GEORGE WASHINGTON:

FARMER

BEING AN ACCOUNT OF HIS HOME LIFE AND AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES

By

PAUL LELAND HAWORTH

Author of

THE PATH OF GLORY, RECONSTRUCTION AND UNION AMERICA IN FERMENT, ETC.

WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS FACSIMILIES OF PRIVATE PAPERS,
AND A MAP OF WASHINGTON'S ESTATE DRAWN BY HIMSELF

1915

"The aim of the farmers in this country (if they can be called farmers) is, not to make the most they can from the land, which is or has been cheap, but the most of the labour, which is dear; the consequence of which has been, much ground has been scratched over and none cultivated or improved as it ought to have been: whereas a farmer in England, where land is dear, and labour cheap, finds it his interest to improve and cultivate highly, that he may reap large crops from a small quantity of ground."

Washington to Arthur Young, December 5, 1791.

PREFACE

The story of George Washington's public career has been many times told in books of varying worth, but there is one important aspect of his private life that has never received the attention it deserves. The present book is an attempt to supply this deficiency.

I desire to acknowledge gratefully the assistance I have received from Messrs. Gaillard Hunt and John C. Fitzpatrick of the Library of Congress, Mr. Hubert B. Fuller lately of Washington and now of Cleveland, Colonel Harrison H. Dodge and other officials of the Mount Vernon Association, and from the work of Paul Leicester Ford, Worthington C. Ford and John M. Toner.

Above all, in common with my countrymen, I am indebted to heroic Ann Pamelia Cunningham, to whose devoted labor, despite ill health and manifold discouragements, the preservation of Mount Vernon is due. To her we should be grateful for a shrine that has not its counterpart in the world--a holy place that no man can visit without experiencing an uplift of heart and soul that makes him a better American.

PAUL LELAND HAWORTH.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Mount Vernon Stable, Built in 1733, Showing also the Powell Coach.

Mount Vernon, Showing Kitchen to the Left and Covered Way Leading to It.

The Washington Family.

Driveway from the Lodge Gate.

The Porter's Lodge.

One of the Artificial Mounds. The Tree Upon It Was Set Out by Mrs. Grover Cleveland.

The Seed House. Beyond Lay the Vegetable Garden.

The Mount Vernon Kitchen (restored).

Map of Mount Vernon Drawn by Washington and Sent by Him to Arthur Young in 1793.