Mount Vernon

Now, most people know a LITTLE about George Washington. Most people 'know' that he had wooden teeth and cut down his father's cherry tree. Most people know that he was the first president and that he was first in war (general) and first in peace. He's also the first president, and the first in the hearts of his countrymen. But, at Mount Vernon, two days ago, I learned a little more about George Washington.

At about 12:00, we arrived at Mount Vernon, and after parking, went into the visitor's center to find a restroom. Once we had all gone, we found out that we should probably do the Mansion Tour first, and all that jazz, and then tackle the museum they had there. It was supposed to take all the time we had.

Before doing the mansion tour, we ate a little food at the food court they had there. After that, we walked out of the museum, and walked up the road to G..W.'S house.

From a distance, we saw the beautiful red brick house.

Getting closer, there was a lady at a sign that said : Wait for guide at tour.

She said that the tour was a good way off, and that we should do all the slave quarters first, and see the blacksmiths, or the gardeners. We traveled in the garden, and saw many nice flowers. Then, we saw the male and female slave quarters, with two to a bunk, and some on the ground! Can you imagine sleeping on the ground? And, they all either worked in the house in big, sweaty skirts (female) or worked in the fields in blazing hot temperatures. Crazy.

After seeing a blacksmiths, gardeners, and other workers like shoemakers, we headed to the tour.

We entered through a side entrance, and saw the main dining room, many, many guest bedrooms, master bedrooms, and G.W. 's study. It was very interesting, but they did a sort of system where their was one guide per room. So, those guides mostly gave you good information, but each room was like 2 minutes. The guide would tell us things, and then send us off to another room, not even asking us if we had questions.

inherited

What I did find out was, G.W. inherited this property, became a farmer, and then married Martha Custis Washington who already had kids from another husband.

After the mansion tour, we went into the museum, and I thought that was very cool. It had stuff about his childhood, and that the cherry tree story was probably fake, saying G.W.'s dad was always on business trips, so it is highly unlikely that he ever noticed a chopped down cherry tree.

We learned about what his religion was, his first job as a surveyor, his time in The French and Indian War, and saw many videos and movies. It made me learn that yes, many people declared Independence, but it was G.W. who led in the war. He led us to Independence. And he was a pretty awesome dude... I'm sorry - am I allowed to say dude?

One of the most interesting things I learned, was that G.W. lost many teeth throughout his whole life, and had many sets of dentures, and only had one remaining original tooth when he got into his presidency, but never had wooden teeth. Very interesting.

There were many hands on activities and there was even an activity where you placed your hand on the bible and swore into office. I became the president for a day!

Mount Vernon was very fun, and at the end of the day, we saw the grave of G.W. It was very interesting.

Farewell my countrymen!

My teeth hurt,

Andrew.