Timeline

Protecting Mount Vernon's Viewshed

Frances Payne Bolton, Mount Vernon’s Vice Regent and a member of Congress from Ohio, purchased 485 acres of the contested land before development could move forward.

Alice and Henry Ferguson acquired the Hard Bargain Farm in 1922 and became pioneers in environmental conservation. Alice was responsible for taking the first step toward protecting the area’s natural landscape and preserving the beauty of the land and the open space across from Mount Vernon. After World War II, she purchased hundreds of acres of neighboring land and sold it to conservation-minded individuals who began building homes in the area, establishing the Moyaone Reserve community. Following Alice’s death in 1951, Henry established the Alice Ferguson Foundation in 1954 as a non-profit organization. When the Potomac shoreline was threatened with industrialization in the 1960s, the Alice Ferguson Foundation donated all of its riverfront land to help establish Piscataway Park in 1968, which preserves and protects the viewshed from Mount Vernon across the river in Virginia.

Public Law 87-362 was passed and signed by President John F. Kennedy, leading to the establishment of Piscataway Park, administered by the National Park Service. The legislation allowed Congress to acquire land through fee simple terms for the national park and for the acquisition of scenic easements over lands associated with the hills beyond. Easements were made possible through cooperation between the federal government and the Maryland state legislature by authorizing real estate tax credits and income tax deductions for donated scenic easements. The bill also authorized the National Park Service to accept donations of land from the Accokeek Foundation and the Alice Ferguson Foundation.

The National Park Service received a transfer of scenic easements on 1,300 acres of land outside of the park’s fee simple area. It also negotiated the purchase of the final 106 acres remaining in the park’s fee simple area. Today, the park has grown to approximately 5,000 acres.

National Colonial Farm took shape under the management of the Accokeek Foundation. This historic farm museum is a centerpiece of Piscataway National Park and portrays to the public the characteristics of a colonial farm along the Potomac River. 

Mount Vernon acquired a one-acre parcel known as the Stalker property. The Stalker property was of critical importance. It lies along the Capt. John Smith National Historic Trail and is entirely surrounded by Piscataway National Park. The Stalker property also lies prominently within the viewshed of Mount Vernon. At the time the Stalker property was offered for sale, the MVLA, in partnership with The Conservation Fund, acquired the property with the understanding that the National Park Service would acquire the property from the MVLA.