Adieu, Mr. President

This is a way cool piece of artwork.  I think it shows how honorable a man George Washington was.  I think that's what's missing in the world today - the importance of a personal sense of honor.  Now everyone seems to abide by the "as long as I don't get caught" sense of honor.  "It's my intentions, not my actions, that count."  Godlessness causes that because if you believe in God you know that He is omnipotent and omnipresent.  If you believe in God, you know you're "caught" before you even do it - which goes a long way to keeping you from doing it.

Well, that's my sermon for the day...

I'll end this with "A Brief Chronology" of the Washington timeline:

1674  John Washington, great-grandfather of George, is granted land on the upper Potomac, between Little Hunting Creek and Dogue Run, which will become the Mount Vernon homesite.

1726  Augustine Washington, father of George, acquires Little Hunting Creek Plantation from his sister Mildred.

1732   George, first child of Augustine and Mary (Ball) Washington, is born at Pope's Creek Plantation on the Potomac River in Westmoreland County, Virginia.

1735-38  and 1741  Augustine Washington is in residence at Little Hunting Creek Plantation with his young family.

1742  Augustine Washington dies.  Lawrence Washington, George's elder half brother, marries and settles at the plantation changing its name to Mount Vernon in honor of his commanding officer, Admiral Edward Vernon.

1752  Lawrence Washington dies at Mount Vernon

1754  George acquires Mount Vernon by leases from Lawrence's widow

1759  George marries Martha Dandridge Custis, widow of Daniel Parke Custis, and they settle at Mount Vernon with her two young children, John Parke and Martha Parke Custis.

1775  Washington is appointed Commander in Chief of the Continental forces.  Except for brief stops at Mount Vernon on his way to and from Yorktown in 1781, he will not be at Mount Vernon again for eight years.

1781  John Parke Custis dies; George and Martha raise her two youngest grandchildren, Eleanor Parke and George Washington Parke Custis, as their own.

1783  George resigns his military commission to Congress and retires to Mount Vernon

1787  George  presides over the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia

1789-97 George Washington serves as first President of the United States of America.  During this time he visits Mount Vernon 15 times.  (Remember, there was no Washington, D.C. at this time.  The government was based in New York and.)

1799 George dies and is entombed at Mount Vernon in the old family vault (Old Tomb)

1802 Martha dies and is entombed beside her husband in the old family vault (Old Tomb).  Mount Vernon passes to George's nephew, Bushrod Washington.

1829  Bushrod Washington dies, leaving Mount Vernon to his nephew, John Augustine Washington.

1831  Honoring George's Last Will and Testament, the New Tomb is constructed.  Washington, his wife Martha, and other relatives buried in the Old Tomb are re-interred in the New Tomb.

1858  The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association receives its charter from Virginia and purchases Mount Vernon from John A. Washington, Jr. 


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