A map of General Washington's farm of Mount Vernon from a drawing transmitted by the General

Image file

Map of Washington's Mount Vernon farm

Caption

Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.

Catalog notes

Fields, woods and separate farm units turn Mount Vernon into a working landscape rather than simply a famous house. This printed plan appeared with Washington’s correspondence to agricultural writer Arthur Young in 1801, based on a drawing sent by Washington. It shows how an estate map communicated acreage, land uses and potential improvements. The plantation’s agricultural landscape depended on enslaved labor, an essential context for interpreting its orderly fields and farm divisions.

Original catalog record, source and attribution