The Gardens and Grounds of Mt. Vernon , Va. 
THE HOETSE FROM THE GATE 
MT. VERNON 
well balanced, very practical in 
the disposition of buildings 
and treatment of grounds, 
and secures the stately effects 
of order and formality, while 
not ignoring the possibilities 
ol the site for a freer landscape 
composition in parts. 
Thus the public approach 
from the highroad in the west 
was laid out on strictly formal 
lines with a long straight 
avenue leading in from the 
lodge-gates, while from the 
piazza on the east side of the 
house, where the intimate life 
ol the family and its close 
triends was lived, the eye was 
made under direction of the Chief of En¬ 
gineers ol the Army, and as yet unpublished, 
ol which I was courteously allowed to make 
the partial tracing given here. On the old 
map both walled gardens are designated 
“ Kitchen-Gardens ” (marked X X on the 
plan) but the north one was devoted entirely 
to flowers, whose overflow partially invaded 
the south garden as well. 
The Washington Diaries, though lull of 
reference to the lawn trees, contain little as 
to the planting ol the gardens. We read 
that the conservatories held many rare plants, 
in some cases presented by friends, but 
mostly bought at the famous gardens of 
John Bartram the Quaker, a horticulturist of 
note in his day, near Philadelphia. Bartram, 
dying during the war of the Revolution, was 
succeeded by his son William who had also 
earned some reputation as a botanist, and 
who was consulted in the arrangement of the 
Mount Vernon Conservatories. The first 
greenhouses were destroyed by fire in 1835, 
when the house itself had a narrow escape, 
but they were rebuilt as before. Others have 
been added along the east wall, and between 
these and the little “Spinning House and 
the Shoemaker’s and Taylor’s Apartment ” 
is a small rose-garden. 
The Mansion grounds contain some twenty 
acres, the plan of which, by no means elabo¬ 
rate, is chiefly interesting as embodying 
Washington’s idea of the proper fashion for 
a gentleman’s place. It is symmetrica] and 
Washington’s plan of mt. vernon 
a— The Mansion House 
b— Smith's Shop 
c —White Servants' Apart¬ 
ment 
d— Kitchen 
e —Repository for Dung 
f- —Spinning House 
g - , 
h— Shoemaker's and Tailor's 
Apartment 
i— Storehouse , etc . 
k — Smoke-house 
1 — Wash-house 
mm — Coach Houses 
n — Quarters for Families 
000— Stables 
p p p— Necessaries 
q —Greenhouse 
rr— Cow Houses 
S — Barn and Carpenter's Shop 
t —Schoolroom 
u — Summer-house 
vv —Dairy 
xx — Kitchen-Gardens 
460 
