George Washington

Monument Has A Moment Of Darkness On George Washington’s Big Weekend

... Post. Sign up to follow, and we’ll e-mail you free updates as they’re published. You’ll receive free e-mail news updates each time a new story is published. You’re all set. By Martin Weil By Martin Weil February 19 at 11:47 PM Follow @martyweilwapost. Perhaps if this were not Presidents’ Day weekend, it would have been easier to ignore what happened Sunday night at the Washington Monument. But on the middle day of the long weekend many associate primarily with George Washington, the lights did not go on at the monument named for America’s first president. The floodlights that illuminate the 555-foot-tall stone obelisk and add a dimension of nighttime visibility to what is already one of the foremost symbols of the District and the United States did not bathe the shaft in their bright glow. Mike Litterst, a spokesman for the National Park Service, said the lights failed to turn on as scheduled at about dusk. He said ...

George Washington Warned Against The President Showing Signs Of Luxury And Ostentation

... the New Republic. Washington opted for a “middle style,” she says. She writes in her book about how each day at 2 pm he got out of his coach to walk in the muck of the streets, just like a normal. This was a part of Washington’s overall view of what it meant to be presidential. In a 1790 letter to British historian Catharine Sawbridge Macaulay Graham, Washington wrote of his lifestyle. We wish the happiness of your fire side; as we also long to enjoy that of our own at Mount Vernon. Our wishes, you know, were limited; and I think that our plans of living will now be deemed reasonable by the considerate part of our species. [My wife’s] wishes coincide with my own as to simplicity of dress, and every thing which can tend to support propriety of character without partaking of the follies of luxury and ostentation. Presidents since Washington have come and gone with more down-to-earth lifestyles, and far more gaudy. But safe to say the first ...

Now More Than Ever…americans Need To Remember George Washington

... their positions for a limited time. The country was bigger than them and the office was bigger them. It also meant our worst presidents could only do so much damage. In leaving office, Washington showed the same grace and humility he’d shown throughout his public life. In his farewell address he said. Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that, after forty five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest. Who in ...

George Washington Birthday Parade Marches Through Old Town Alexandria Monday

... History Museum , 201 South Washington St., will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. How did George Washington celebrate his birthday in the ballroom of Gadsby's Tavern? What was considered luxurious for overnight accommodations in the 18 th century? Visitors to Gadsby’s Tavern Museum will find out at the very place George Washington dined and danced. Visitors to the Apothecary, which opened in 1796, will see its unique collection of herbs and botanicals, while discovering the important role the Apothecary played in early Alexandria. Among the featured display items will be a note from Martha Washington. At the Friendship Firehouse, first built in 1855 and remodeled in 1871, see hand-drawn fire engines, leather water buckets, axes, sections of early rubber hose and other historic firefighting equipment. The Friendship Fire Company, established in 1774, was Alexandria’s first volunteer fire company and dates to Washington’s time. At The Lyceum, visitors can view the new exhibition “Alexandria’s Nurses and Hospitals During the Civil War.” Visitors can also see the recently opened exhibit “The Lyceum: 175 Years of Local History” and the permanent exhibit “Building a ...

Founder For All Americans

... why the nation is celebrating his birthday Monday. Yes: “Presidents’ Day” is officially still Washington’s Birthday, though no longer always honored on Feb. 22, his actual birth date. And what was most remarkable about Washington was (to riff off a fellow whose birthday we celebrated last month) the content of his character. Richard Brookhiser rescued this view of Washington in his landmark 1997 book, “Founding Father.” Hidden behind myth, written off by revisionists as just another dead, white, male slave-owner, Washington was in fact a man for the ages. Born a Virginia aristocrat, he carefully cultivated his virtues — self-control, moderation, civility; his strengths physical and moral — to become the most widely admired presence first in the 13 colonies, then in the new nation. He created two American institutions. First was the army, which he commanded from 1775 to 1783, shaping a collection of untrained and undisciplined ragtag soldiers into a fighting force that defeated the world’s superpower, Great Britain. He also set the ...

Rebuilding George Washington's Childhood In Stafford County

... of and even what the plaster looked like based on the actual archaeological remains, paintings of the home, a description of someone that lived in the house, as well as a probate inventory of the names of the rooms and what kind of goods were in them. “It was called the Washington Farm Home. It isn’t called Ferry Farm until the 19 th century, and that’s because there’s a ferry that attaches from it to the town of Fredericksburg across the Rappahannock,” Muraca said. He also said that the Rappahannock was much larger at the time, but the Army Corps of Engineers narrowed the river in the 1870 s and dredged it. “So in the 18 th century, ships from England could sail all the way to Fredericksburg without switching into smaller ships,” Muraca said. Muraca does not have an exact date when the home will open, but he said that by next year, tours ...

Rev. Richard Allen Eulogy For George Washington

... and tender father. He has watched over us, and viewed our degraded and afflicted state with compassion and pity - his heart was not insensible to our sufferings. He whose wisdom the nations revered thought we had a right to liberty. Unbiased by the popular opinion of the state in which is the memorable Mount Vernon - he dared to do his duty, and wipe off the only stain with which man could ever reproach him. And it is now said by an authority on which I rely, that he who ventured his life in battles, whose "head was covered" in that day, and whose shield the "Lord of hosts" was, did not fight for that liberty which he desired to withhold from others - the bread of oppression was not sweet to his taste, and he "let the oppressed go free" - he "undid every burden" - he provided lands and comfortable accommodations for them when he kept this "acceptable fast to the Lord" - that those who had been slaves might rejoice in the day of their ...

At Valley Forge Park, A Celebration For George Washington On Presidents Day

... cake. Yes, there were cupcakes and samples from Martha’s original recipe, including tons of eggs, butter, sugar, flour, and another important ingredient. “Just enough brandy to make it taste good.”. It was at this encampment that there was a first public celebration of the General’s birthday. George and Martha Washington taking photos with visitors. (credit: Steve Tawa). “He was 46-years-old.”. Then children fell into drill formation and were schooled on how to march like a continental soldier. Stephanie Holbrook from nearby Oaks brought her seven-year-old son Ian. “He’s really starting to get into history and learning about our country,” she said. They could even see enlistment papers for which color drill team they were on. Park Rangers have opened up all of the main site for Valley Forge’s Living History program, those recreated Revolutionary War-era log cabins. Back in 1777, as soldiers were encamped in the bitter cold, General Washington had the original huts built in a matter of days, turning it into a competition among the soldiers on who could build them the fastest. Visitors were also encouraged to do ...

George Washington’s Pursuit Of An Escaped Slave

... Harry Themal: George Washington’s pursuit of an escaped slave George Washington owned slaves since he was 11 years old, through the will on his father’s death in 1743 Check out this story on __link__: __link__/2 m 0 z 72 r. Cancel Send. A link has been sent to your friend's email address. A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. Harry Themal: George Washington’s pursuit of an escaped slave. Harry Themal 9:03 a.m. ET Feb. 20, 2017. Buy Photo. 1 CONNECT TWEET LINKEDIN 2 COMMENTEMAILMORE. On this President’s Day and two days before the 285 th anniversary of George Washington’s birth, a University of Delaware professor is telling the full story of how the master of Mount Vernon relentlessly pursued a slave who escaped to freedom. Professor Erica Armstrong Dunbar chronicles the flight of Martha Washington’s personal maid from Philadelphia to New Hampshire in the recently published “Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge.”. The book received a major dollop of publicity in the New York Times, tied in with Mount Vernon’s own continuing efforts to ...