16-Sided Barn
The 16-Sided barn on Washington's Dogue Run farm was one of the most innovative structures at Mount Vernon
Explore the wide range of subjects related to George Washington’s world and the colonial and founding eras.
The Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington was generously supported by Richard and Bonnie Dial in memory of Irby and George Prendergast.
The 16-Sided barn on Washington's Dogue Run farm was one of the most innovative structures at Mount Vernon
Writing from Fort Loudoun, Virginia, on June 17, 1758, Colonel George Washington honored Francis Fauquier with best wishes for a successful tenure as the new lieutenant governor of the Colony of Virginia…
In October 1770, George Washington, his personal physician Dr. James Craik, and a group of fellow soldiers journeyed to the Ohio Country. According to Craik's recollections, an indigenous sachem (local…
Months before his death, George Washington admitted that while he had "a large stock of Hogs—the precise number is unknown." During this period, Washington let his hogs run free to feed on vegetable…
Washington Irving was one of the most famous American authors of the nineteenth century. While he is primarily remembered for short stories such as “Rip van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow…
William Lee spent two decades as George Washington's enslaved valet accompanied him nearly everywhere.
John Augustine Washington III was the great-grand nephew of George Washington and the last private owner of Mount Vernon.
George Washington’s recipe for “Small Beer” appears in a 1757 notebook of his, which can be found today in its original form at the New York Public Library.
The upper garden was established in the 1760s and paralleled the lower or kitchen garden to its south. This garden was initially planted with fruit and nut trees, and was walled and rectangular in shape…
Washington's New Room is the largest and most ornate of the rooms found within the Mount Vernon mansion.
Site of one of Washington's earliest military encounters
Learn more about the New Tomb at Mount Vernon - the Washington's final resting place.
The Bull-Finch is a songster, that is, a bound collection of lyrics to songs without musical notation of their melodies and Mount Vernon's copy is inscribed "Martha Washington 1759" on the title page in…
Social education in colonial America went beyond academic learning.
Thirteen centuries after the Roman Empire fell in 476 A.D., the compendium of Roman classics served as an ideological guidebook for the American founders. Classical Roman concepts and figures exerted a…
Mount Vernon’s distinctive cupola; white, green, and red color scheme; and especially its long, square-columned piazza appear on houses in neighborhoods across the country. By duplicating or adapting…
Benjamin Bache is regarded as one of the fathers of the American tradition of the ideological and partisan political press.