George Washington's Mount Vernon

Education: Mount Vernon continued to provide a supportive learning space for civic engagement and discourse among teachers and students, and it looked to George Washington's legacy and 18th-century history for inspiration and information.last year marked The second year of The return of The in-person summer residential programs. Over The course of six weeks in The summer of 2023, we welcomed teachers from across The country to Mount Vernon in person where they studied deep content, practiced transferrable teaching models, had behind-the-scenes experiences, and built lasting relationships as they explored The home to which George Washington felt so connected. Each week, teachers were immersed in a safe, fun, and intellectually stimulating environment as they stayed in historic old town alexandria, Virginia, and received vip experiences at affiliated history and civic institutions in The d.c. metro area. Attendees developed relationships and professional learning communities within their cohort, and participants continued to engage with each other and Mount Vernon staff long after The programs concluded.the programming in 2023 prioritized fostering a safe and inclusive environment to allow participants to exchange complex ideas. Teachers engaged in deep conversations with visiting scholars that connected events of The past with unique obstacles facing students in schools today.we continued to build from The successes of prior national digital institutes and symposiums for teachers. Unique websites for each week allowed for easier dissemination of information and collaboration. Our annual two-day digital symposium centered on The presidential library's 10th anniversary with a focus on The plethora of digital resources and primary sources made available digitally and for free by staff at The George Washington presidential library. This free symposium served teachers nationwide and provided inclusive content, classroom applications, and a program-dedicated website.we conducted a multitude of regional workshops with alumni particularly from The western region of The country, collaborating with Mount Vernon staff at The estate and across The nation for regional workshops, distance learning programs, conferences, seminars, and podcasts. We look forward to sustaining this partnership as we prepare to celebrate The 250th anniversary of america's independence.on a local scale we conducted The second annual Mount Vernon student advisory board to provide leadership opportunities and engagement with local students from The Washington dc, Virginia and Maryland area by inviting them to share their perspectives and ideas on how to make institutional and programmatic changes to engage and educate modern youth and family visitors on Mount Vernon and George Washington's legacy. The education department also supported 294,100 students visiting for onsite field trips to Mount Vernon. These students, coming from all over The country visited The mansion, explored The farm site, and attended many of our educational films showing in The museum and orientation center.

Historic preservation and collections: in 2023, The preservation team embarked on a landmark initiative to preserve George Washington's home for generations of future visitors. Preparations for this multi-year "mansion revitalization" project included The expansion of The underground bunker to house improved mechanical systems; The removal of 1990s-era ductwork; and The assessment and stabilization of The cellar's dry well, a 1785 architectural feature. The archaeology team excavated all rooms of The mansion cellar, in preparation for installing new underground ductwork; they also conducted a field school at The site of George Washington's Union farm, identifying likely evidence of two wells, garden plots, and domestic structures of The enslaved community on this outlying farm. The architecture team completed The exterior restoration of The mansion's east front; refreshed its first-floor bedchamber; completed framing and roof repairs of The mansion's north colonnade and framing and siding repairs of The wash house;, and constructed a poultry coop. The fine and decorative arts (fda) team completed The acquisition of The peter presidential collection, including nearly 100 original Washington items, and reinstalled The mansion's little parlor and The wash house, The latter interpreting work done by enslaved laundresses dolshy and vina. The fda team also installed a new exhibit of Washington and Mount Vernon commemoratives in The Washington presidential library and conserved and rehoused additional original Washington textiles.