Old Chamber

George Washington once described the house as a “well resorted tavern" because “scarcely any strangers who are going from north to south, or from south to north do not spend a day or two at it." 

This bedchamber accommodated some of the many visitors who stopped at Mount Vernon. According to Washington's diaries, overnight visitors were present in his home about two-thirds of the time, arriving at a household that was already sizable. In December 1799, it included six people: the Washingtons; Mrs. Washington's youngest grandchildren, Washy and Nelly Custis; Washington's nephew Lawrence Lewis, who had married Nelly in February of that year; and the Lewises' newborn daughter, Frances.