Gilbert Charles Stuart was an artist who created three portraits of President George Washington. Gilbert Charles Stuart best known portrait was an incomplete one that he did in 1796.
Category: President George Washington
The Abingdon Plantation Of Arlington County, Virginia
In 1695, the Abingdon Plantation was constructed by Abingdon and John Alexander, in an area that would eventually become Arlington County in 1801. In the late 1700s, President George Washington’s adopted stepson, John, bought the Abington Plantation so that he could live closer to Mount Vernon.
Today, the Abington Plantation is a set of ruins by the Reagan National Airport.
A historical marker, commemorates this Alexander family who built the plantation and for whom the City and the former County of Alexandria are named after.
1774 – George Mason IV and George Washington Write The “Fairfax Resolves”
In 1775, George Mason and George Washington worked together at Mount Vernon to write the Fairfax Resolves. This document, in addition to various other papers, laid the case for colonial Virginia’s independence from the English Parliament.
The Founding Of Winchester, Virginia
In 1747, the Town of Winchester, named after Winchester, England, is founded by Colonel James Wood after he revived a grant from Lord Fairfax. In 1748, George Washington, at the age of 16, makes his first trip to Winchester, as a land surveyor, while surveying lands west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. A site in Winchester becomes Washington’s headquarters for land surveying. In 1752, Town of Winchester is charted by the Virginia House of Burgesses. George Washington’s establishes a headquarters in Winchester again when he commanded Virginia troops during the French and Indian War.
In present day, the original town of Winchester is called, “Old Town Winchester”.
The Lodge In Fredericksburg, Virginia Where George Washington Became a Freemason
The first Freemason lodge of Fredericksburg, Virginia was the one which former President George Washington was initiated as a member of the Freemason Fraternal Order.
George Washington Went To The Port Royal, Virginia Freemason Meetings
In April 1754, a Port Royal FreeMason Fraternal chapter was established as the Kilwinning Port Royal Cross Lodge. Soon after the establishment of the lodge, within the 1750s, George Washington attended multiple Freemason meetings held at the homes of Captain John Micou, John Pearsons, Patrick Coutts, Robert Gilchrist, and William F. Gray. In addition, the lodge also met at Ann Fox’s Tavern, Dorthy Roy’s Tavern, Leonard George’s Tavern, and in the second floor room of William Hamilton Carter’s store, some of those locations which Washington is also believed to had been in attendance for. There was never a Masonic lodge building established in Port Royal and in the 1855 the Port Royal Masonic Chapter rented a room within a building that the newly formed Atlantic Lodge No. 2 was also using.
In 1881, the Port Royal Chapter of the Freemasons stopped having their meetings in Port Royal, after the Kilwinning Crosse Lodge, No. 2-237, A. F. & A. M. built in Bowling Green, Virginia. All of the Port Royal Chapter meetings were held in Bowling Green, Virginia were they still continue to this day. The Kilwinning Crosse Lodge is the oldest Masonic lodge in Caroline County, Virginia.
The George Washington Masonic National Memorial
After George Washington joined the FreeMason Fraternal Order he became members of the Fredericksburg, Virginia and the Alexandria-Washington lodges.
On June 5, 1922, the cornerstone of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial was established. The memorial was built to honor the time that President George Washington spent at the Fredericksburg and Alexandria lodges. President Calvin Coolidge and former President William H. Taft, performed the cornerstone ceremonies in front of thousands of Freemasons.
Presently the temple hosts hundreds of artifacts in relation to former President George Washington. The top tower has stained glass windows and a suit of armor.
Author’s Note:
There are two additional George Washington Monuments, in the D.C. Metro Area. The first noumena was built in Baltimore and the other wine was built by the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Mount Vernon – The Last Home Of President George Washington
In 1754 George Washington moved into Mount Vernon Mansion with his wife Martha. The mansion sat within a plantation where Washington owned hundreds of slaves. George Washington lived at the mansion until his death on December 14, 1799.
The Ferry Farm – The Childhood Home Of President George Washington
George Washington’s parents moved from his birthplace home in Westmoreland County to the Ferry Farm In Stafford County, Virginia. In 1740, the Ferry Farm burnt down, and Washington’s other home in Westmoreland County burnt down in the 1770s.
In the 2000s, a 28 foot by 53 foot replica of the Ferry Farm was built on the original foundation of the home after archeologists excavated the original foundation.
Westmoreland County, Virginia – The Birthplace of President George Washington
On Febuary 22, 1732, President George Washington was born at the Popes Creek Plantation, that his father Augustine Washington had built in 1720s, in Wakefield within Westmoreland County, Virginia.
Fifty years after the plantation was built, it was burnt down by a fire. In present day, the grounds of George Washington’s birth place is a U.S. National Park.
A State of Virginia Historical Marker shows the location of the former Popes Creek Plantation.
Fort Norfolk – The Last Of 19 Harbor-front Forts Authorized By President George Washington That Is Remaining
Fort Norfolk was one of 19 harbor front forts authorized to be constructed by General George Washington in 1794. Fort Norfolk was used to protect Virginia against the British in the War of 1812. In 1861, the Confederacy captured the fort to use it to supply the CSS Virginia (Merrimack) in a battle with the Union’s USS Monitor. In 1862, the Union recaptured Fort Norfolk. In the 1900s the Army Corps of Engineers obtained ownership of Fort Norfolk. In 1991, the Norfolk Historical Society restored Fort Norfolk and concerted the structure to a history musuem.
