Open 365 days a year, Mount Vernon is located just 15 miles south of Washington DC.
From the mansion to lush gardens and grounds, intriguing museum galleries, immersive programs, and the distillery and gristmill. Spend the day with us!
Discover what made Washington "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen".
The Mount Vernon Ladies Association has been maintaining the Mount Vernon Estate since they acquired it from the Washington family in 1858.
Need primary and secondary sources, videos, or interactives? Explore our Education Pages!
The Washington Library is open to all researchers and scholars, by appointment only.
| Loaf of Wheat Bread | $14 |
| Loaf of Bread and Cheese | $25 |
| Salt Pork Butter | $6 |
| The Virginia Provision Pack | $50 |
Quantities are limited.
These loaves are made from White Lammas Wheat and Fife Wheat.
White Lammas Wheat was grown by George Washington in the late 1780s. Fife wheat was first noted as being grown in the foothills of North Carolina in the mid-18th Century.
A loaf of bread and a proper portion of clothbound cheese, made in the truckle style of English cheddars of old but made in an American creamery.
The Virginia Provision Pack includes a loaf of bread, a portion of cheese, a portion of smoked ham, and salt pork butter.
A Loaf of Bread — $14
The General’s Plate — $15
A warm piece of bread with salt pork butter, smokehouse bacon, and cloth-bound cheese.
A Warm Piece of Bread with Salt Pork Butter — $8
Christopher Ludwick’s Moulded Gingerbread — $12
Warm Gingerbread Nuts — $5
A Pound Cake — $7
At Morristown 1780, a receipt was signed by Christopher Ludwick—Superintendent of Bakers and Director of the Baking Department for the Continental Army—that included nine pounds of butter, milk, allspice, caraway seed, and ginger. The gingerbread was for Washington himself.
Made from an 18th-century Fife Wheat that has been ground by the millers at George Washington’s Gristmill & a finely ground French wheat.
Included is a loaf of bread and a proper portion of clothbound cheese, made in the truckle style of English cheddars of old but made in an American creamery.
A warm piece of bread with salt pork butter — $8
Add smoked ham and cheese — $15
Bap, an 18th-century bun with fried ham — $6
Add cheese — $10
An extraordinary Plum Cake — $6
A sweet cake with almonds, currants, and spice from 1723.
| A Loaf of Bread | $14 |
| A Loaf of Bread and Cheese | $25 |
| Add a Portion of Smoked Ham | $10 |
| Salt Pork Butter | $6 |
Quantities are limited.
Made from an 18th-century Fife Wheat that has been ground by the millers at George Washington’s Gristmill & a finely ground French wheat.
Included is a loaf of bread and a proper portion of clothbound cheese, made in the truckle style of English cheddars of old but made in an American creamery.
| Loaf of Potato Bread | $14 |
| Loaf of Bread & Cheese | $25 |
| Salt Pork Butter | $6 |
Quantities are limited.
A limited-run loaf, made of three varieties of 18th-century wheat and three varieties of potatoes—the potatoes were grown on George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate.
This type of bread came to be in the mid-18th century but did not become popular in the newly founded America until the 1790s—most likely due to the scarcity or high price of wheat.
It was also found in an Agricultural journal in the 1790’s that bread was listed as another use of Potatoes.
A proper portion of clothbound cheese is included, in the style of English cheddars of old but made in an American creamery.
| Loaf of Midling Bread | $14 |
| Loaf of Midling Bread and Cheese | $25 |
| Salt Pork Butter | $6 |
Quantities are limited.
In 1773, George Washington writes in a Letter to Lamar, Hill, Bisset, and Company: ”I expect you will likewise, from Mr. Newton of Norfolk, receive Ninety Barrls of Burr Midlings belonging to me, which in my opinion makes better Bread than common Flour.”
Midling flour was a coarse middle-grade flour that sometimes matched the price of common flour but was only a step above ship stuff.
Included is a proper portion of clothbound cheese, in the style of English cheddars of old but made in an American creamery.
Culinarian historian Justin Cherry is Mount Vernon's Resident Baker and is the chef and owner of the Half Crown Bakehouse, which specializes in colonial foodways.
Cherry was a 2019 Fellow at the Washington Library. His research focused on the 18th-century foodways culture at Mount Vernon.
Cherry uses grains ground in Mount Vernon's gristmill whenever possible.
The first white Lammas wheat ground at the Gristmill since Washington’s day was baked in Cherry’s mobile 18th-century clay oven and sold at Revolutionary War Weekend in May 2019.
Cherry continues to facilitate collaboration between heirloom grain specialists and Mount Vernon’s Historic Trades Team.
In March 2020, Cherry and the Historic Trades Team installed a bake oven in Washington’s Farm. Bake ovens, also known as beehive, masonry, brick, pizza, or bread ovens, were a staple in early America.
These thick clay domes were built into kitchens next to the hearth, like the original oven in the Mansion’s Kitchen, or built outdoors. The design of Mount Vernon’s reproduction oven resembles those used throughout the Chesapeake region.
Evidence of ovens like this has not been found at Mount Vernon, but similar ovens may have existed around the estate.
Face masks are recommended indoors for all persons, vaccinated or unvaccinated.
Face masks are required for all unvaccinated guests.
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