George Washington's front porch on the Potomac

George Washington leased Mount Vernon in 1754 and inherited it in 1761, doubling the farmhouse in stages into the mansion with its famous two-story piazza overlooking the Potomac.

Hundreds of enslaved people lived and worked on the estate; Washington's will provided for the freedom of those he owned after Martha's death.

Washington died in an upstairs bedroom in December 1799. In 1858 the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association bought the decaying house — one of the first historic preservation campaigns in America.

America's historic preservation movement began with women raising money to save one house.