Owners of Mount Vernon

years owned: 1674 - 1677

After the successful establishment of a settlement at Jamestown in 1607, the tobacco trade between Great Britain and the colony of Virginia flourished. In England, the Washington family had suffered finanical hardships in the wake of the English Civil War, leading George Washington's great-grandfather, John Washington, to explore new ways to better his social and economic standing.

John Washington joined on as the first mate on the Sea Horse of London, a small trading ship selling supplies and other goods in exchange for tobacco along the Potomac River. He arrived in Virginia in 1657 and decided to stay in Virginia rather than return to London. He married Anne Pope in 1658. They settled in Westmoreland County, in the area between the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers known as the Northern Neck, to begin a new life as a tobacco planters.  

In 1674, John Washington and Nicholas Spencer were awarded a 5,000-acre land grant from Lord Thomas Culpeper, the proprietor of the Northern Neck. The grant consisted of a peninsula in the Potomac River, bordered by Dogue Run and Little Hunting Creek. The land was divided between Washington and Spencer, but the entirety of the grant would one day become George Washington's Mount Vernon.

years owned: 1698 - 1726

Following Lawrence Washington's death, Little Hunting Creek was bequeathed to Mildred Washington, Lawrence's infant daughter. 

When Mildred married Roger Gregory in 1718, her second of three husbands, she retained her rights to Little Hunting Creek, although the property would have likely been controlled by her husband. In 1726, Roger and Mildred agreed to sell the estate to Augustine Washington, George Washington's father.     

years owned: 1743 - 1752

Lawrence Washington was George Washington's elder half-brother from their father Augustine's marriage to his first wife, Jane Butler. 

He inherited Mount Vernon, then known as Little Hunting Creek, upon his father's death in 1743, and renamed it to honor British Admiral Edward Vernon. Lawrence served with Admiral Vernon when he commanded a company of Virginian soldiers participating in the campaign against the Spanish stronghold at Cartagena during the War of Jenkins' Ear.

When Augustine Washington passed away, George Washington spent a great deal of time with Lawrence at Mount Vernon. His elder by 14 years, George grew to see Lawrence as a father figure whose mentorship, and ties to the powerful Fairfax family, had a tremendous impact on George Washington's rise in Virginia society.

years owned: 1754 - 1761

By the time Sarah passed away, Anne Fairfax Washington had remarried and no longer lived at Mount Vernon. So, after taking ownership of the estate, she began leasing it to George Washington in late-1754. A further provision in Lawrence’s will stated that upon Anne’s death Mount Vernon would pass to George Washington. Thus, when Anne died in 1761, George Washington became the owner of Mount Vernon.

years owned: 1799 - 1802

Marth Dandridge Custis married George Washington in 1759, and moved from New Kent County, Virginia, to Mount Vernon, where she lived the rest of her life.

Following the death of her husband, Martha Washington continued to operate Mount Vernon with the help of James Anderson, the estate's farm manager. In his will, George Washington wrote that he bequeathed "the use, profit, and benefit of my whole Estate, real and personal; for the term of her natural life...." 

The Washingtons had no children of their own, so the estate transferred to Bushrod Washington, the general's nephew, after Martha Washington passed away in 1802.

years owned: 1829 - 1832

Bushrod Washington passed away without children, so Mount Vernon passed to his nephew, John Augustine Washington II. John Augustine and his wife Jane also owned Blakely, a 900-acre estate in what is now Jefferson County, West Virginia, and split their time between the two properties. 

Perhaps the most notable achievement of John Augustine's brief tenure as owner of Mount Vernon was the creation of the new family vault. In his 1799 will, George Washington stated that "the family vault at Mount Vernon requiring repairs, and being improperly situated besides, I desire that a new one of Brick, and on a larger scale, may be built at the foot of what is commonly called the Vineyard Inclosure...." While no progress on this project was made during Bushrod's lifetime, a new vault for Washington family remains was complete by 1831, and subsequent additions would be made after his passing.

years owned: 1850 - 1858

Although Augustine Washington formally took ownership of Mount Vernon in 1850, he had been running operations at the estate for nearly a decade prior. Unlike previous owners, George Washington's great-grandnephew shared the general's interest in a scientific approach to farming and experimented with new types of fertilizer and expanding the acreage being cultivated for crops. He also brought in funds from the sale of lumber and herring from the estate's fishery.

Unfortunately, these efforts were largely in vain. Mount Vernon's total acreage shrank to roughly 1,200 acres from a height of 8,000 acres during George Washington's lifetime, and the remaining farmland was not enough to adequately sustain the Washingtons.

Even attempts to bring in additional funds by capitalizing on Mount Vernon's iconic status had poor consequences. Augustine reversed Bushrod's decision to ban steamboats and entered into a contract with a company that provided regular trips from Washington, D.C., three days a week. While Augustine would recoup around a quarter of the money brought in from tourists, the increased number of guests only served to speed the deterioration of the Mansion and grounds.

As he continued to lose money, Augustine made unsuccessful attempts to sell Mount Vernon to the federal government and to the state of Virginia. Thankfully, the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association stepped in to become the last owner of the property in 1858.