14. Potomac River view.
About a quarter of a mile north of the Washington family burying ground is the south shore of the Potomac River. Here may be seen a delightful view of the river, approximately 5 miles wide at this point. President James Monroe, the fifth President, was born on a farm facing the deep bay on the extreme left.
How To Reach the Monument
George Washington Birthplace is 72 miles south of Washington, D. C., via the Potomac River Bridge. It may also be reached from Washington by way of Mount Vernon and Fredericksburg, a distance of 83 miles. The national monument is 69 miles northeast of Richmond, by way of Bowling Green and Port Royal, or 75 miles via U. S. 360, and State Routes 3 and 204. It is 100 miles from Williamsburg and 123 miles from Norfolk over good roads. Washington’s Birthplace is on the Potomac River, and should not be confused with Wakefield, Va., which is in Sussex County, south of the James River.
About Your Visit
George Washington Birthplace National Monument is open from 8 a. m. to 5 p. m., Eastern Standard Time, every day of the year including Sundays and holidays, except Christmas and New Year’s Day. Admission to the area is 25 cents for adults. Children under 12 are admitted free. Special interpretive talks are given to school classes and other organized groups if arrangements are made in advance with the superintendent.
Soft drinks, postcards, potted plants, herbs, and souvenirs may be purchased at the Washington’s Birthplace Post Office, located at the main parking area.
Related Areas
There are several other areas in the eastern United States administered by the National Park Service which illustrate various aspects of George Washington’s life and public career. These include: Fort Necessity National Battlefield Site, Pa.; Independence National Historical Park, Pa. (which includes the Deshler-Morris House in Germantown, where Washington lived for a short while in 1793 and again in 1794); Morristown National Historical Park, N. J.; Colonial National Historical Park (including Yorktown), Va.; and Federal Hall National Memorial, N. Y.
Administration
George Washington Birthplace National Monument, now containing about 400 acres, was authorized by an act of Congress on January 23, 1930. It is administered by the National Park Service of the United States Department of the Interior. Communications concerning the national monument should be addressed to the superintendent whose address is Washington’s Birthplace, Westmoreland County, Va. Inquiries should not be sent to Wakefield, Va.
Suggested Readings
Eaton, David W. Historical Atlas of Westmoreland County, Virginia. Dietz Press. Richmond, Va. 1942.
Eubank, H. Ragland. Touring Historyland: The Authentic Guide Book of Historic Northern Neck of Virginia. Northern Neck Association. Colonial Beach, Va. 1934.
Fitzpatrick, John C. Writings of Washington. 39 vols. Government Printing Office. Washington, D. C. 1931-44.
Ford, Worthington C. Editor. The Writings of George Washington. The Washington Family, Appendix to Vol. 14. G. P. Putnam’s Sons. New York. 1893.
Freeman, Douglas Southall. George Washington, A Biography. Vol. I. Charles Scribner & Sons. New York. 1949.
Hoppin, Charles A. The Washington Ancestry and Records of the McClain, Johnson, and Forty Other Colonial American Families. Vol. I. Privately printed by Edward Lee McClain, Greenfield, Ohio, 1932.
Smith, H. Clifford. Sulgrave Manor and the Washingtons. Jonathan Cape. London. 1933.
U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1956 O—389002
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
HISTORICAL HANDBOOK SERIES
FOR SALE BY THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS, U. S. GOVERNMENT
PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON 25, D. C.
Bandelier (No. 23), 35 cents Chickamauga and Chattanooga Battlefields (No. 25), 25 cents Custer Battlefield (No. 1), 20 cents Custis-Lee Mansion (No. 6), 20 cents Fort Laramie (No. 20), 25 cents Fort McHenry (No. 5), 25 cents Fort Necessity (No. 19), 25 cents Fort Pulaski (No. 18), 25 cents Fort Raleigh (No. 16), 25 cents Fort Sumter (No. 12), 25 cents George Washington Birthplace (No. 26), 25 cents Gettysburg (No. 9), 25 cents Hopewell Village (No. 8), 25 cents Independence (No. 17), 25 cents Jamestown, Virginia (No. 2), 25 cents Kings Mountain (No. 22), 25 cents The Lincoln Museum and the House Where Lincoln Died (No. 3), 20 cents Manassas (Bull Run) (No. 15), 20 cents Morristown, A Military Capital of the Revolution (No. 7), 25 cents Ocmulgee (No. 24), 25 cents Petersburg Battlefields (No. 13), 30 cents Saratoga (No. 4), 20 cents Shiloh (No. 10), 25 cents Statue of Liberty (No. 11), 25 cents Vicksburg (No. 21), 25 cents Yorktown (No. 14), 25 cents
Copy of survey made by George Washington at the age of 16.
Surveying
A Plan of Major Larw. Washington’s Turnip Field as
Survey’d by me
This 27 Day of February 1747/. GW