VIDEO: GW’s Pretend Sandstone Gets Makeover
George Washington was no ordinary man and the stone used on the exterior of his house was no ordinary stone. In fact, it wasn’t stone at all.
Washington employed a special technique called rustication to make his mansion look as if it were made of sandstone. Boards were cut into squares and covered with paint and sand so that to the untrained eye, they would not appear to be wood.
Every five to six years, Mount Vernon rerusticates to keep Washington’s “sandstone” looking well-kept. By using top-of-the-line paint and sand that is closer to what Washington used than ever before, the rustication that is underway this summer is a pretty historically accurate paint job.
Catch the rustication in action now through most of July, or come in August to see a scaffolding-free mansion with a sparkling-new, pretend-sandstone exterior.
June 13th, 2011 at 11:14 am
That looks like fun! Throwing sand around!