Independence Hall – The Site Where The Declaration Of Independence And The U.S. Constitution Were Signed
In 1732, the same year the first U.S. President George Washington was born, Independence Hall was constructed in downtown Philadelphia. Independence Hall was commissioned to be the Pennsylvania state house and served as the judicial, legislative and the executive branches of that colony’s government.
In the 1700s, Independence Hall generally served as a meeting place for politicians in a city that was growing to become becoming the largest city in the thirteen colonies.
During the course of the Revolutionary War the U.S. Declaration of Independence was debated and signed in Independence Hall and after the end of the war the U.S. Constitution was debated during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and signed within the same building. In addition, Independence Hall served as the meeting place of the Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1783.
On June 28, 1948 the U.S. Congress granted the U.S. National Park Service ownership of Independence Hall after designating the building as a U.S. National Park. On October 15, 1966 the square mile around Independence Hall was designated as a U.S. National Historic Landmark District.
This is the U.S. National Park Service’s list of the multitude of historical landmarks and statues around Independence Hall.
Fort McHenry National Monument And Historic Shrine
The site of Fort McHenry occupies the star shaped Fort Whetstone, which was constructed during the Revolutionary War to protect Baltimore from British forces.
Fort McHenry, a fort named after James McHenry; the former aide to George Washington and his friend Lafayette during the Revolutionary War, a foreign born signer of the U.S. Constitution, and former Secretary of War under the administrations of George Washington and John Adams, was established during the Quasi-War with France in 1799.
Lieutenant Colonel George Armistead, whom had been an artillery officer during an attack against Britain’s Fort George in Canada On May 18, 1813 and was given the honors to deliver the captured British flags to President James Monroe, had been granted command of Fort McHenry on June 1813.
After assuming command of Fort McHenry, Lieutenant Colonel George Armistead ordered that a 30 foot by 42 foot “Great Garrison Flag” that would be, “so large that the British will have no difficulty in seeing it from a distance.”
On September 1814, British land and naval forces attacked Fort McHenry, and the U.S. military ended up successfully repelling the British forces away.
After the American victory, the army was ordered to raise “Great Garrison Flag”. Francis Scott Key saw that garrison flag, the morning that it was raised, which inspired him to write the poem, “The Star Spangled Banner”. That poem would eventually become the United States National Anthem.
During the U.S. Civil War Fort McHenry served as a prison for thousands of political and confederate soldier prisoners. The fort became known as the “Baltimore Bastille” during its time as a prison. Fort McHenry served as an active army fort until 1912.
In the 1930s the U.S. Army and the Works Progress Administration restored the fort. In 1933, Fort McHenry’s ownership was transferred to the United States National Park Service. In 1939, Congress designated the structure as the Fort McHenry National Monument and Historical Shrine.
In present day there is a Fort McHenry Monument and Historic Shrine Visitor and Education Center with various exhibits of the fort.
Outside of the visitors center are statues honoring Lieutenant Colonel George Armistead and others who were part of the history of Fort McHenry.
In 1916, the Fine Arts Commission had sponsored a competition to honor Francis Scott Key’s “Star Spangled Banner” anthem. The commission chose to install Charles Henry Niehaus’s statue “Orpheus” in Fort McHenry on Flag Day June 14, 1922. An annual “Star Spangled Defenders Day”, which is the oldest holiday for the City of Baltimore, is hosted at the fort, and other ministry installations, to commemorate the Battle of Baltimore.
The Plans For The Presidential Palace And The Construction Of The White House
In 1791, Pierre Charles L’Enfant met with President George Washington to show his sketch of the “President’s Palace”, which was five times the size of the present day White House, within the original site of President’s Park.
The plans for a grand “Presidential Palace” were scrapped after President Washington fired L’Enfant for insubordination. In 1792, an architectural competition was held for the Capital and the Presidential Home buildings. From that competition, James Hoban’s design of a smaller and more modest Presidential House was chosen.
Construction of the smaller presidential house began in 1792 and ended in 1800.
On August 24, 1814, British soldiers invaded Washington, D.C. and torched President’s House. Only the walls of the structure remained after the fire. It was debated whether or not the capital should be moved to another city, after the events of the War of 1812.
With the urging of President James Monroe, the U.S. Capital stayed at its current location and Congress authorized the reconstruction of the Presidential Home. James Hoban was commissioned to rebuild the President’s Home to the way it originally was, while keeping the scorched walls within the building.
In 1817, President Monroe moved back into the rebuilt President’s Home. In 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt renamed the President’s Home to the “White House”. In the 1940s, under Harry Truman’s administration the White House was under reconstruction.
The First State Of The Union Address
The first State of the Union address was held by President George Washington on January 8, 1790 at a session of Congress in New York. The state of North Caroline has rejected the draft federal constitution in 1788 due to it not having a Bill of Rights. In George Washington’s speech, he congratulated the state of North Carolina for joining the federal republic on November 1789.
Hamilton Historical Records 