An Badly Judged Plan

Occasionally I set out to do something, and soon regret I hadn't. Other times I set out to do something and it's only after a prolonged period that I wish I hadn't. Yesterday was sadly one of the latter occasions.

When I was in Washington DC mooting last year,　I remember our tutor Professor Roelofsen mentioning how each time he and his wife were in DC that they would make the trip out to Mount Vernon, George Washington's home and burial place. Similarly, on each tour of the Capitol that I have to give I have a little bit to say about how George Washington came to be buried at Mount Vernon rather than in the Capitol as intended.


So feeling that I should see what all the fuss was about, at 9am on Saturday morning I set off to make the trip to Mount Vernon down in Virginia. At 12 noon, I stumbled through the gate there wondering how it had come to take me three-hours. Unfortunately, Metro works conspired to make for one of the least pleasant journeys that I've had in a while. Coupled with the fact that the bus from the Metro station to Mount Vernon only runs every hour, and with the heat, things were not good. I then had to queue for about 30 mins to buy an entrance ticket and then for about 45 mins to get into the mansion which I was shuffled through in about ten minutes, by which point I had barely enough time to walk around the grounds before having to catch the bus back to do the whole three-hour journey all over again to get back to DC. So I completely missed out on visiting the town of Old Alexandria, and didn't get a chance to do anything other than quickly walk through the museum at Mount Vernon. The moral being that you need considerably more than three hours there to come close to getting your monies worth.

But the place itself was nice, if sadly nothing spectacular. I'd actually say that I prefer almost all of the National Trust properties that I've been too in the UK over Mount Vernon. It's fine for what it is, but it's all a bit phony despite the fact that it's been restored. For instance, the mansion itself, despite being subtlety and elegantly designed, is actually made of wood, but it's been treated to look line stone.


In fact, the whole place felt like it was designed to entertain, rather than be just what it is - the place where George Washington lived. That's fine to an extent, but the huge visitors centre, and slightly cringe worthy (but admittedly cinematic) opening movie and narrated introduction all conspired against the tranquility of the place. Not to mention the presence of Pizza Hut.

It's not hard to see why George Washington wanted to live, and be buried, there. The setting of the estate is lovely, backing onto the Potomac river, and bounded by green rollings fields and forests it really could be a piece of little England.





Perhaps some of my ill-feeling comes from the fact that I simply didn't have enough time there to make the most of it, or to really see everything on offer without wondering if I had enough time to make it back to catch the bus and Metro. But that said, I never really got the feeling that I was walking through somewhere that deserved as much attention and adoration as Mount Vernon seems to get. If I get the chance perhaps I'll go back again on my way to Alexandria, but until then I'm going to be left feeling neutral at best, which is a shame for a place that so many people seem to rate so highly.