Vaughan Lobby

The Vaughan Lobby is located just outside the Food Court and The Shops at Mount Vernon. Here you will find benches and restrooms.

Laid into the floor is The Samuel Vaughan Plan of Mount Vernon. Vaughan was an English merchant, philanthropist, liberal, and Unitarian leader. He came to America in 1783. In 1787 he set off on a journal across the east coast of more than 1,400 miles, his principal destination was Mount Vernon.

While visiting he sketched and made notes of the Estate. From these Vaughan derived this finished plan, which was later sent as a gift to Washington. In Washington’s acknowledgment of November 1787, he wrote that the plan "describes with accuracy the house, walk and shrubs." This was a polite oversimplification as there were minor errors both in the ground plan, the elevation, and first floor plan of the Mansion. Washington took exception only to the omission of mounds at the west end of the Bowling Green, and the indication of planting in this area that would have interrupted a vista. The scale of the ground plan was distorted, indicating that these dimensions were paced, rather than measured by chain or tape.