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Virtual Tour of George Washington's Mount Vernon

By George Washington’s Mount Vernon

West Front Washington designed the west front of the Mansion to greet and impress visitors, who could see it from a distance as they entered the west gate and approached the house. The Mansion’s rusticated siding created the effect of a stately home made from expensive stone.

East Front & Piazza The east front of the Mansion looks out over the Potomac River to the far Maryland shore. The two-story piazza is the Mansion’s most distinctive architectural feature. Extending the full length of the back of the house, it also has a practical function - catching the river breezes on a hot and humid Virginia day. The Washingtons treated the piazza as an outdoor room, serving afternoon tea here to visitors and family members seated in simple Windsor chairs.

New Room Washington called this room - the last addition to the Mansion and the grandest space in the house - his “New Room”. With its two-story-high ceiling, detailed architectural ornament, and stylish furnishings, the New Room was intended to emphasize unpretentious beauty and fine craftsmanship, qualities he believed communicated the new nation’s values. Like the grand “salons” of fashionable 18th-century English manor homes, this room was meant to serve several functions. As a receiving area for visitors, its high ceiling, large volume, and symmetrical decoration made the space truly impressive as the room alone was larger than most houses in colonial Virginia.

West Parlor Before the New Room was complete, Washington considered the west parlor to be “the best place in my House.” This elegant room was a public space where visitors enjoyed the Washington family’s company. Tea and coffee were customarily served here during the winter and on rainy days, and the household gathered here in the evenings to read, discuss the latest political news, and play games. In 1787 changes were made to update the room, including the application of fashionable and expensive Prussian blue paint. The ceiling was also replaced and decorated in the neoclassical style.

Little Parlor When George Washington returned home from the presidency, he decided to convert what had been a first-floor bedchamber into a music and family room, thus allowing more space for informal entertaining. In this room you will find a harpsichord which was purchased by Washington in 1793 for his step-granddaughter Eleanor (Nelly) Parke Custis.

Central Passage The central passage is the entryway into the Washingtons home, the place where visitors who pulled up on the drive in front of the house were greeted. Entertaining also occurred in the central passage, particularly during hot Virginia summers when the family gathered here to enjoy breezes from the open doorways. The elegant space, which runs the width of the house, provides magnificent views of the Potomac and the Maryland shoreline to the east and of the pastoral bowling green, fields, and woods beyond to the west.

Old Chamber This bedchamber accommodated some of the many visitors who stopped at Mount Vernon before, and especially after, George Washington’s presidency. He once described the house as a “well restored tavern” because “scarcely any strangers who are going from north to south, or from south to north do not spend a day or two at it.”

Dining Room One of the most striking spaces in the Mansion, the dining room is part of the original house, built in 1735. Over the years, the room underwent a series of renovations. While Washington was away with the Continental Army in 1775, it was updated under the supervision of his cousin Lund Washington. In 1785 striking verdigris-green paint was added. Washington believed the color to be “grateful to the eye” and less likely than other colors to fade; an overcoat of glaze further intensified the color.

Study After George Washington’s return to Mount Vernon in 1783 at the end of the Revolutionary War, the study became his retreat from ever-present family and visitors. Reportedly, no one was allowed in this room without his invitation. From here, he directed the management of his estate, receiving reports from overseers, making daily diary entries, and posting his accounts. The study was also where Washington bathed, dressed, and kept his clothes. Each morning, he rose between 4 and 5 a.m. and went to the study, using the private staircase that led down from the bedchamber.

Second Floor Passage The second floor passage provides access to the many bedrooms on the second floor and the third floor above. The elegant walnut staircase connects the landing with the central passage below.

Blue Room This room was originally part of a larger room called the “White Room” on Lawrence Washington’s 1753 probate inventory. George Washington’s 1757 enlargement of the house gained enough space on the second floor to create two rooms out of the White Room, this room and the Lafayette Room. Washington utilized this room as a storage or lumber room, and its woodwork was originally painted with the grey paint frequently found in such utilitarian spaces during the 18th century. As a storage space, the room was unheated; the current fireplace was added during the construction of the New Room in 1776. After that point the room became a bed chamber and was painted with the blue color seen today.

