Wow! For the 1700's this is a HUGE home in America!! As with most homes here, it didn't start out this size. It began as a simple farmhouse built by George's father in 1735 and, after leasing it from his widowed sister-in-law in 1754, George did a little of this and a little of that to it over the next 50 years. This is the final result! Not bad considering he was off fighting our wars most of the time!
Nowadays, remodeling almost says to the world that you don't have enough money to buy "new." How crazy are we? Stay in the same house for fifty years and you have twenty years of "free" rent! Stop moving from house to house folks! Just "grow" the one you have and forget about what the Jones' think!
But back to Mount Vernon. Getting instructions communicated back to his family wasn't easy. His first major expansion was in 1758-59 during our war with the French and Indians (1754-1763). Benjamin Franklin didn't even get the U.S. Postal Service authorized and started until 1775 - and it was very primitive, so even then George had to rely on friends and couriers to get a letter to or from Mount Vernon.
Just before the American Revolution against England broke out in 1776, George started his second major expansion. (Now, I wonder why ol' Ben wanted a national postal service in 1775 that could deliver letters and newspapers cheaply? Ohhh! So the rebellious Americans could communicate during the Revolution! Of course!) The "modern" postal service, though, wasn't established until 1792 when Congress authorized local post offices and postal roads. I'm thinkin' those Post Roads did as much for transportation and commerce in the 1770's as Interstates did in the 1950's - comparatively speaking.)
The cupola on the top of Mount Vernon is one of my favorite features. Remember, there was no air conditioning back then. In the summertime, if you went up to the cupola and opened the windows, they would act as a chimney and draw the cooler air in from the open doors and windows on the first floor, up through the different levels and force the hot air out. However, unlike chimneys, in the winter time you could close those windows tight and trap the warm air of the house in those upper bedrooms. Smart. Very, very smart! Just as (another) side note, Washington created a chair with a foot pedal that would swing a fan over his head for extra cooling. I would imagine wearing those powdered wigs was a very hot piece of fashion in more ways than one. We weren't allowed to take photos inside the house, or I'd share that one with you.
Overall I think it is a very handsome home!
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