{"id":862,"date":"2014-06-04T14:40:17","date_gmt":"2014-06-04T22:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/?p=862"},"modified":"2014-06-04T14:40:18","modified_gmt":"2014-06-04T22:40:18","slug":"one-reason-george-washington-awesome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/one-reason-george-washington-awesome\/","title":{"rendered":"One more reason why George Washington was awesome"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"TweetButton_button\" style=\"float: right; margin-left: 10px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" class=\"twitter-share-button\"  data-url=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/one-reason-george-washington-awesome\/\" data-text=\"One more reason why George Washington was awesome\" data-lang=\"en\">Tweet<\/a><br \/>\n<script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,\"script\",\"twitter-wjs\");<\/script><\/div>\n<p>&#8230;is that he had a commercial whiskey distillery at Mount Vernon. \u00a0George Washington was, first and foremost in his mind, a farmer. \u00a0And while he \u00a0was described by his contemporaries as not neccessarily the most gifted intellect, he was an excellent judge of character, had a habit of surrounding himself with intelligent people and listening to them. \u00a0And so it was that in 1797, after his presidency, he hired a scottish plantation manager named James Anderson who in his duties as manager of the Mount Vernon plantation saw an opportunity. \u00a0Washington was always studying methods of agriculture, and had adopted the planting of cover crops of Rye as a means of fostering healthy soil. \u00a0 Typically cover crops had little commercial value, their purpose\u00a0as a rotational crop \u00a0was to preserve the soil for the real growing season&#8217;s crop of wheat or corn. \u00a0Since Mount Vernon already had a state of the art gristmill and plentiful water, Anderson suggested the the rye could be \u00a0used to make whiskey.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/91356897?title=0&amp;byline=0\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/91356897\">How Did George Washington Make Whiskey?<\/a> from <a href=\"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/mountvernon\">Mount Vernon<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\">Vimeo<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After a successful trial in 1798, \u00a0a full fledged distillery was built in 1798. \u00a0By 1799 \u00a0it was the largest distillery in the young country, producing 11,000 gallons. \u00a0Washington died in 1799 and his nephew, to whom the distillery passed, continued to operate it until it burned in 1814, after which it was never rebuilt. \u00a0In the 1990s the distillery was reconstructed, and is producing even today. \u00a0Production is limited &#8211; you can buy George Washington Straight Rye Whiskey\u00ae if you happen to be at Mount Vernon on the few days a year it is available. \u00a0Virginia law dictates that all sales must be in person.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a few of my own pictures of Mount Vernon. \u00a0Click on the picture to enlarge<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/one-reason-george-washington-awesome\/washington-bronze-sculpture\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-864\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-864\" src=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Washington-Bronze-sculpture-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Washington Bronze sculpture\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Washington-Bronze-sculpture-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Washington-Bronze-sculpture-150x112.jpg 150w, https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Washington-Bronze-sculpture-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Life size bronze sculpture of George and Martha Washington and Washington&#8217;s two step grandchildren in the lobby of the visitor&#8217;s center, greeting guests.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/one-reason-george-washington-awesome\/gettysburg-076\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-865\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-865\" src=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Gettysburg-076-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Mount Vernon Front\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Gettysburg-076-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Gettysburg-076-150x112.jpg 150w, https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Gettysburg-076-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The stately house as approached from the front<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/one-reason-george-washington-awesome\/mount-vernon-potomac-view-from-back\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-866\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-866\" src=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Mount-Vernon-Potomac-view-from-back-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Mount Vernon Potomac view from back\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Mount-Vernon-Potomac-view-from-back-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Mount-Vernon-Potomac-view-from-back-150x112.jpg 150w, https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Mount-Vernon-Potomac-view-from-back-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A view of the Potomac River looking out from the back porch of the house<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/one-reason-george-washington-awesome\/mount-vernon-rear\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-867\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-867\" src=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Mount-Vernon-rear-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Mount Vernon rear\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Mount-Vernon-rear-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Mount-Vernon-rear-150x112.jpg 150w, https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Mount-Vernon-rear-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The rear of the house which faces the Potomac River<\/p>\n<p>Geoerge Washington&#8217;s great-grandfather came into possession of the property in 1674, Washington becoming the sole proprietor in 1761. \u00a0The house was built in phases beginning in 1758, continuing until 1778. \u00a0After Washington&#8217;s death, the property passed through a series of relatives, but deslined due to poor maintenance. \u00a0The Mount Vernon Ladies Association purchased the estate in 1859, and it was not designated a National Historic Landmark until 1960.<\/p>\n<p>Much more information here at the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mount_Vernon_(plantation)\" target=\"_blank\">Mount Vernon Plantation Wikipedia page<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tweet &#8230;is that he had a commercial whiskey distillery at Mount Vernon. \u00a0George Washington was, first and foremost in his mind, a farmer. \u00a0And while he \u00a0was described by his contemporaries as not neccessarily the most gifted intellect, he was an excellent judge of character,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":871,"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862\/revisions\/871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ego-vero.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}