Get to Know Their Stories
Spend the day at Mount Vernon exploring the lives and loss of enslaved couples, Boatswain and Myrtilla and Hercules and Alice, through a special guided tour and family activities.
Both enslaved families featured during this event suffered the loss of a loved one. Although a footnote to the farm management documents, the loss of young Boatswain, a son and brother, and of Alice, a mother and wife, transformed the lives of many who knew and loved them.
Activities
Activity Hub at the Tomb Grove
10 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Visit with Mount Vernon educators to learn about the Enslaved People's Cemetery and how archaeology has shaped what we know about the space.
Make your own remembrance marker to place at Mount Vernon's Slave Memorial.
Specialty Tour
10 a.m. and 1 p.m. (Free Tour Ticket Required)
Learn about the daily lives of the men, women, and children of the enslaved community who labored and loved at Mount Vernon. Lives, Loves, and Losses is an immersive tour that offers an in-depth look at the experiences of two enslaved families—Boatswain & Myrtilla and Hercules & Alice—as they navigated love, resilience, and loss. In an hour-long tour:
- Walk the same paths as Boatswain, Myrtilla, and their children, learn about their daily lives.
- See where enslaved women like Alice and Myrtilla worked tirelessly to produce basic textiles.
Join us as we honor their lives, their loves, and the losses that shaped their community. Immediately following this tour, accompany the guide down to participate in a moving tribute at the Slave Memorial and Cemetery.
Slave Memorial Ceremony
11:15 a.m. and 3:15 p.m.
Join us at the Slave Memorial and Cemetery for a moving tribute. Hear select biographies of individuals from the 318 enslaved people documented as living here in 1799.
Learn about Mount Vernon’s ongoing efforts to memorialize the enslaved community, from the establishment of the 1983 Memorial—comprising three circles symbolizing faith, hope, and love—to the ongoing archaeological project, started in 2014, that continues to uncover and honor the graves within the Enslaved People’s Cemetery.
Activity Hub at the Tomb Grove
10 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Visit with Mount Vernon educators to learn about the Enslaved People's Cemetery and how archaeology has shaped what we know about the space.
Make your own remembrance marker to place at Mount Vernon's Slave Memorial.
In the Historic Area
The Mansion
Please note: in order to go inside the Mansion, you must reserve timed entry tickets when purchasing your ticket.
The Mansion is currently under restoration with limited access. For more information on our restoration efforts, click here.
Spinning House
9 a.m. - 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Visit the Spinning House to learn about the enslaved and hired spinners and weavers and eighteenth century cloth production.
On the Farm
Cooking Demonstrations
9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Visit the pole shelter to learn about recipes of the enslaved community at Mount Vernon.
Foodways of the Enslaved
2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Visit the replica Cabin to learn about the role foraging, and gardening in the lives of the enslaved community at Mount Vernon.
Sheep Shearing Demonstrations
10 a.m. - 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.
Watch and learn as the livestock staff uses traditional shears to shear the sheep. The fleece is gathered and used in demonstrations later in the year.
Lives, Loves, & Loss
Remembering the Enslaved People of Mount Vernon
Online Exhibit: "Live Bound Together"
Lives Bound Together: Slavery at George Washington’s Mount Vernon explores the personal stories of the people enslaved at Mount Vernon while providing insight into George Washington’s evolving opposition to slavery.