Lafayette Room This room is often referred to as the Lafayette Room because it is believed that the marquis stayed here while visiting the Washingtons. Lafayette was a young French nobleman who volunteered his services in America’s fight for freedom during the Revolutionary War. Like his beloved Washington, he served without pay as a general in the Continental Army, and the two maintained a strong bond.

Nelly Custis Room This room was used by Martha Washington’s granddaughter Nelly Custis, who lived at Mount Vernon from early childhood. The room dates to the 1758-59 enlargement of the house, and much of the plaster and woodwork are original. As with other rooms in the Mansion, a more fashion paint color was added to the walls in the 1780s, and there is evidence that the room once had blue wallpaper.

Yellow Room The Yellow Room occupies the southeast corner of George Washington’s 1759 house and is slightly larger than the first floor bedchamber that is below it. Before the remolding of the 1750s, this space formed two rooms, one an unheated room tucked under the east slope of the roof, and one heated room called the “Yellow Room.” With the creation of the full second story, the new Yellow Room received a corner fireplace and a window in the east wall.

Washington Bedchamber Located directly above the study in the private south wing was George and Martha Washington’s spacious bedroom. Designed according to Mrs. Washington’s suggestion that it be simple and functional, the room was also her sanctuary, where she planned her schedule and wrote letters to friends and family members. According to her grandson, she also spent an hour each day reading the Bible and praying. George Washington died of a severe throat infection in this room on December 14, 1799.

Garret Bedchamber After the death of George Washington, Martha moved into this garret bedroom on the third floor of the Mansion in 1799. A small stove was added to the room to provide heat to what was previously an unheated room.

The First President

George washington’s mount vernon.

Encyclopedia Virginia, Virginia Humanities

Virtual Tour of Mount Vernon

This is a virtual tour of Mount Vernon, the Fairfax County plantation home of George Washington, the first president of the United States.

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• George Washington (1732–1799)
• Mount Vernon, Archaeology at

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Open 365 days a year, Mount Vernon is located just 15 miles south of Washington DC.

From the mansion to lush gardens and grounds, intriguing museum galleries, immersive programs, and the distillery and gristmill. Spend the day with us!

Discover what made Washington "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen".

The Mount Vernon Ladies Association has been maintaining the Mount Vernon Estate since they acquired it from the Washington family in 1858.

Need primary and secondary sources, videos, or interactives? Explore our Education Pages!

The Washington Library is open to all researchers and scholars, by appointment only.

Archaeologists Discover Two Intact, Sealed 18th Century Glass Bottles During Mansion Revitalization at George Washington’s Mount Vernon

As part of the landmark privately funded $40 million Mansion Revitalization Project at George Washington’s Mount Vernon , archaeologists have made a significant discovery of two intact European-manufactured bottles in the Mansion cellar. The dark green glass bottles were found upright and sealed, each containing liquid. The bottle shapes are characteristic of styles from the 1740s - 1750s and were recovered from a pit where they may have been forgotten and eventually buried beneath a brick floor laid in the 1770s.

The bottles will be available to the news media until April 30, 2024. Please contact Julie Almacy , Vice President of Media and Communications, to schedule a viewing. After that date, the bottles will be sent for conservation and their contents will be shipped to a laboratory for scientific analysis and testing by specialists in a controlled environment.

Photographs and video footage of the bottle's discovery at Mount Vernon are available here and should be attributed to the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.

“As we conduct a historic preservation effort at the iconic home of America’s first President and revolutionary hero, we have been deliberate and intentional about carefully excavating areas of potential disruption,” said Mount Vernon President & CEO Doug Bradburn . “Consequently, we have made a number of useful discoveries including this blockbuster find of two fully intact glass bottles containing liquid that have not been seen since before the war for American independence.” 

