Wednesday, March 02, 2022

The Way We Were Wednesday - Mt. Vernon


My first adventure in Washington DC was in the fall of 1977 or 1978.  My grandmother had never been to DC, and after my grandfather died I would drive her back and forth between the farm in Michigan and her winter home in Florida. They had bought a tiny house in a small town in Florida in about 1960 to get away from the winters in Michigan.  She wanted to see places she had never been, and we went as far east as Washington DC, and as far west as St. Louis.  It was great fun.  She was a delightful traveling companion.  

We went to Mt Vernon while we were in the DC area.  Little did I know that I would someday live about half way between DC and Mt Vernon, on a hilltop surveys by the General, he had dinner with the Fairfax family a week before he died, just west of where my car is parked on this hilltop.  

The house at Mt Vernon was about the same in the 1970's as it is today, the nearby outbuildings are the same, with the exception of a reconstruction of the blacksmith's workshop a few years ago.  The entrance to Mt Vernon was simpler then, there is a newish visitors center and museum that was but a dream in the 70's.  Archeology has changed the layout of the gardens, the nature of the plantings, and there is a much larger recognition of slavery at Mt Vernon, a shame filled shadow over the founding history of the United States.  

I am glad I was here then, it brings me joy that I was able to help my grandmother see things she wanted to see, to tick a few items off the bucket list.  I am glad I am here, now, and able to see the same places.  

 

14 comments:

  1. Anonymous3/02/2022

    A very nice memory and she must have enjoyed your company on the trips very much.

    I was about 19 and an older female friend wanted to take my grandmother along with myself to an expensive Chinese restaurant and she did. Until she died my grandmother never stopped talking about the experience.

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    1. We went to the Jack Daniels Distillery on one trip, she talked about that for years

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  2. You were so lucky to have such special time with your grandmother (and she was lucky, too). Last time I was at Mt. Vernon was in 1985 when we rode our bikes from Rock Creek Parkway in Georgetown. Would enjoy seeing it now, although maybe not on that 34-mile roundtrip bike ride.

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  3. I love that memory of yours. Very sweet.

    Of all the times I've been in the DC area I never visited Mt. Vernon. I should pout that on a list!

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    1. It is neat and there are sheep

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  4. It can be bittersweet to revisit the places we first saw as our younger selves.

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    1. If I had known then what I know now

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  5. What great memories. I used to travel with my parents when I was in my 30's & early 40's and I cherish those memories. Like your grandmother, they were great travel companions.

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    1. I traveled with my parents once as an adult, in a cramped motorhome,

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  6. When I taught 8th grade, the teachers took our students on a field trip to Washington DC. So many of these young people had not been in a large city where getting around required a lot of walking or getting on the Metro. It opened up a whole new world for them and I loved seeing their excitement when they saw the actual buildings and monuments they had only seen in books.

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    1. Everyone should do that, I have also done the opposite, taken a privileged University student into one of the poorest counties in Appalachia

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