"... and a Chinese Restaurant."
December 18, 1997

Mount Vernon

 

Logan:

Good morning my parents and my brother and sister are not up yet. I am getting dressed.

Rev:

This morning I got dressed and my sister is insulting me. My other sister is not dressed.

Bill:

It's about 10:30 a.m. as I write, and we're all awake. Channing has just finished her shower. Rev and Logan have been working on their journals. Earlier, we were wakened by the housekeeper knocking and trying to enter, and before that by someone persistently honking a car horn.

Logan:

It is time to go get breakfast because my family is already dressed. My brother, my sister, and I are all playing outside the hotel.

Logan:

We are in the car talking about a lot of different things and have now entered Virginia. The trees here are much different from California. The trees here have no leaves. All the forests are full of trees but not one leaf is on the trees. My brother is timing us who can spell "the", the fastest I beat my sister with the time of 3 milliseconds. My sister beat me when we were doing the alphabet by 1 millisecond.

Bill:

1:25. We've just arrived in the parking lot at Mount Vernon. We started out for Williamsburg late this morning, and then, part way into Virginia, realized we'd be very late getting there. We had seen signs for Mount Vernon, so we turned around and came here.

Logan:

We are here in Mount Vernon where Washington grew up. I am looking at where the slaves slept each night. All they had for bedding was a blanket and some straw. There is a dead bird in here. They only had a few dishes and not one sink to wash the dishes in. I am looking at the shoemaker's place and there is one black leather shoe with white designs on it. I am looking at the stove room where Washington made his dinner each night. There is a hole in the fireplace that leads to some kind of secret passage. There are displays of old dishes, bones, bottles, and plates. There is a old piece of an ax made out of iron. Their knife picks horseshoes and nails were also made out of iron. We are in an other part of the museum it has his family tree with real pictures. I am taking a tour of where he grew up.

Rev

George Washington in Mount Vernon. Now we are at slave quarters. They had to sleep on straw and eat duck. Now we are at the shoemaker's room. He has a lot of shoes. Now we are at the stove room. There is a stove with a hole in it.

We are now in the museum. There is a lot of stuff, like fossils, models like his barn, hammers, etc.

Channing:

My Trip Of Washington D.C.

The next day we went to George Washington's house in Mount Vernon, Virginia. We saw slave quarters, stove room, shoe maker's room, and the Museum Annex. In the Museum Annex here were tons of old things like: tools, weather vanes, and what the keys looked like and the old glass pottery.

Rev:

There is a big house. It is George Washington's house. We are now in the house. There is a lot of food like pie, pears, chicken, etc. We are now entering the backyard. There is a good view. We are in something like a living room. There are chairs. There are a lot of rooms. There is a guest rooms, reading room, dining room. There is only one room that had a fireplace. There is a china closet. There is also some toys. We are now in George Washington's bedroom where he died. He died of a throat swelled up. There is also a fan chair. There is also a butler pantry There is also a portrait of George.

Now we are in the kitchen. There is a huge stove. And a oven a refrigerator is one whole room. There is also another fireplace.

Channing:

In the home of Mr. Washington he had breakfast at 7:00 in the morning, and ate dinner at 3:00 in the afternoon. The house was originally built by George Washington's father. The nails on the floor boards were hand made by George's father also. In the house is a fan chair where you would press a pedal and then a flap would wave back and forth in front of your face and that was made by John Cramm.

Logan:

We are in his house. There is a big feast set up on his table. They only do that for Christmas or other big celebrations. There is a lovely view outside his house. He can see the ocean and there is a lot of birds outside. There is a room where the sun mainly shines in and they go up the ladder to open windows up there. There was one special room where they ate. They had breakfast at 7:00 and had dinner at 3:00. They never had lunch between breakfast and dinner. The mirrors are very fancy. The beds have high posts on the beds with a big over it and behind the pillows. Washington and his wife had no children together. But the wife came in the family with children and grandchildren. There is pictures book cases with old books inside, a humongus globe it is very old and the shape of the United States is very different. On one chair there is pedals and when you press them a wooden fan waves above your head. Washington did not want many guests in his study. They only came in when they were invited. They have a big fireplace with a lot of pots, pans, and teakettles hanging from it. Almost all of their meals are anywhere from 1 hour to a whole day. Only two to four people cooked. It is amazing because their dinner was anywhere from 15 _ 20 dishes for their everyday ordinary dinner. Their cookies were called jumbles. Washington was born in 1732 and died in 1799 right before Christmas.

Bill:

The mansion is smaller than I had expected. Washington's study was one of the larger rooms. In one room, I noticed a very large key in a glass display case on the wall. Our guide explained that this was the key to the Bastille. Lafayette sent it to Washington after the fall of the Bastille. The kids were all very diligent about writing in their journals.

Channing:

Laundry Yard: This is the area where clothes and household linens were set out to dry. It was understood that the sun helped bleach white textiles. In bad weather, clothes would have been dried on racks inside the washhouse.






 

Logan:

The tour is over, but we are not done looking. Their coaches are very big and fancy and have a lot of fancy designs on them. The coaches look like they do when you watch an old fashioned movie. It has blankets on the seats, enormous wheels in the back, and smaller wheels in the front. The saddles they used are much smaller and different than they are nowadays. Their stalls did not have any doors, so one horse would not get the other one's hay, drink the other one's water or collide with each other. I am now looking at the riding chair. The riding chair is all made out of wood. The riding chair is what we now a day call it a buggy or a cart. The top of the benches are made out of half of a log, and the other part is made normally.

Rev:

I am at the barn. There are a lot of sheep. There are some stables with saddles. I think they are neat. There is a neat coach for horses to pull. There is also a riding chair, not to write on, that horses pull. There are also bridles. And horses.

