The history of what we know of as Mount Vernon goes back to 1674. It was George Washington’s property and residence from 1761 until 1799, when he died.  At its largest, the property was 8,000 acres; today it has around 500 acres.  The property still has a remarkably bucolic, rural and historic atmosphere, even though it neighbors residential communities and is close to the city of Washington DC.  The property and its mansion, blacksmith shop, slave quarters and other outbuildings are only about 15 miles away from the Washington Monument in downtown DC, whether by road, by boat on the Potomac River, or “as the crow flies.” 

About 1.5 miles from the mansion, across the Potomac River sits a small house on a few acres of land in Maryland.  The images of Mt. Vernon in this gallery were taken over many years from this Maryland property.  They were taken in different seasons, at various times of the day (e.g., sunset) and during Mt. Vernon’s Fourth of July afternoon and evening firework shows.

This gallery also features images of the “flora and fauna” observed on or from the Maryland property.  It is possible, if not likely, that George Washington may have himself seen earlier generations of the eagles, osprey, cormorants, ducks, geese, blue heron, beaver, turkeys, oak trees, etc. captured in these images, whether on his property or on the property in Maryland right across the Potomac.  Regardless whether Washington witnessed their predecessors, the robust populations seen today are testaments to the successes of more than 50 years of Potomac River watershed cleanup efforts.