Day 18 - Washington D.C.

We left Williamsburg today and drove north to Washington D.C. The traffic here is terrible, it reminds us of LA. We are actually staying in Cherry Hill, Maryland. After we got here we drove to Mount Vernon. This house has been maintained as a historical monument, and open for tours since 1860. Washington was such an interesting man. He was very concerned with conservation, and he was very good at developing new ideas to make work easier, or life more comfortable. He married a widow that already had children, but no mention was made of him having any children of his own.

This is the view from the back porch of the Mansion. The Potomac river is in the background.

The gardens were all in full bloom.

They had their own shoemaker. Each of the slaves was given one new pair of shoes a year.

They had a whole building dedicated to spinning and weaving. They still bought the finer fabrics like silk.

Mount Vernon was extremely crowded. We had to wait in line for over an hour just to get into the house. Once inside it was so crowded we could just inch forward. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but the colors are quite surprising. The original walls were painted in bright greens, blues, and yellows, and there were very colorful rugs all around the house. It was very beautiful.