Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 135, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 June 1911 — RECENT IMPROVEMENTS AT MOUNT VERNON [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

RECENT IMPROVEMENTS AT MOUNT VERNON

6 %- ; §N EFKUKT is to be made to have. the new congress take up the proposal that-means be devised whereby the United States government mhy acquire title to and assume the management ot Mount Vernon, on. the Potomac, the home and tomb of George Washington. If was only because the last congress the session which closed a few months ago took definite action in the matter that there was halted a project to profane the historic precincts of Mount Vernon by the location of a reformatory In the vicinity and it is being argued that if congress has to beßtow such fostering care upon the famous' mansion and estate why not have the whole management of the institution (which really belongs to the whole people) vested In the elective body closest Lethe people. > - ' Several unsuccessful attempts have been

made in the past to have our natibnal legislature take some action in this matter. There is, however, constant agitation on the subject and a continual increase in the number of people who look upon it as a public shame that our greatest patriotic shrine should be in other hands than Uncle Sam’s. This resentment is due in great measure to what the critics are pleased to dub the. “dime museum” meth-

ods which obtain in the conduct of this tourist mecca. The procedure complained of is the charging of an admission fee for entrance to the grounds and the sale of postal cards, guide books and other commodities. Unfavorable sentiment i 6 attributable especially to the circumstance that most of the money making enterprises conducted at Mount Vernon are on the monopolistic order.' Only an approved brand of guide book can be purchased on the grounds and bo on through the whole list of articles for sale, even to the circumstance that a single line of steamers on the Potomac river has the exclusive privilege of landing tourists at Mount Vernon. However, whatever may have been the mistakes of the association of women who have control of Mount Vernon, or of the superintendent who for twenty-five years has had the authority of general manager of Mount Veraon, there is no denying that they have accomplished much in the restoration and malntenace of the manor house and the most-inter-esting part of the famous Virginia plantation. Only recently has there been completed an important undertaking in landscape architecture which is especially notable because it supplies the final feature needed to restore the actual conditions of George Washington’s day f at the country seat which the Father of His | Country loved so well and where he lived and died. This final restoration h'as been the replacing of the lawn and garden walls which in colonial times played an Important part in the surroundings of Mount Vernon, as they did in the'case of almost every mansion of its type. The original walls on the Mount Vernon estate, most of which were constructed under the supervision of Washington himself, were In an excellent state of preservation when he died, but successive heirs to the estate allowed them to fall into decay until there was naught left but the foundations. These walls, which add so much to the appearance of the Mount Vernon estate, would been restored years ago had It been merely a matter of expense, for the whole work cost only about $1,600. However, a more serious stumbling block delayed operations—namely, a desire to secure hrick that,would be duplicates of those originally employed and which would consequently enable adherence to the policy of having everything historically correct to the most minute detail. *"* After a quest that had continued for more than a'score of years the long-eonght bricks were recently obtained when there was demolished an old colonial mansion known as Society Hill, looated in King George county, Virginia. This structure, which was built by Colop el Thornton, a close friend of George Washington—and which by coincidence later passed Into the possession of a member of the Washington family—was constructed of bricks brought from England." The bricks in the Society Hill mansion, when cleaned, proved to be identicaT in size and color with the bricks found in the ruined foundations of the original garden walla-at Mount Vernon. Accordingly the walls were restored In accordance with the original drawings and enough of the original Washington bricks were rescued from the old foundations to provide a coping for the walls, the bricks obtained from the King George county site furnishing the remainder of the material needed.

The most extensive of the restored walls are the “screen walls,” the function of which was to hide from the sight of Washington’s guests seated on the lawn the Inevitable domestic activities that were carried on around such outbuildings as the kitchen, the smoke house, the spinning house, etc.—adjuncts of the mansion which it was not desired to have obtrude themSeives upon the notice of visitors. Almost as interesting as the screen walls, however, are the "Ha Ha" walls, which are depressed below the level of the sloping Uiwn and are consequently unobservable from the portico of the mansion, but which in Washington’s day performed an important function by preventing the stock from wandering on the lawn in front of the house. The name "Ha Ha” as applied to such walls originated in England and is attributed to crosscountry riders who were surprised into making the ejaculation when they suddenly and unexpectedly came upon such a hidden wall in their chase of a fox. The restored walls, although the moßt Important of recent improvements at Mount Vernon, are by no Wans the only ones that may be noted by the sightseers and tourists who now visit this historic spot in throngs that aggregate 100,000 a year. A new roof has been placed on the mansion house and the public probably hat Httle conception of how much time and labor was required to obtain the de-

sired material for this roof, just as It was no end of trouble to find the bricks for the walls above referred to. About 50,000 cypress shingles Were needed for the new roof, but they must needs be “rived" shingles because Washington had that kind and it seemed impossible to find any rived shingles, because nowadays shingles are not made that way, sawing being much easier than splitting. Finally a lumber firm in South Carolina undertook to supply shingles that would duplicate those of Washington’s day, but they charged almost a cent the singles, which made the roof a pretty*.Expensive one. Mount Vernon mansion now has one of the most perfect heating systems to be found in any American residence. It was designed especially to prevent danger from fire—and in this connection it may be mentioned that Washington’s old home Is not built of brick or

stone, as many people suppose, but has a frame of oak, sheathed with pine, cut, painted and sanded to resemble stone. The new system enables the heating of all the rooms in the mansion by a hot water system and yet the boiler room, with the inevitable menace that comes from fire and stored fuel is located 400 feet from the mansion and wholly underground. Another modern improvement at this rejuvenated estate in old Virginia is found in the provision of a fine water supply obtained vfrom a splendid artesian well. Powerful pumps, operated by electricity, supply water from this well for household purposes and keep filled at all times the emergency reservoirs which would be depended upon in case of fire. Incidentally it may be explained that the score of men including guards, gardeners, laborers, etc., who work and live on the Motfittt Vernon estate or close at* hand, are organized into a welldrilled fire-fighting force and they have chem-

ical and steam engines for fighting flames, should this destructive agent ever menace the mansion—a rein ote chance, it would seem, for all the rooms in the house and all the exterior walls have been treated with a fire-resisting paint: For all that electricity is employed to pump water and perform certain other chores on the Mount Vernon estate, the magic cur-

rent is not allowed in the precious mansion and the manor house is lighted as it was in the days of yore, solely by candles. There has been another notable undertak : Ing at Mount Vernon in the form of the construction of drainage works which control forces of nature that threatened to play havoc on the famous estate. This new system of sanitary drainage has, first of all, served, to reclaim the bogs and swamps which at one time gave the place a reputation for nnhealthfulness. Equally serious in possible results were the threatened landslides near the mansion and in the vicinity of the old tomb of Washington, from which, however, the body of Washington was removed some years ago to the new tomb. These slides have been averted for all time by the construction at considerable cost of a tunnel which pierces the hill on which the mansion stands.