Archive for the ‘Photo of the Day’ Category

What do Aladdin the Mount Vernon Christmas camel and Justin Bieber have in common? The ability to draw throngs of adoring teenagers, arms outstretched, with an almost mystical allure. As about 50 middle school students descended on the dromedary this afternoon, Aladdin the camel — a species one would not expect to be overly fond of noisy, racing crowds — lovingly nuzzled their faces and not only endured but seemingly basked in the barrage of hands casting about for his face and neck. For an animal, Aladdin is about as friendly as it gets.

It’s unknown what George Washington’s favorite season was, and since Mount Vernon is attractive even in blustery cold and searing heat, it is impossible for us to divine his preference. But after a walk on the above forest trail, which connects Mount Vernon’s low-lying re-creation farm with the rest of the estate, we feel that fall is a pretty strong candidate.

Contemporary visitors to Mount Vernon enter the estate through our orientation center, but in the 18th century, company arrived at the Mansion via the estate’s west gate, an outpost three-quarters of a mile away from the house.

From this vantage point, members of the carriage-faring class gained a sweeping view of George Washington’s property, punctuated by the Mansion itself. Prior to the Revolutionary War, visitors took a straight path that led directly from the west gate and the two porter houses that flank it, to Washington’s door. In the above picture, the lane would have sliced through the middle of the rolling green fields.

After the war, however, Washington altered his lawn in keeping with a vogue gardening trend: the curved line. He placed two serpentine walking paths along the sides of the bowling green, the lawn directly in front of the Mansion. Guests would travel down the straight path from the west gate then veer right just before the green and loop around through some of the estate’s side building before arriving at the general’s door.

Today the west gate is inaccessible to visitors, although those in the know can travel down Old Mount Vernon Road and find the viewpoint at the intersection with Old Mill Road.

The newest member of the Mount Vernon family, a single piglet that was born Tuesday around 3 p.m., is a quick study — she’s already following her mother into the pigpen mud pit to beat the high-nineties Virginia heat.

The piglet’s mother, Genesis, is one of three Ossabaw Island sows at Mount Vernon. The piglet is the first and only to be born this summer and a rarity without any siblings. More piglets are expected this fall.