Monday, February 21, 2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEORGE WASHINGTON

Museum at Mount Vernon
General George Washington -- "A good moral character is the first essential in a man."

HAPPY 279th BIRTHDAY to the Man Who Changed the World – General George Washington of Mount Vernon, Virginia, who wrote “The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon.”

George WASHINGTON (1732 – 1799) was born February 22nd, 1732, at “Popes Creek,” a home that his father had built in the 1720s in Westmoreland County, Virginia. George Washington was raised there and in King George and Fairfax Counties, Virginia.

George Washington died in his bedroom at Mount Vernon on December 14th, 1799. His will directed that he be buried on the grounds of his beloved estate where he had selected a site for a new brick tomb to replace the original burial vault which was badly weathered and succumbing to the elements. However, the new tomb was not completed until more than thirty years later. It was in 1831, that the earthly remains of George Washington and his beloved consort Martha were removed there. Every day from April through October a wreath laying ceremony is performed by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, at 10 am and 2 pm, at the Tomb of Washington, in tribute to America’s greatest leader.
George Washington, America’s first and greatest president, is one of the four American presidents carved into the granite at"Mount Rushmore, South Dakota.

A grateful nation remembered its patriot warrior president, George Washington of Virginia by erecting the Washington Monument, a great obelisk to his memory in their nation’s capital. George Washington’s birthday once was celebrated in this land with great fanfare on February 22nd. Today George Washington’s birthday seems forgotten or remembered only as “Presidents’ Day.”

There are probably few Americans who appreciate the indispensable role played by George Washington in the formation of the United States of America. Without General Washington, there probably would not be a United States of America today. George Washington was America’s First great General. He was an indispensable leader of the American Revolution. Our forebears described him as “First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen.”

Thankfully, not everyone has forgotten the greatness of the man. Check out MountVernon.org . ~~Edna Barney

This life size display of General Washington as Commander in Chief is from the museum center at his Mount Vernon plantation in Virginia. The image, Museum at Mount Vernon, is subject to copyright by Edna Barney. It is posted here with permission via the Flickr API by barneykin, an administrator of "The Revolution flickred" pool.

1 comment:

  1. The new-ish? museum at Mt. Vernon is really nice and a great addition to the Estate! I like the visual teaching it offers via the realistic scenes. I think it is so much easier to grasp the events of Washington's era when you can see it, almost life-sized, rather than in black-and-white on a page. My kids enjoyed it, as did we.

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