Logan:

There is special part of the place made just for sheep The sheep living there on the hay playing with big rocks. Now the sheep are not used for food. They are only used for looking and petting. A sign here states:


SHEEP

"I had paid much attention to my sheep, and was proud in being able to produce perhaps the largest mutton and the greatest quantity of wool from my sheep that could then be produced."


He also left a letter, but I am not going to copy that.

Channing:

George's letter to Henry Gough, Feb 4, 1792.

The wool from Mount Vernon's sheep, at one time averaging five pounds of fleece per animal, was spun into yarn by slaves at the Mansion House farm. The knitters then produced wool stockings and a hired weaver made cloth from the yarn. Most clothing from Mount Vernon's wool was worn by the slaves.

In addition to providing mutton, the sheep trimmed yards and fertilized fields with their manure. Mount Vernon maintains a modest flock of Hogg Island sheep, a breed that was brought to America from Spain in the 17th century.

Channing:

Old Tomb: This was the Washington family Burial Vault until 1831. Facade restored in 1939 to accord with Early Views.

The new has been built, but I figured I won't draw it right now. The new tomb is very pretty and is fenced up in a little room. The fence is a door but is strong so no one will steal the tomb.


 

Logan:

Old Tomb: This was Washington Family Burial Vault until 1831. Façade restored in 1939 to accord with Early Views.

Tomb of Washington: erected 1830-1831 site and material specified in Washington's will.


 

new tomb

Bill:

The old and new tombs were perhaps the most powerful spots. The old tomb is just a slight mound of earth on a hillside overlooking the Potomac, with a wooden door that apparently leads into a tunnel into the hill. The new tomb is a larger and grander affair - a solid building with iron-barred doors, inside which are the marble coffins of George and Martha Washington. Several marble pillars outside mark the burial spots of other family members. A guard sits unobtrusively in a structure that looks sort of like an old-fashioned phone booth. The mood at the tomb was both peaceful and solemn. It was hard to grasp that within that place lay the remains of our first president.

Channing:

The next day I read a book on how George Washington died. George Washington died of what is called Quinsy. Quinsy is a disease in your throat that can kill you.

wharfBill:

After the tombs, Logan and I walked down to the Potomac and saw the wharf while Channing and Rev went running to work off some energy.



Slaves' Burial Ground

Bill:

In contrast to Washington's grand mausoleum, the slaves' burial ground has no record of individuals. Instead, there is a simple stone cylinder marking the spot. Slavery is everywhere at Mount Vernon, modulating Washington's genuinely great achievements with an undertone of deep injustice and inhumanity. The slaves' monument was placed here in 1983.

Logan:

They are serving hot apple cider and cookies. The cookies that they are serving look like round pieces of thin cardboard. The man that is in charge of it is wearing a frock coat, waistcoat, breeches, tricorner hat, stockings, a cravat, and colonial shoes and buckles. This monument marking their burial ground dedicated September 21, 1983 Mount Vernon Ladies' ass _ sorry my brother is being a butt and won't let me copy the rest.


Channing:

I saw a man wearing square shoes so he can switch his shoes from one foot to another. I got a cup of hot apple cider from him too. While I ate my hot cider, I sat by the fire. We learned a lot of things from him. The man was wearing a frock coat and a pair of breeches and waistcoat. He dressed like George Washington's slave. In George Washington's life time they didn't know that slavery was bad in those days.

Cider & Cookies in the TentRev:

In George Washington's lifetime, the Mount Vernon estate was 16 times larger than it is today, including five farms and a total of 8,000 acres. More than 3,000 acres were under cultivation by a work force of nearly 150 slaves, indentured servants, and paid workers.

This four-acre exhibition area, which was a mosquito-infested swamp in Washington's day, demonstrates Washington's creative approach to farming. Supported by a special grant the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, this area features Washington's pioneering 16-sided treading barn. During the summer months, interns selected with the assistance of the National FFA organization fill the shoes of 18th-century laborers and craftsmen.

We are having hot apple cider and cookies. The apple cider smells and tastes like sour apple Jolly Ranchers. The cookies taste good.

Bill:

After leaving Mount Vernon, we drove into Washington D.C. and tried to see a few sights while fighting rush-hour traffic. We managed to drive past the Capitol, the Smithsonian, the back side of the White House, etc., but finally gave up due to darkness and traffic.

Logan:

We are in downtown Washington. The buildings we have seen are the Congress buildings, a Supreme Court, and a Chinese restaurant. Downtown Washington is very interesting. It has tons and tons of enormous buildings. White House. We are coming upon the White House where Bill Clinton is now living. We just saw the White House. It is very big. It has some flags on it. I think that on the White House there are exactly two flags. There are town houses here that are very expensive. Town houses are built together. If you have a hole in a wall in your house it will lead you to other person's next door or all you will see is your neighbors wall. I do not know why the town houses are so expensive because I would never want to live in one because I would feel that I did not have enough privacy from my neighbor next door.






Channing:

We saw the Congress building and the Supreme Court building in the City of Washington. We also saw the White House and it is large and it has the American flag on top. Washington is a big place for working for the government. There is tons and tons of traffic in the city of Washington D.C. There are also a lot of town houses which are expensive here. Getting out of this big city is complicated, well in my case it is. Well I have to go. I'm eating dinner with my family and you know how that is.

Bill:

Back on the highway, we drove north to the University of Maryland, ate dinner at the nearby Jungle Grill, and then drove around campus for a few minutes before returning to our motel.

Bill:

9:56 p.m. Back at the motel, kids watching TV and starting to wind down.

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