This well-proportioned room was planned by Washington for the banquet hall, and this addition, in 1776, completed the enlargement of his house—now dignified by the name of Mansion. The decoration throughout is as he designed it; the present fresh appearance of which is the result of restorations (1884) by Mrs. Justine Van Renssalaer Townsend, then Vice-Regent for New York. An attractive feature is the handsome marble mantel presented to Washington in 1785 by an English admirer, Mr. Samuel Vaughan. The model of the Bastile is made from a stone from the renowned French prison and was sent over by Lafayette in 1793. A plateau for ornamenting his dining table was imported by Washington. Among original relics recovered for this room are the clock, candlesticks and vases, two quaint silver bracket lamps, a footstool from Washington’s pew in Old Trinity Church, N. Y., and paintings of the Great Falls of the Potomac. There are portraits of Washington by Gilbert Stuart and C. W. Peale, also a supposed portrait of Washington at the age of twenty-one, recently sent over from Glasgow as a loan.
Kitchen
A tour of inspection among the several buildings develops points of interest at every turn. The family kitchen bears evidence, in the proportions of its huge fireplace with ponderous crane and bake-oven near by, of what feasts were prepared therein. The interior of this room was renovated by Miss Amy Townsend, late Vice-Regent for New York, who obtained for it furnishings of contemporaneous date. The smoke-house stood near, and in season was filled with hams and meats for smoking. The larder was well stocked, tradition states, as indeed it must have been, to feed so many guests in addition to the regular household and large retinue of servants.
Powder Horn used by one of the “Minute Men” at the Battle of Concord
Charleville Musket brought by General Lafayette in 1777
Shot Gun sometime used by General Washington
Mrs. Washington’s Sitting Room
