inside the Mount Vernon Inn.
I used to work in Alexandria, have gone to the Mount Vernon Inn several times for lunch and have enjoyed the colonial charm of the Inn and its early-American cuisine. |
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| Gift shop, fast food eateries and bathrooms are in the building adjoining the Mount Vernon Inn. |
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The gift shop is popular and offers a good selection of books regarding Mount Vernon and the life of George Washington.
A helpful and free pamphlet providing a map of Mount Vernon and brief description of main areas of interest is available at the ticket counters. | ||||
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Wanting to get outside and enjoy the gardens before the heat of the day rose, we purchased our entrance tickets and headed outside.
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Exiting the group of buildings that houses the gift shop, eateries and the Reynolds Museum, we went up a steep bricked walkway.
Where the walkway T's, we headed left towards the greenhouse and formal gardens. If we had headed right we would have gone to the base of the bowling green and seen the impressive view of the Mount Vernon mansion at the far end of the expansive lawn. |
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| Within the formal gardens of Mount Vernon, over six acres are enclosed to create four separate gardens including gardens of native flowers and trees plus a large garden of two boxwood parterres featuring the French fleur-de-lis design. The large reconstructed brick greenhouse, originally built by George Washington in 1785, fronts the upper garden on the north side and houses exotic plants. |
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Deep shade under the treed canopies of the walkways was a nice relief from the mid-morning sun.
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Walking Mount Vernon grounds you can come upon period dressed employees who are ready to answer your questions about the estate.
Even the outdoors trash containers, made from wood barrels, blend into the 18th-century ambiance of Mount Vernon. |
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I remember my family's visits to Mount Vernon when I was a child, and this summer, I greatly enjoyed one of my best memories of Mount Vernon, sitting on the pillared front porch in a barrel-backed chair enjoying the beautiful panoramic view of the Potomac River. The below photo is a composite of photos my husband took for me from the front porch area. 
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One of the dots on the Potomac in the above photo is a boat cruise going pass Mount Vernon.
I have never taken one, but boat cruises are available from Washington (Spirit Cruise Line) and Old Town Alexandria (Potomac Riverboat Company) plus the shorter (30 minutes) sightseeing cruises of the Potomac River that leave from the Mount Vernon wharf. |
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There is a lot to see at Mount Vernon and we only had a few hours that day as we were headed to also visit Washington's
distillery (off-site of
Mount Vernon, located closer to where Route 235 meets Route 1 near the Fort Belvoir reservoir), Pohick park and Gunston Park.
As I want to return to Mount Vernon after Thanksgiving to visit the mansion decorated for Christmas, on this visit we decided to tour the outbuildings and the gardens. Though it was early spring, by near noon it was hot and humid, and we headed back to the gift shop and food court for airconditioned enjoyment. Once back in that building a Mount Vernon volunteer suggested we visit the museum, and I'm sure glad we did. I greatly enjoyed the display of a lovely 18th-century ball gown, the small but delightful collection of Martha Washington's jewelry plus the displays of Washington's military items (swords and camp life) and items from the Washington family's daily life like tea services and clothing. | |||||
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| For Christmas this year, one of my presents was a winter time visit to Mount Vernon and lunch at the Mount Vernon Inn. The Friday
before Christmas we visited Mount Vernon.
The Inn was nicely decorated for Christmas and the new buildings such as the gift shop and the Ford Orientation Center had Christmas decorations. The Mount Vernon mansion and surrounding outbuildings were not decorated in keeping with the history of that era. We have not been there yet for this, but the staffers told us that for a few weeks time before Thanksgiving and Christmas there are evening time lantern light tours of the estate where some of the trees are decorated with lights .... maybe a Christmas gift request from me next year! |
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