“As the bottles are shipped off for a complete scientific analysis, we want to share our findings and next steps for this historic archaeological and preservation initiative at Mount Vernon. This discovery comes at the beginning of an exciting and transformational project to strengthen and restore the home of the nation’s first president so that it will be stronger than ever when we celebrate America’s 250 th birthday in 2026. This historic preservation project is our birthday gift to America,” Bradburn said. 

Mount Vernon Principal Archaeologist Jason Boroughs said, “This incredible discovery at Mount Vernon is a significant archaeological find. Not only did we recover intact, sealed bottles, but they contained organic material that can provide us with valuable insight and perspective into 18th-century lives at Mount Vernon. These bottles have the potential to enrich the historic narrative, and we’re excited to have the contents analyzed so we can share this discovery with fellow researchers and the visiting public.”

After the bottles were unearthed, each was carefully removed and transported to the Mount Vernon archaeology lab. Upon consultation with archaeological conservators, it was determined that removing the liquid contents would help stabilize the glass, which had not been directly exposed to the atmosphere for approximately two centuries. Cherries, including stems and pits, were preserved within the liquid contents, which still bore the characteristic scent of cherry blossoms familiar to residents of the region during the spring season.

The Mansion Revitalization Project is underway because today's highly popular Mansion performs functions for which it was not designed. Built as a private residence, it is now a public monument visited by thousands daily, translating to a much heavier traffic flow than the Washingtons could have imagined. That increased visitation causes wear, tear, and strain on the building fabric. Although repairs throughout the Mansion’s 290-year history have been accomplished using the best techniques available at the time, some of those repairs are now more than a century old. Significant advances in preservation technology afford exciting opportunities to improve structural and environmental conditions in the building, preparing it for another century of service.

Some of the earliest interventions completed in the Mansion were “localized” repairs intended to solve specific problems of immediate concern. Though successful, such repairs can have unintended consequences that affect the overall health of the Mansion. With this project, Mount Vernon’s preservation team is proceeding holistically, approaching the Mansion as a complex network of interlocking systems. The primary tasks of the Mansion Revitalization Project include:

• Repairing sections of the Mansion’s framing and masonry
• Designing and installing a new state-of-the-art heating/ventilation/air conditioning system for the Mansion
• Improving drainage in and around the Mansion's cellar

When the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association (MVLA) took possession of George Washington’s home in 1860, it faced a monumental restoration challenge. Since then, the MVLA has meticulously restored the Mansion and surrounding outbuildings, turning Mount Vernon into a shining example of historic preservation. After extensive investigation, assessment, research, planning, and design, Mount Vernon is taking proactive steps to ensure the health of the Mansion as it enters its fourth century. The Mansion Revitalization Project is being conducted in four phases and is scheduled for completion in the summer of  2026.

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Julie almacy.

Vice President of Media and Communication

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Mount Vernon: VIrtual Tour and Thanksgiving Special

Thank you Melissa Myer, MDS teacher at Solanco High School, for sharing this great opportunity for our classrooms. 

George Washington, Mount Vernon is hosting a FREE live virtual program for K-12 classrooms. This virtual program will help your students get ready for Thanksgiving by examining Washington's legacy in establishing the national holiday! The program will run on Friday, November 18, and Tuesday, November 22, at 11 a.m. ET and 1 p.m. ET. Teachers only need to register for ONE session total.

Please click on this link to register for one spot if interested. 

Finish the lesson with taking your students on a virtual tour of where our first president of the United States lived. Click here for the virtual tour. 

Explore this great website for more educational resources for your class. 

Thanks again Melissa! 

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Those who share a  photo along with the lesson plan  will be entered in our monthly drawing for a chance to win a lesson with Giovanna. Together you will plan a lesson for your students focusing on the content of your choice. 

 “THANK YOU!” for all you do for our students at IU13. 👍

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