Virginia and George and Martha

Martha, reinvisioned.

I have figured out who I would like to come to my next dinner party.  Set aside that she died over two hundred years ago, in 1802.  She'd be terrific company today.  I, and other visitors to George and Martha Washington's home at Mt. Vernon, had a nice afternoon chat with the first First Lady.  I learned that she despised Thomas Jefferson.  I learned that she spent half of the Revolutionary War in military camps tending and encouraging wounded soldiers.  I learned that she did a lot of entertaining, and always had a smoked ham on hand (she was the consummate Virginian housewife).  And even though she and George had over 300 slaves, she seemed a decent and gracious sort.

View of the Mt. Vernon mansion from the "bowling lawn."
General Washington designed it flat for that purpose.   

We spent the day at the nation's most visited historic home,learning about George and Martha and their impressive plantation.  In their time, the Washingtons owned 8,000 acres here.

The green dining room 

As we explored their mansion, I learned that our first president had a penchant for oddly bright colors.  In 1785, he decided his dining room should be a blinding bright green (or as the official guidebook informs me, verdigris.)  Washington believed the color to "be grateful to the Eye."  It was also one of the most expensive shades of paint you could buy, so it got the guests' attention one way or the other. While this is the sort of color that I don't have guts to put on my wall, I learned in the gift shop that you can recreate this color (Verdigris, MV13) in your home thanks to the efforts of Vermont based Fine Paints of Europe.    

The Kitchen Garden on the grounds. 

For dinner in that shocking green room, in addition to the ham smoked on the premises, you'd get fresh vegetables and fruit from the nearby kitchen garden, which we also toured.  Enclosed in a brick wall, the garden is significantly warmer than the rest of the estate.  George Washington, who always considered himself more a farmer than a military general or politician, knew the brick walls would retain heat and extend the growing season.  It was a pleasant place to be in early November.

George waiting for his meal at Gadsby's Tavern 

We finished our day, appropriately enough, at George's old watering hole in Old Town Alexandria.  The Gadsby tavern served spirits and food to the likes of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.  I understand George liked oysters, but I opted for Gentleman's Pye, with hot cider and rum on the side.    

Virginia and the Civil War's first battle

Steven examines an 1861 Union cannon at Bull Run 

Steven is in the DC area for business this weekend, and I got to tag along.  Today we visited the scene of the first battle of the Civil War, commonly known as the battle of Bull Run.  The battle took place on warm July day in 1861, on a series of hills in Manassas, Virginia.  Many of the soldiers were shipped in by train from nearby Washington, D.C. and followed the noise to the battlefield.  No one had a clue how bloody or long the Civil War would be, and the battle attracted civilian spectators who brought picnic lunches.  By the end of the day however, 900 soldiers had died on these hills.

Betsy examines a Confederate cannon.  (The South had way more artillery.) 

In 2018, 157 years later, the 5,000 acre park is serene pastureland.  The place is now a popular spot for taking family photos.  We took the Henry Hill loop, an easy one mile trail that identifies the positions of Federal and Confederate troops with cannons from the battle. The Union soldiers, most fresh volunteers, did not fare well against the Confederates, and in fact, were routed again the following year for a second, and even bloodier battle at the same site.

The memorial built by hand in 1865 by soldiers who survived the battle.
Note the artillery shells used to decorate the memorial.  

Judith Henry's tombstone is in the center, on Henry Hill 

The site also contains the grave of Judith Carter Henry, the only civilian casualty (the picknickers kept their distance). The soldiers fired at her farm house, unaware the 84 year old bedridden widow was still inside.  Her home was rebuilt in 1870, and now is a backdrop used by professional photographers.  It stands across from a memorial to the fallen soldiers, built in 1865 by those who had survived the battle. 

General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson earned his nickname
during the first battle of Bull Run for his steadfastness under assault.
  "There stands Jackson like a stone wall!"