Mount Vernon Unveils Restoration of 'New Room' -- for your next trip to DC

JEK

Senior Insider
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Historians had long called the biggest room in George Washington's Mount Vernon estate "the Large Dining Room." Where else would the first president hold his meals except in the most auspicious room?
It turns out they were wrong.
Mount Vernon historians discovered last year that the room George and Martha Washington referred to as the "new room" was actually a multi-purpose salon (or sitting room) created to entertain guests. Armed with this new information, curators took the no-longer-a-dining-room through one of Mount Vernon's largest restoration projects.
Mount Vernon unveiled the "New Room" Friday after a massive restoration project that lasted more than a year, according to the estate.
The room will be open to the public starting Saturday.
The New Room had been closed off for the $600,000 restoration project in January 2013. During the project, crews replaced the paint with historically accurate colors and designs, as well as cleaned and repaired the architectural ornaments and replaced the wallpaper.
They also removed the dining table and rearranged the artwork adorning the walls into a gallery style.
The ceiling cove, which had been painted green since a paint analysis done in the room in 1979 incorrectly determined this color, is now painted white. The restoration team found that the cove was whitewashed in the 18th century and remained white for decades until 1980, when the green paint layer was applied, according to the New Room restoration blog.
The modern paint layers -- which had fallen into poor condition -- were stripped and the cove was painted a white acrylic distemper to simulate the original whitewash.
The team looked at inventory records and Martha Washington’s will to complete more historically accurate reproductions of the wallpaper border and the window treatments. The works of art, ornaments, vases and the marble mantelpiece were given conservation treatments.
During the restoration, the team found that a small, porcelain handle recovered in 1994 matched one of the smaller jars in the New Room, and was able to mend the handle back to the vase.
And Mount Vernon officially christened the space the New Room -- because that's what George and Martha called it.
The restoration project was funded by contributions from Mount Vernon donor groups, a donation from the Dr. Scholl Foundation and a $100,000 grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Mount Vernon is owned and maintained by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.
 
Thanks for sharing this article, John . . . Wendy's architectural career was largely directed to historic preservation (mostly in NY), so we find great interest in knowing details of the research and other work that goes into returning buildings and their interior spaces to period conditions. In this regard, the DC area is a goldmine!
 
There was great excitement about this unveiling when I visited Mount Vernon recently. Also about the fact that the distillery is ready to begin selling Peach Brandy which is produced on site. Big doings!
 
That brandy is in very limited supply and is going for a peach of a price!

[h=1]Limited Edition Peach Brandy[/h][h=2]Available Tuesday, April 1 at 10 a.m.




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[h=2]Approximately 400 bottles of George Washington Peach Brandy™ will be available for sale Tuesday, April 1, at 10 a.m. at the Gristmill Shop. The Peach Brandy was distilled at George Washington’s reconstructed distillery at Mount Vernon.[/h][h=2]Available for purchase at The Gristmill Shop for $150 per 375 ml bottle. In-person sales only.[/h]
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Mount Vernon staff, working with the assistance of several craft distillers, produced this brandy based on traditional 18th-century methods. This peach brandy was double-distilled in copper pot stills heated by wood fires and aged for more than two years. It is the first peach brandy made at George Washington’s Distillery in over 200 years.
Washington oversaw the production of just 60 gallons of the popular spirit each year, compared to the 11,000 gallons of rye whiskey that he bottled and sold during the same time period. Most of the brandy never made it to market. He poured it instead for the guests that flocked to his Mount Vernon estate.
Doors will open at 8 a.m. at which time number vouchers will be issued to customers. We will call out numbers to begin sales at 10 a.m. You may obtain a number voucher and return at any time between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 1 to make your purchase.
Any peach brandy remaining unsold after April 1 will be available for purchase on subsequent days in The Gristmill Shop.
Sales are limited to one bottle per person. Must be 21 or over to purchase: a valid ID is required to purchase the George Washington Peach Brandy™.
Our apologies, but Virginia ABC regulations do not allow us to ship brandy purchases nor can we take online or phone orders.
Distillers from the following organizations participated in the distilling of
George Washington's Peach Brandy™:

A. Smith Bowman Distillery
Catoctin Creek Distilling Company
Finger Lakes Distilling Company
Hillrock Distillery
Huber Starlight Distillery
Philadelphia Distilling
Templeton Rye Spirits

 
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