Family Trip to Mount Vernon: Priceless

By Kathleen Parrish

My favorite photo from a recent family trip to Mount Vernon is of my two teenage children standing in the basement of George Washington’s home, the inspiration for a pivotal scene in the movie, “National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets.”

It was among these white brick catacombs that actor Nicholas Cage’s character kidnaps the president and opens a secret passageway that winds beneath the Potomac River. That part is pure Hollywood. There are no hidden tunnels, but there is a rule against photography, a rule my husband claims he didn’t know about, even though our tour guide announced it in clipped tones as we descended the rickety stairs to the dim cellar.

No sooner had we shuffled to the back of the group than he pulled out the new camera we purchased for Christmas and snapped my children as they frowned in mortification at his audacity.

The picture is priceless. 

So, too, is a trip to Mount Vernon, the cherished home George and Martha Washington shared from the time they got married in 1759 until the first president’s death 45 years later. We visited on my birthday, a bitterly cold day in Decembers and yes, belated wishes are still being accepted. The weather made it a bit uncomfortable to tour the grounds of the 500-acre plantation, which include four gardens, slave quarters, a stable and greenhouse, a four-acre working farm, a distillery and the tombs of the country’s first couple.

So, instead we took a guided tour of the elegant 21-room homestead, which offers an inside look into the life of Washington as a farmer, businessman -- he died one of the wealthiest  men in America -- politician, military officer, gardener and lover of creature comforts as evidenced by the pedal-operated fan chair he used to cool himself on warm days.   

But the real treasure is a high-tech visitor’s center with interactive displays, 11 History Channel videos and more than 500 original artifacts, including Washington’s dentures (no, they’re not wooden) the fold-up cot he used during the Revolutionary War, his sword and the famous Houdon Bust, created by French sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon, who blew off Empress Catherine the Great of Russia in order to travel to Virginia for this commission.

Houdon made the mask by putting plaster on Washington’s face while he lay on a large table with quills in his nostrils. It was a scary sight, especially to his 6-year-old step granddaughter, Nelly, who thought he was dead. The movie, ‘Nelly’s Shocking Day,’ plays in the visitor’s center.

You can also see Washington as he may have looked as a teenager. No portraits exist of the Founding Father before the age of 45, so a team of forensic anthropologists and other experts studied existing works, teeth and hair and created three life-size models of him in different stages of his life.  

My children’s favorite part was a movie about the Revolutionary War that put viewers in the midst of battle. The seats rumbled from canon fire, smoke filled the theater and snow fell as Washington’s tattered army crossed the icy Delaware River. Even though we knew the outcome, we were on the edge of our seats.

For younger children, there’s a playroom with Colonial costumes for dress-up, games, books and other activities.

We spent a little more than two hours in the education center and came away with a real sense of who Washington was and a profound gratitude for his service.  He was an extraordinary man who led our country to independence against incredible and overwhelming odds and then, instead of seizing power, like Napoleon, he resigned his command and turned control of the Army over to the United States government.

He could have been declared king or emperor but his devotion to democracy was too strong.

Stomachs grumbling from our fill of history, we headed to the charming on-site Mount Vernon Inn where we ate chestnut soup, fried chicken and cherry pie (what else?) in front of a crackling fire. The next stop was Hotel Monaco, a boutique hotel in Old Town Alexandria, Va., for a nap and then a bit of shopping in the quaint shops along the cobblestone sidewalks.

That night we watched National Treasure 2 on the flat screen TV in our sumptuous room, reliving that day’s tour and illegal photo, which now felt like a cherished souvenir plucked from the past of a great man.