The Cherry Tree

When they said it would be an entire day, they really meant it would be an entire day...I spent probably six hours or so at Mount Vernon in Virginia today. Here's a recap of the week....
For some reason, this past week felt like a really long week. I worked at the office for four days, I got my hair cut at the Senate barbershop, did school work at the Library of Congress and spent an entire day at Mount Vernon. I had the opportunity to continue doing press clips, but this time I was able to outside the office. There are so many different clips to get through, and a hard deadline to meet in the morning, that one of the only ways to get it done on time is to start before I get to work. Mail is still the priority, so to ensure I spend time on that I start clips early. It's been a ton of fun. I take it incredibly seriously, the Senator reads these clips every morning, so it's very important for them to be right. I also had the chance to go to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligences' confirmation hearing for John Brennan, the CIA director nominee. After less than 10 minutes in the hall, Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein cleared the whole place after protesters had interrupted the proceedings half a dozen times. She said she would let us back in one by one, but that didn't happen, so I just went back to the office. I've been lucky to seem some incredible things in the first month, including an active protest in a committee hearing room. I can't believe it's been a month either...I don't think that's sunk in yet.

Friday, I went into work for an hour to meet with the legislative aid on Veteran Affairs. I've been trying to learn more and more about the issue in terms of its relationship with the federal government and with individual veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs is not immune to the bureaucracy that is Washington, which makes the learning curve a bit steeper for me. I learn new things every day at the office. It made sense to meet with the legislative aid Friday morning because I had an appointment in the Senate barbershop later in the morning. I had my hair cut by Mario, who had been cutting hair in the same chair for 37 years. His clippers had cut the hair of some of the most powerful senators. I'm going back in three weeks.

Sunday, I went to Mount Vernon, the estate of George Washington and his family through the mid 1800's. It was expansive, there was a lot to see. Here are some pictures of it, just to give you a taste of what I was able to experience:

Not sure what this is, but I saw it from the Metro...it's in Alexandria and has a massive Free Mason's insignia planted in the ground below it

My first view of the mansion

The kitchen, often removed from the main house so the heat and smells and such would not interfere with any entertaining

This cupola was the final edition to the estate, installed - believe it or not - as an air conditioner

When sitting, I felt like these chairs should rock, because they didn't

The Potomac, what a view!

Carriage barn....

....Washington put a chair on a carriage! Who puts a chair there?!?! That's so awesome, I can't believe that trend didn't stick!

Washington tried to replace broken fence with dense hedges...it didn't work, so he had to invest in more wooden fencing

Sheep

I didn't anticipate all of the live animals, they took pride in trying to recreate the Mount Vernon estate to its 18th century appearance...this included live animals like this bull

It was pretty cool to get right down to the water

during the summer months, for a bit extra, you could take a boat ride from the wharf to get a unique view of the Mount Vernon mansion from the Potomac

A recreation of one of the outlying farms...one of half a dozen smaller farms on the estate

Washington sought to create more efficiency in farming, leading to the invention of the 16 sided barn...I'm not sold on the fact there are exactly 16 sides...there might have been 15 or 17, I tried to count twice but got turned around both times

grain would be laid on the floor above as horses and people march on it in a circle...as the grain is trampled, the usable grain fell through the floor boards here.

Slave cabin

This is a forest, which made up almost 1/2 of Washington's estate at any given time

I liked the first Washington family tomb, it overlooked the Potomac, was unassuming, and was the original resting place for a large part of President Washington's family

In Washington's will, he called for the construction of a new tomb on more solid - and dry - ground. I honestly didn't see anything special about the new place. I very much liked this plot

Washington's tomb; that's him on the right and Martha on the left; the door in the back leads to a chamber where another 20 Washingtons are buried

Washington's tomb

Martha's

The outside facade

A memorial to the 100+ slaves who died over the 100 year period Mount Vernon was in business

It's like a small, self-sufficient town!

Blacksmith shop

Lower garden, for apple and cherry trees and other sorts of berries

I might be going out on a limb here, but I don't think it would be too much a stretch to believe that Cabbage Patch Kids came from this specific patch....I'm sold on the concept

The upper garden

hedge, well-cut hedge

The Greenhouse, doubled as slave quarters on the other side. Washington liked to keep exotic - tropical - plants inside where the winter wouldn't have any effect

This was probably the 20th fireplace I saw today

Inside the education center - which by the by is entirely underground - there was a map of the battles during the American Revolution...I quickly found the turning point of the Revolution, near my home...Saratoga

This sword is believed to have been carried by Washington

Part of this education center was a basic explanation of why the colonies went to war with Great Britain...taxes are a reason (that's a sack of tea on the right)

Washington was a religious man, he kept a pew down the road at Pohick Church...he also believed in religious freedom, forging ties with one of the oldest synagogues in the Americas - Touro - through letters during and after the Revolution

I took 272 pictures total, maybe a lot of duplicates with just slightly different views. I'd rather take more pictures to help me remember it more completely later on.

I'm looking forward now to this week and the weeks ahead. I'm getting closer and closer to the end of the semester so the anxiety level is starting to increase.

Here is a nice and simple quote from President Washington's farewell address in 1797 when he stepped away from the Presidency for retirement:

"The unity of government...is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence...of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize."
~President George Washington, 1797

Washington believed in a strong, centralized government, something that could unify a nation against dangers from abroad and at home, something that could preserve liberty for the masses for subsequent generations.

It's curious now when some people clamor for a return to the Constitution, that the Founders themselves were torn between what they wanted the document to mean, and what should be interpreted from the broadest clauses of the founding document. Washington was an impressive leader, someone certainly much more complicated than what kids shows and even movies of the day make him out to be. Also, the jury is still out on that cherry tree...

Stay Tuned....