Photo of the Week: Mount Vernon: George Washington’s Estate & Gardens in Alexandria, Virginia

George Washington is embraced as an American hero for his legendary leadership and charisma, and visitors to Mount Vernon Estate & Gardens in Alexandria, Virginia, can get to know this Revolutionary War icon better by watching “We Fight to Be Free,” a 20-minute film presented at the estate’s Ford Orientation Center that features an action-oriented re-enactment of the defining moment of the Revolutionary War – Washington crossing the Delaware River.

George and Martha Washington called Mount Vernon home from the time of their marriage in 1759 until Washington’s death in 1799. Washington took care in expanding and developing the estate on the banks of the Potomac into a tranquil abode befitting a country gentleman, and today travelers can tour the mansion and its surroundings and imagine what life might have been like when General Washington walked the grounds.

During Washington’s time, the plantation was divided into five farms, which ultimately took up 8,000 acres. Each farm was a complete unit, with its own overseers, work force of slaves, livestock, equipment and buildings. The farm where Washington and his family lived was called the "Mansion House Farm." The mansion, which grew from six rooms to 21, lay on 500 acres of land, and Washington designed the grounds to include a deep border of woods, rolling meadows, serpentine walkways, a pleasure garden, a kitchen garden and groves of trees. Between the mansion and the shores of the Potomac River is an extensive park.

In 1858, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association purchased Mount Vernon from the Washington family, and the estate opened for the public in 1860. Visitors today can tour the Mansion House Farm, which has been restored to its 1799 appearance. Beyond the mansion, anyone is welcome to step inside more than a dozen outbuildings, stroll four different gardens, hike the Forest Trail and explore George Washington: Pioneer Farm site, a four-acre working farm that includes a re-creation of Washington's 16-sided treading barn and a slave cabin. George and Martha Washington rest in peace in the tomb where wreath laying ceremonies take place daily, and the Slave Memorial and Burial Ground is nearby.

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"We Fight to be Free" photo courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies Association