The gardens at George Washington’s Mount Vernon left a distinct impression on me the moment I first saw them. Decades previously, I had visited Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. (I wrote about that visit briefly in a post about the Thomas Jefferson Cayenne.) But seeing the gardens at Mount Vernon was a distinctly different experience. There are a lot of similarities to the gardens of both former presidents and founding fathers. But the gardens of George Washington’s Mount Vernon bear a distinctly different signature. I recently had the opportunity to tour the entire grounds of Mount Vernon and learn its history.

Why You Should Visit Mount Vernon

Located only 15 miles from Washington D.C., Mount Vernon is an easy day trip for anyone in the area wishing a little culture and history. There is so much showcased there that it is nearly impossible to see everything in a single day. The Mount Vernon Association’s FAQs recommend at least 3 hours, and I agree. Approximately 3 hours is enough to properly experience much of which Mount Vernon has to offer.

Home of the 1st president of the United States of America, Mount Vernon was George Washington’s place of residence. He owned the estate from 1754 to the day he died in 1799. However, he was often away from his home in his many political and soldierly duties. George Washington was not only 1st President, but also General of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. The fledgling congress also expected Washington in attendance at the various Continental Conventions which laid the groundwork for the United States Constitution. He retired to Mount Vernon fully only after his presidency in 1796.

Even if you’ve visited before, there’s always something new happening at Mount Vernon. Touring George Washington’s manor is a popular activity (and may be a little busy in peak season (Spring and Summer)). During the holidays, they even offer candlelight tours of the manor. Throughout the year, Revolutionary War Era demonstrations of farm and military life occur as separate programs and tours.

The Four Gardens of George Washington’s Mount Vernon

Mount Vernon’s gardens are not as they were in George Washington’s day. However, much of what is there today grows in the same style with many of the same methods. Washington wrote extensively about his grounds and gardens. His wife Martha also wrote often of the culinary produce for the manor’s kitchen. So we have a lot of historical context for the re-creation of Mount Vernon’s gardens.

However, much has changed in the centuries since Washington lived at Mount Vernon. The climate is far warmer in the modern era than it was in Washington’s day. Plants now flourish which colonists in early America could not grow. Some of Washington’s failures are now successes at Mount Vernon in part because of the changing climate and modern soil cultivation methods.

Mount Vernon’s gardens are broken up into four distinct areas: The Upper Garden, Lower Garden, Botanical or Experimental Garden, and the Fruit Garden and Nursery. He also planted fields of corn and tobacco. These helped support the Washington family and the enslaved people who worked the land. Unlike many of the other founding fathers’ estates, Mount Vernon was a financial success. This is largely in part of Washington’s meticulous attention to every detail of his life, his gardens included.

Upper Garden

The most prevalent of the gardens at Mount Vernon is surely the Upper Garden. Washington planned the Upper Garden to be the most showy. In it, he planted shrubs, flowers, fruits, and vegetables more for ornamental purposes than for cultivation as food. The Upper Garden was the public garden which Washington would show off to visitors and guests. As a prominent gentleman of high Virginia society, a certain degree of grandeur was expected of him and his wife Martha when hosting. The Upper Garden gave Washington the chance to showcase his carefully cultivated ornamental plants to other wealthy and prominent upper class families. The box hedges, grown in intricate designs, was commonplace in England’s upper class, ornamental gardens. This was certainly one of the centerpieces of such tours.

What Washington Had To Say About The Upper Garden

Even when away on presidential duties, Washington often wrote to his hired farm manager, William Pearce, with instructions for the estate. On May 15, 1796, Washington sent a letter ahead of him from Philadelphia as he prepared to return home briefly for the summer. He wrote,

“Let the house in the upper Garden, called the School house, be cleaned and got in order against I return; Glass put in the windows if wanted; and a lock on the door. I cannot yet say with certainty when I shall be able to visit Mount Vernon, but hope it will be by, or before the middle of June. Have good meats ready for us by that time; and tell the Gardener I shall expect an abundance of every thing in the Gardens; and to see every thing in prime order there, and in the Lawns.”

Today called the Greenhouse, the massive brick “School house” stands prominently over the plants and pathways as you enter the Upper Garden. On either side of the central structure of the greenhouse, enslaved people who worked the manor grounds lived in two small apartments in each wing.

