Archive for August, 2011

Trees fell and lights flickered at the estate this weekend, but Mount Vernon weathered with ease what turned out to be a lighter storm than expected.

Curators and grounds crews spent much of Friday and Saturday preparing for Hurricane Irene by packing away valuables in the Mansion, shuttering and boarding up windows, and sandbagging doors.

But between when the estate closed slightly early Saturday and opened to a late start on Sunday at 11 a.m. little had befallen the estate besides a healthy dose of rain and knocked-down trees. Three oaks, one ash, one walnut and two locusts blew to the ground, but many trees were damaged and at least one will have to be removed.

For footage of Mount Vernon taken during the storm, see our director of horticulture, Dean Norton’s, video below:

Photo credit: Most of the above photos were taken by director of horticulture Dean Norton.

Mount Vernon’s 1797 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica indicates that goldfish were first imported to England in 1691, but weren’t common there until 1728, when they were distributed around London by a man named Sir Matthew Dekker and eventually made their way across the country.

It appears George Washington was no stranger to the proliferation of the goldfish. On May 23, 1786, Josiah Parker, a naval officer and collector for the port of Portsmouth, wrote Washington to inform him that a few finned friends were en route:

“Captn[.] Nicholson has left with me a pair of Gold Fish which would have been sent to you before but feared to remove them dureing [sic] the Winter. I have now sent them to Genl[.] Weedons [sic] care; to whom I Sent [sic] a box from New York last winter for you …”

What makes us think at least one of these goldfish, an animal not known for being particularly hearty, may have survived the journey? A painting of the Washington bedchamber done by Alexandria artist John Gadsby Chapman circa 1834 portrayed a goldfish in a glass bowl atop Martha Washington’s desk. (This painting is not part of the Mount Vernon collection and is not the one portrayed above.) Although the depiction was made long after the Washingtons’ deaths, Chapman had interviewed a number of Martha Washington’s descendants who knew what had been in the room and owned pieces of furniture that had been there.

Estimated exportation dates vary for the American arrival of goldfish, which originally came from China, but the animal is not generally seen in American art until well into the 19th century. Although it originally seemed that Chapman’s goldfish could have been an anachronistic piece of artistic license, the little guy might just be one of the fish or a descendant of the fish that made an extremely long journey to meet the General.

Research for this article was conducted by Mount Vernon research historian Mary Thompson.

A 5.9 earthquake that sent tremors from Virginia to New York City shook Mount Vernon Tuesday, but George Washington’s mansion stood sturdy as a rock. The Mansion and other buildings throughout the estate shook and creaked, but the only damage noted by our team of collection specialists and historians was a nickle-sized piece of green plaster that fell from the large dining room ceiling.

A CNN news crew that happened to be onsite filming a piece for the 2012 elections on presidents and wealth caught the quake on camera, and subsequently reported about it from the east lawn of Mount Vernon.