"Without Partaking of the Follies of Luxury and Ostentation": Virtue, Nature, and the Human Presence at Mount Vernon

abstract:George Washington shaped his estate at Mount Vernon to indicate his moral position as an individual and as the leader of a new nation. He subscribed to the Scottish Enlightenment idea that the lure of luxury and the vice of ostentation were at the heart of personal ruin and the downfall of nations. In his landscape, he avoided luxury, and even removed or reduced human presence, including that of enslaved people. While Washington's descriptions emphasized Mount Vernon's rustic and unpretentious character, visitor accounts indicate that Washington's gardens achieved an elegance and fine sense of style, with a modesty and sobriety fitting the leader of a virtuous republic.