I got an early start today so I could get to Mount Vernon when they open. I chose Sunday to drive to Washington, I stayed Fredericksburg VA, so the traffic would be better. Mount Vernon is about 40 minutes north of Fredericksburg. It was on the way there, but on the way back it was nuts, so I am guessing my decision was correct to avoid the other days of the week. Well I got there and see all these buses, about a half dozen or more, they were full of kids, I say ages 9 to 15, OMG. It was nuts in the beginning, loud kids, stopping all the time to talk and take selfies of each other, it took about an hour for them to disperse around. Well the other bad thing was the house itself is under going preservation work, so you get to see just a little bit of the inside. The grounds were nice, allot of original buildings. Unlike the Monticello tour, no tour guide to give you history, so that was a little disappointing.
George Washington inherited the property from his half-brother, who passed away in 1752. Mount Vernon was 8,000 acres, half was cultivated. Washington had 317 slaves to work the farm. If you had a choice to see Mount Vernon or Monticello, Monticello wins hands down. Maybe when they get house restored, it might be better, but I thought the overall experience was better at Monticello.
Down the road Washington constructed a Distillery and Gristmill. The mill ground fine white wheat which he sold and was a profitable business. He also ground corn that he used in cooking at the house and the distillery. At the time Washington was one of the largest distillers in the area, producing nearly 11,000 gallons of whiskey in 1799. Another profitable business for him. I have seen other gristmills, but never seen one that actually worked, using the water from the river to turn stones and grind. See video. Now the mill is a replica, the original was torn down back in the 1800’s, they built the replacement using the original plans back in 1932 and it sits on the actual location as it did back in Washington’s day. According to the guide, James Anderson taught Washington on the finer points of distilling spirits, imagine that…😎