Other Notable Upper Garden Features

Lower Garden

The Lower Garden was Martha Washington’s Kitchen Garden, and is sometimes referred to as both synonymously in their letters. Here, they cultivated food for the family kitchen rather than the often ornamental plants of the Upper Garden. The Lower Garden is situated on the south side of the Bowling Green, the large green expanse at the front of the manor. The Lower Garden is not as shaded by tall trees as the Upper Garden. Both of these facts mean that plants grown in the Lower Garden receive more sunlight. To help keep the Lower Garden plants watered, he had rain reservoirs built in the central areas surrounded by plants.

Two terraces make up the Lower Gardens. In the upper terrace, fruit trees such as pears and peaches make up the fencing surrounding neat, square plots. Low to the ground, around the perimeter, herbs such as lavender, sage, rosemary, and thyme help keep away bugs, rabbits, and deer from the produce. Vegetables like leaf lettuce, artichokes, beans, and cabbages make up neat rows.

In the lower terrace, neat rows of plants grow without as much fencing. Straw between the rows of plants make paths to keep down weeds. Here, fruits like strawberries and raspberries grow in orderly rows around the rain reservoirs.

Botanical Garden

A small, square patch of land lies east of the Upper Garden near the Overseer’s House and the Spinning House. Today called the Botanical Garden, Washington himself called it simply the Little Garden. This was Washington’s experimental garden. Here, he tested seeds he received from all over the world to see if they would grow in the Virginia climate of his day.

Washington received seeds from as far away as China and Africa. He often traded seeds with his fellow agrarian politicians such as Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and one of the founding botanists of the era, John Bartram. To Washington and his fellow revolutionaries, farming was not a hobby, but a statement of American independence. If the new nation could not feed itself, it would be forever reliant on England.

Fruit Garden and Nursery

Further to the south of the Lower Garden, down a rocky path that makes a slight descent toward the Potomac River, lies the Fruit Garden and Nursery. Here, Washington dreamed of cultivating a vineyard at Mount Vernon. Colonia Americans highly sought after apples and grapes. They prized them not only as fruits in the kitchen, but also for the crafting of cider and wine. Again, another of Washington’s attempts to reduce America’s reliance on England.

Unfortunately for Washington, the soil and climate of Virginia wasn’t conducive to growing grapes in colonial America. Ultimately, Washington had to abandon the idea of a vineyard at Mount Vernon when all of his grape vines died. Instead of grapes, he turned the area he had intended as a vineyard into an orchard. Today, this is called the Fruit Garden and Nursery. Here, tall fruit trees dominate at least 5 acres (that we saw on our tour) of land.

The Trees of Mount Vernon

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the trees at George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Originally, the road to Mount Vernon’s door was a straight path directly to what was then a simple, country farm house of two stories. Then, the front door faced the Potomac River in the East. With America’s independence looming on the horizon, Washington envisioned something different.

Washington changed the layout of the manor to face not east to England, but west to the rest of America. It was a grand, symbolic gesture of turning his back on America’s mother country. He created first the carriage circle, a circular drive in front of the mansion, to accentuate the new front door. Then he changed the driveway from a direct road to the front door to a winding path with a central patch of grass in the middle, the Bowling Green.

Around this winding path, Washington planted many kinds of trees. In this, as in many other attempts Washington made in his landscaping, he had many failures. He had wanted willows to drape across the bowling green. But willows require too much water. On the top of Mount Vernon, such freshwater springs simply didn’t exist close to the manor. It took decades of experimentation before the trees that he envisioned finally took to the depleted clay soil of Virginia. But eventually, Washington’s vision prevailed.

Among these trees was the Tulip Poplar. Today, two elderly tulip poplar trees adorn the grounds opposite one another, across the bowling green. These trees, although not planted during Washington’s day, are of the same variety Washington had longed for.

Conclusion

Mount Vernon was the home of the first President of the United States, George Washington. Located in Mount Vernon, VA in Northern Virginia, it has some of the most spectacular gardens designed by the founding fathers. I’m glad I had the opportunity to tour these spectacular gardens that, to me, remain a masterful expression of the American mind.

Related Posts: Deep Dives & Other Site Visits

There’s so much to see in the gardens of George Washington’s Mount Vernon. I did a couple deep dives into the fruits and vegetables and the herbs and flowers that I’ve observed at George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Be sure to check it out!

Did you enjoy this account of my site visit to the gardens at George Washington’s Mount Vernon? If so, you may also enjoy my visit to the Washington DC Cherry Blossom Festival.