Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1865-07-27
RICHMOND WHIG.
THURSDAY MORNING. JULY 27, 1865.
From the National Intelligencer.
MOUNT VERNON.
IT'S HISTORY, ITS PRoPRIEToRs, ITS REL.
les, ITS "REMINISCENCES, AND ITS PRES
ENT CONDITION.

| ENI NONDllIDN.
There has probably never been 50 great o
throng of visitors TO this national shrine in the
history of the country as at the present time.-
| The fine steamer running regularly thither from
this city is largely patronzed while multitudes
| are daily going there by land conveyances. Ihe
throng Of soldiers thither is especially very nu'
merous. The distance from Washington Is some
fifteen miles, about nine miles below Alexandra.
At the death of General Washington, IN i7s9'
the Mount Vernon estate comprised several thou
| sand acres of land In a solid body, extending
many miles on the Potomac river. A large part
| of II wBs under tillage. Ii was divided into nve
farms, each cultivated by its own negroes with
| an overseer, and the whole under general su-
perintendent, and all under the careful inspection
of the great chief himself His own negroes mum
| bered one hundred and twenty; his wlles were as
many more Wheat corn and tobacco were the
chief products of the estate, tobacco being, now
ever, much less cultivated In the latter years OF
his life than in earlier times. Upon the estate
there was q fine two-stOry stone corn and nonr
| MILL the remnants Of which are still visible on
DOgue Creek, up which 1atboats came alongside
the mill. The water TO carry the mill was brought
in a race some mile and o half from "tumDilng
| dam" up Dogue Run. The old mill-house is sti
In good condition, and Is occupied by colored
family. Near this mill was also his distillery.-
There were also q brickyard, carpenter estaD
lshg ent blacksmith shop the estate forming in
fact. sort Of village.
Originally the Mount Vernon estate consisted OF
one.half of five thousand acres assigned to Wash
ingtons great. grandfather, who, in conjunction
| with Nicolas Spencer, patented 1t from Lord Gull
peper in 1910. In the division of his estate the
father of Washington assigned this tIact to his
elder brother Lawrence, who came Eere and
erected The mansion in l743, naming II In honor
| OF Admiral Vernon, under whom he had served as
captain in q colonial regiment, in the West In
dies in l740 Lawrence died in 1852, leaving a
wife, the daughter of Sir William Fairfax OF Bel
yoir, and one child-a daughter and on the de-
mise of this daughter without issue, as soon hap
pened the estate fell to George VINO nad Deon
much an inmate Of his family.
In 1859 General Washington married Mrs Mar
tina Gusts (aee Dandridga) then residing on her
estate at the White House with her two children !,
and after remaining at that place some three
months took up their residence at Mount Vernon.
She brought him in her own right more than q
hundred thousand dollars. They were OF the
same age-27 years at their marriage.
| In his will Washington divided the estate INTO
three parts. The mansion, with four thousand
acres, was left TO his nephew Bushrod Washing
ton an Associate Justice of the United States SUI
preme Court. At the death of Mrs. Washington,
in 1901, Judge Washington became the proprietor
| of Mount Vernon, and continued there till his
death in 1929 Two Of the old servants still on
the estate came there with him, belonging to his
wife Anne, daughter of Col Thomas Blackburn
| Two of General Washingtons servants still sur
/
| Vernon. Judge Washington having no children
left the estate to his nephew, John A. Washington
| from whom the Ladies Mount Vernon Association
purchased the two hundred acres upon which are
| the mansion and the tomb, for s2OOlOOO Two
| thousand acres were willed by Washington TO two
other members of the Washington family, and the
residue, upwards Of two thousand acres, including
the fine Woodlawn estate, was given to MAJOR
| Lawrence Lewis, a lavorte nephew, whose wife
was the beautiful and cultivated Nelly Custls
prand.child of Mrs Washington, and the adopted
daughter of General Washington.
| Major Lewis erected \ splendid mansion al
Woodlawn. in 1906, at a cost of s24, 90. MaJoI
| Lewis whose mother, Betty Washington, was the
| sister of the great chief, died at Arlington IN
ls4l, and his wife died in 1862. The remains oi
both, with those Of daughter, the wife oil Chas.
