Before the trip to Chicago, someone I know and yours truly visited Mount Vernon to see the exhibition A Son and His Adoptive Father: The Marquis de Lafayette and George Washington. The exhibit will travel to Lafayette College and the New York Historical Society later this year. It is well worth a look--in fact, it was more interesting that the recent renovation of Mount Veron, which unfortunately is so crowded that viewing the historic home was an ordeal. In addition, the much-hyped original Mount Vernon colors seem to look like something picked out by a slumlord in Spanish Harlem, while curtains and bedcovers resemble something from a mail-order catalog. If that was what the place looked like under George Washington--well, let's put it this way, glossy green paint slathered an inch thick over all the trim and fireplaces is an American tradition we might do without...Meanwhile the special exhibition hall and museum had the original key to the Bastille, which used to hang in the hallway of Mt. Vernon--as well as lots of other stuff from the mansion. It sort of is a shame, but at least it was possible to look at them, because after standing for hours in line to see the mansion and slowly creep through it, not too many people stayed to look at the museum, which is a treasure trove.
The Lafayette show is just great, and worth the trip. Most of all for the insight that Lafayette convinced Washington to free all his slaves upon the death of Martha--the only Founding Father to free his laborers. Also worth seeing: George Washington's stables, sword and his suit--he was really tall, looked good on a horse, for sure. The Mt. Vernon Ladies Association did a great job restoring outbuildings and former slave quarters. Shame about the house, though...