Washington: A Life

Returning to Mount Vernon on Christmas Eve, Washington embraced private life, reflecting on age, mortality, and gratitude after the war. A historic winter’s isolation was soon broken by duties: managing strained finances, reorganizing his farms, and hosting an unending stream of visitors drawn by his fame. He adopted grandchildren Nelly and Washy, aided numerous relatives, and read widely. Even while insisting on retirement, he curated his papers, fielded biographers, and hired assistants (William Shaw, David Humphreys, Tobias Lear). He voiced worry about weak national governance, yet sought repose in domestic routines and agricultural improvement.

Back at Mount Vernon, Washington resumed an aristocratic domestic style while modernizing the estate. He expanded and refitted the mansion (the two‑story New Room, a grand riverside piazza, cupola), installed formal gardens and a greenhouse, and kept to British taste. Financial strain pushed tighter oversight of five farms and a 1784 western trip to press tenants and confront squatters. He promoted Potomac navigation, backed James Rumsey’s boat, and concluded the West must be tied to the seaboard by trade. He pursued scientific agriculture—crop rotation, new barns, an automated mill—and bred mules from prized Spanish and Maltese jacks.