NJ. Conrad Fillmore's War Secretary being de-
posted in the Mount Vernon vault. Soon aftel
the death of Major Lewis the Wooilawn estate
was sold by his only son, Lorenzo to colony
| of Ouakers from New Jersey, VINO still retain
much of it, divided into farms. The WoodlaWn
mansion, with a splendid fam OF 900 acres sur
rounding it, belongs TO John Mason, Esq., who
came there from New Hampshire in 1850. The
mansion is of brick, with slate roof and lofty pill
lars, fronting the river on commanding site
looking down upon the whole Mount Vernon es
tate. Lorenzo Lewis died some years ago IN
Clark county, and the other daughter the wife oil
a Mr. Butler is living in Mississippi.
/ John a. " dslluRlOH went W aLiulcl NOuuty
with his family in 1860 and purchased farm
known as Wareland. His wife died suddenly soor
after and il il well known that he fell, as colonel
of a Confederate regiment, early in 1861, leaving
family of seven children, the youngest two being
little boys, and the only male children ever born a.
| the Mount Vernon mansion. There ara some one
| thousand acres Of the Mount Vernoon estate, be
longing to these orphan children, lying in clos,
| proximity to the Mount Vernon mansion. The
Mount Vernon estate was probably never under
finer state Of cultivation than II IS at the presen
| time. The farmers have been shipping manure il
large quantities from this city this season, anC
ming it at their landings on the river for future
use AT the present time there are two thousan'
| Government mules grazing upon different farms
that section. These mules are separated Int
| s1uads OF five hundred, and with fifteen mounted
men to control them, are put into heavy gras
field. kept closely together, and compelled to ea
clean az they 90. A squad thus eats some NOR
than two acres of the heaviest grass In day, TO
wbichrhey pay five cents head, or twenty-five
dollars day for the squad. The ground behint
them looks as though no grass had grown then
this season.
The grounds Immediately around the mansion
and tomb bear evidence OF ca'e and taste Tb'
approach to the tomb and TO the mansion IRON
. the river Is highly picturesque and delightful
THE appearance of both the tomb and the man
| sion has been familiar to all Americans in illus
trated books from tie childhood of most Of thos
|
this sacred spot many times in the last thirty
years, and never saw it looking better than now
| IL NAV be interesting TO many who are nov
visiting the place for the frat time. to know tina
| the remains of Washingt T. were originally DE
posited in the old vault which Is pointed out Y
| all visitors and in mahogany collin lined Will
lead The vault was damp and the WOOD v a.
| three times renewed before being placed in th'
| receptacle where they now repose. In 1881 I'M
| new vault was erected and the remains transfer
I'LL. IL - mn
8 TO furnish O marble sarcophagus, but on Wis
) itinr the tomb declined TO do so If II wa
. | To be nut into so damp vault. An ante
chamber was therefore erected in front of thu
| vault some dozen feet high, with an arched gate
J | wav and a gate formed OF iron rods. In thl
ant ,cham Der on the right Is the sarcophagus con
tairing the remains Of Washington, and on the
| left another precisely like it containing the re
mains of Mrs. Washington; and II may be ADDED
. | that her remains have been moved as oiten a.
, those of the great chief. The sarcophdgus Is eX
| cayated from solid block of pure white marble
and was placed there in 1887. Within the yaul
4 proper are the bodies of many members oil I'M
| family On either side, as you come near lh'
| vault, stands marble obelisk, inscribed VIII
names of leading members OF the washington
family. The design upon Washlnglohs sarcoPna
gns covers the molt of the top or Id and ;onsist
of a shield divided into thirteen perpeI dicula
y strinas resting on the national flag and attached
H., rorda IN n spear embellished with tassels, form
10 a background to the shield. The crest is al
eaSle with open wings perching upon the superio
bar of the shield and clutching the arrows an'
olive branch. Below the armorial besring Is tn
name, deeply sculptured, of Washington" VI
the plain lid of the other sarcophagus are th'
words, in large letters, Martha Washington"
> An addition erected at one end of the mansion
after Washington's time has been torn away, ant
the structure Is now in the exact form as whel
left by the Father of his Country. IL 10 wei
known that the mansion, as originally erecte
and left by Lawrence Washington, was much en-
A larged by General Washington, section oein
added to each end, making It, as u now stands
e6 feet in length, north and south, with porticC
fronting the river extending from end to end,-