Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1895-02-22

but she died two years later and the
property then reverted to George,
who was then just twenty-seven years
old. The estate then comprised less
than 5000 acres, but soon after he
came into possession he added 70 it
$500 acres by purchase which gave
him ten miles of river front. Then
began the system of improvements
and cultivation which subsequently
made Mount Vernon the most valuable
landed property in Virginia. He
drained the land wherever needed, he
rotated crops, got the best farm i'm
plements then in existence, built and
repaired fences, had his grist mill, his
own distillery, had his own smithy
for repairing tools, his own carpenter
shop, looms, and he built scores of
houses and cabins for his slaves. His
five farms ranged from 1000 to 1000
acres, and each farm had its overseer
and its allotment of slaves and stock.
Some idea of the extent of Washing
toms farming operations may be
formed from the following facts:
About the beginning of the Revolution
he had one year $50 acres in grass, 400
acres in oats, 700 acres in wheat, 800
acres in corn, with several hundred
acres in beans, buckwheat, potatoes
and tobacco. His live stock consisted
of 140 horses, 112 cows, 226 working
oxen, steers and heifers, 500 sheep
and over five hundred hogs running in
woods and marshes. He constantly
employed 250 negro slaves and kept
gang of plows gong the entire year
when the state of weather and ground
would permit. One year he killed $50
hogs for the use of his family and the
slaves dependent upon him. All
these operations were carried on with
a perfect method.
After the death of Washington in
1899, followed two years later by the
death Of his widow, the estate began
to go down. Washington had already
given 1000 acres to his adopted daugh-
ter, Nellie Custis, upon which she and
her husband, Lawrence Lewis, after
ward built the beautiful Woodlawn
mansion, located three miles below the
mansion at Mount Vernon. By his
will Washington left other large por-
tions of his estate to other relatives,
the homestead proper falling to the
share of Bushrod Washington, his
nephew, who afterward became an As
sociated Justice of the Supreme Court.
From Bushrod Washington it de-
scended to his grandson, John Angus
tine Washington, who, in July, 1859,
sold the mansion and grounds to-
OA0 Of lonG tho
rather munifcent sum of $500, 900. It
was pretty hard bargain that Colonel
Washington drove, but he got away
with it. At the time the sale was
made the mansion and outbuildings
were sadly run down. There was evil
dence of neglect on every side. The
broad acreage had diminished and
passed into other hands. The remain
der was largely given over to weeds
and underbrush. The soil was worn
out and no effort made to reclaim 1t.
Verify, the glory of Mount Vernon
had departed. About 1854 several
colonies of thrifty farmers from New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and
the New England States were formed to
buy aud reclaim these wornout lands.
They bought tracts of from forty to
three hundred acres to each family
and by very much the same methods
that Washington used they have re-
habiIitated the land so that now, out
of the original acreage of Mount Ver-
non. there is very little that is not
highly improved and worth $50 to
$500 per acre.