Journey to Mount Vernon

Journey to Mount Vernon. . Before you is the Potomac River. It offered one of the surest means of transportation in the age before automobiles. One of the most famous Americans to travel this stretch of the Potomac River was George Washington. His home, Mount Vernon, is located just 8 miles south of here. After Washington's death in 1799, his home became a shrine that thousands wished to visit., Through much of the 19th century, the only ways to visit Mount Vernon from Washington, DC or Alexandria was by boat on the Potomac River or overland on an unimproved carriage road along today's Route One corridor., Thousands of people from around the world visited every year, making life difficult for the Washington family members living at the home. In 1858, Mount Vernon was sold to the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association to be preserved as a historic house museum dedicated to the memory of George Washington. This was one of the first historic house museums in the country. To this day, Mount Vernon is owned and operated by this private, non-profit organization., In order to better facilitate visitors who wanted to visit Mount Vernon by land, first an electric railway was built and then the George Washington Memorial Parkway opened in 1932. Today, more than 1 million people make the pilgrimage to Mount Vernon every year., (caption) Steamer Charles Macalester headed for Mt Vernon on the Potomac River, the same river you seen in front of you today. Image courtesy of Library of Congress.