Bhen the weather is good, the place is a pure idyll: the estate of George Washington, the first President of the United States, lies as if painted on the nearby Potomac River. All around are old oak trees, rolling hills, flower beds and orchards. Groups of visitors stroll along the finely raked sandy paths, school classes annoy their teachers.
It’s hard to believe: one of the founding fathers of the USA lived with his family in this picturesque place, in a three-story mansion with 21 rooms in colonial style – and right next door, over 300 slaves had to do forced labor for Washington until they were exhausted. The knowledge of this historical fact was ignored for a long time and to this day many visitors are not interested.
For example, there is the greenhouse with a huge window front facing south. Washington had seen such a modern greenhouse on a Baltimore estate and had the plans sent to him. Gladioli, tulips and buttercups bloom outside, while inside it’s warm enough for bright oleanders, bananas and even coffee plants. To the right and left, about 60 slaves lived in two cramped dwellings, men and women separated, without any privacy.
Source: © Openstreetmap contributors, WELT infographic
You have to visualize the surreal juxtaposition, says Matt Briney: “There is the greenhouse where George Washington experimented with tropical plants. And one wall away were enslaved people whose children slept on the floor.” Briney works for the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, which owns the memorial and employs nearly 400 people. This national pilgrimage site has been privately owned since 1860 and is not managed by the state National Park Service, as is usual with nationally significant cultural monuments in the USA.
Many slaves worked for the US President
Before the Covid pandemic, a million people made the annual pilgrimage to this national shrine in the state of Virginia, 20 kilometers southwest of Washington, DC. On 200 hectares, which corresponds to about 280 football pitches, you can visit the manor house, stables, parks and gardens, a whiskey distillery, a fishery and workshops. Only in the 1990s were the simple slave housing restored and opened to the public.
The shacks in which the slaves had to live have only been open to visitors since the 1990s
Source: Anja Steinbuch and Michael Marek
“The property was not only the presidential residence, but also a thriving plantation,” explains Briney. And that could only be kept going with a host of enslaved people. They toiled in the fields for up to 14 hours a day, rounded up the cattle, cooked and cleaned for the householders, and had to endure severe physical punishment if they resisted.
If you take your time and walk the sandy path towards the Potomac after visiting the mansion, you will pass two very different burial sites. In the forest near the river is the marble-decorated family tomb of George Washington and his wife Martha. A Stars and Stripes and General Washington’s personal flag flutter in the sunlight.
It was not until 200 years after George Washington’s death that a memorial stone was erected to commemorate the slaves who were once buried anonymously
Quelle: Rob Shenk/George Washington’s Mount Vernon
200 meters away: another grave. Several hundred African Americans were anonymously buried here until 1860. Delicate markings made from branches show traces of graves on the ground. All of this was overgrown by undergrowth until 1983 and was not visible to visitors. Once a hidden eyesore of slavery, today a place of quiet remembrance. It was not until 200 years after Washington’s death that the traces on the graves were secured and a massive memorial stone made of sandstone erected at the urging of the Afro-American community.
Guides provide information about slavery on Mount Vernon
The founding father of America as a slave owner: This is a fact that the nation and the trustees of Mount Vernon have been slow to embrace. Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant and George Washington – twelve of the 18 US presidents between 1789 and 1877 were slave owners. Slavery was a system of exploitation, of inequality, in which people were owned and oppressed with physical and psychological violence; a system that people like George Washington justified even though they knew slavery was morally wrong.
The restoration of the derelict former slave cemetery was the starting signal for public reappraisal. In 1993 the first “Slave Life Tour” was offered on Mount Vernon. Today, guides like the Afro-American Brenda Parker tell about the everyday life of the enslaved people on Mount Vernon.
Today, guides like Brenda Parker take visitors around the property and tell stories about slavery
Source: Anja Steinbuch and Michael Marek
Washington kept meticulous accounts of crops and goods produced. He meticulously recorded the number and abilities of the enslaved people on the estate; who has been bought and sold over the decades. Owning enslaved labor helped Washington maintain its lifestyle. And gave him time and space to devote himself to what he loved to do most: read, write, implement his agricultural ideas and receive guests. He was a meticulous bookkeeper, keeping track of what rations he gave the enslaved by the day, by the month, by the year.
She sees her role as giving a voice to all those who appear as silent witnesses in historical tables and records, explains Parker. “Some families were enslaved on Mount Vernon for generations without historical record finding any direct record of them.” Despite the horror and oppression of slavery, what did these families who lived here do? Parker knows the answer: “They tried to lead a normal life between lawlessness and arbitrariness.”
A hit among George Washington’s relics
The interest of the audience in the historical injustice does not seem to be too great, because only about every tenth visitor books the tour “Enslaved People on Mount Vernon”. Brenda Parker explains that historical places like this are often visited by people with little or no background knowledge.
George Washington’s bedroom on Mount Vernon, where he died December 14, 1799
Quelle: The Washington Post via Getty Images/The Washington Post
Some visitors also thought Washington was being vilified by references to its slave-owning past. Washington relied on slave labor from the hour he rose in the morning in his four-poster bed to the moment he went to bed at night.
George Washington’s bit is still a hit on tours today. The glorious Revolutionary War general, co-author of the Constitution and first US President – he had bad teeth. He lost the first at the age of 24, probably as a result of an illness.
George Washington’s teeth fascinate visitors
Source: Anja Steinbuch and Michael Marek
Back then, good teeth were a prerequisite for rhetorical clout. So dentures were needed. George Washington commissioned six. In addition to ivory, horse and cow teeth, real human teeth served as raw material. Their suppliers were not only the deceased, but also his slaves, as Washington’s detailed household books show.
Additional Information: Without a tour, but with an audio guide: 28 US dollars per adult. Guided tours cost between $2 and $60 extra, depending on the topic. Opening times: Daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., in winter until 4 p.m. (mountvernon.org)