Located just south of Washington, DC and Alexandria, Virginia lies the plantation home of the first president of the United States: Mount Vernon. Spending a day at Mount Vernon is the perfect day trip from Washington, DC and a must for any history lover. Plan to spend a good portion of the day visiting all that Mount Vernon has to offer.
Disclaimer: Special thanks to Mount Vernon for hosting me on my trip to Mount Vernon! As always, all thoughts and opinions remain my own.
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History of Mount Vernon
The land Mount Vernon sits on dates back to 1674 when John Washington, George’s great grandfather, came into the possession of the land. The land was passed down through George Washington’s family until he acquired it in 1752. During Washington’s time, he expanded the manor house to include 21 rooms.
After George Washington’s death, the estate was passed down through several generations and began to fall into disrepair. Finally in 1858, Mount Vernon was bought by the Mount Vernon Ladies Association and opened to the public for the first time in 1860. In 1960, it was designated as a National Historic Landmark. Present-day, the estate receives more than 85 million visitors a year.
Admission and Hours
Mount Vernon is open 365 days a year. From April to October it is open 9am-5pm and November to March from 9am-4pm.
It costs $26 to enter the grounds of Mount Vernon. You can buy your ticket ahead of time here. Teachers: If you plan a trip to Mount Vernon for your students, you can get a free or discounted admission. Read more about it here.
How to Get to Mount Vernon
The closest airports to Mount Vernon include Washington Dulles International Airport (IDA), Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA), and Baltimore International Airport (BWI). The most convenient to Washington, DC is DCA, but tickets there are often expensive so make sure to check all your options. I have been able to get tickets from Los Angeles to BWI for $200 round trip.
There are multiple ways to get to Mount Vernon from Washington DC. When I am on vacation I always like to find ways to save some money. One of those ways is by taking public transportation. Although it may take a bit longer, it is worth finding your own way to Mount Vernon to save some money.
Metro and Bus
Cost: About $10
Time: 1.5 hours each way
The cheapest way to get to Mount Vernon is by taking the metro and the bus.
The DC metro costs about $2.25 each way. You can also opt to buy a weekly pass for $32 if you are spending multiple days in Washington, DC.
First, you will need to take the Yellow Metro line to Huntington. This is the last stop on the line, so you cannot miss it. If you use a weekly pass, you will have to pay 15 cents to take the metro all the way to the Huntington Station.
Once at the Huntington Station, take the exit to the lower level where you will find several bus platforms. You will want to take bus 101 to Mount Vernon. Make sure to check the times of the buses before hand as the buses are not frequent. Most days, the 101 bus comes every 30 minutes to an hour.
The bus will cost $2 each way. I recommend preloading your card prior to getting on the bus. If you choose to pay on the bus, you will need the exact fare on the bus as no change is given. You will ride the bus for about 30 minutes to the end of the line. This will drop you off across the street from Mount Vernon. Note at the end of the day, to catch the bus back the stop is right in front of the Mount Vernon Inn Restaurant. You will see a sign for a bus stop (pictured above).
Car
To get to Mount Vernon, you could also rent a car (or drive your own if you live nearby), or take an Uber or a Lyft. Mount Vernon is about a 30 minute drive from Washington, DC.
Many companies also run tours to Mount Vernon from Washington, DC if you do not want to deal with the hassle of getting there yourself. These tours start around $80.
Boat
Another option is to take the Water Taxi from The Wharf in DC, or Alexandria Harbor. This takes 75 minutes each way and costs $50 round trip. The price includes admission into the grounds of Mount Vernon and can be a fun way to see views of DC and Alexandria along your ride. Note this option is only available Friday-Sunday from March to October.
Where to Stay When Visiting Mount Vernon
TripAdvisor is a great place to start your hotel search. Search for the best Washington DC and Mount Vernon hotels here!
I recommend spending a day at Mount Vernon as a day trip from Washington, DC. Nearby Mount Vernon, there are several boutique-style hotels, but there is not much else to do in the area, so I would recommend staying in DC or Alexandria.
What to Do When Spending a Day at Mount Vernon
There are a ton of things to do when spending a day at Mount Vernon. From wandering the grounds to viewing Mount Vernon on the Potomac, you will find many things to keep you busy throughout your day.
Walk the Grounds
You can easily spend most of your day at Mount Vernon exploring the grounds. While wandering the grounds there are over 40 different sites and areas to explore. Some of the sites are small and do not take long to see. The following sites are ones that I found most interesting while wandering the estate.
Slave Quarters: This area is where the slaves lived. There are some exhibits that talk about their lives at Mount Vernon.
Upper Garden and Lower Garden: These gardens still contain some plants and trees from George Washington’s time.
Old Tomb: This is where George Washington and his family were once buried. However, a part of Washington’s will asked a new tomb to be built. He was moved to the new tomb in 1831.
Washington’s Tomb: This is the final resting place of Martha and George Washington.
Slave Memorial and Cemetery: This is where many of the slaves who worked at Mount Vernon are buried as well as a memorial commemorating them.
Pioneer Farm: This area explores the farming techniques of the time and explains about George Washington as a farmer.
Note that you can also take an audio tour of the estate. This come included with your ticket. You can pick up the audio device at the welcome center. It will also track the stops you have been to.
Visit the Mansion
A visit the George Washington’s Mansion is the best thing to do when spending a day at Mount Vernon. The price of admission does not include entrance to the Mansion. This costs $2 and you will be assigned a time to enter in order to limit the amount of people in the mansion at once. A visit to the mansion includes a walk around the first floor through several of the rooms.
During your visit, you walk from room to room as a group, and there is a different guide in each room. The guide will explain about the room and you will have time to walk around before being moved to the next room. Make sure to look for the Bastille key that was stolen from the French Bastille. It is said this key helped start the French Revolution.
Take a Guided Tour
Another option of what to do when spending a day at Mount Vernon is to take one of the many themed guided tours around the plantation. Each guided tour costs $10. Tour options include a Hamilton the Musical Tour, a Founding Flowers Tour, a National Treasure Tour, and the Through My Eyes Tour. I opted to take the Hamilton the Musical tour.
This tour lasted about an hour and took visitors to various parts of the estate. Although Hamilton never visited Mount Vernon, this tour emphasizes the relationship between Washington and Hamilton and talks about some of the sites mentioned in the musical.
The tour began in front of the mansion and visited the back patio of the house, the slave quarters, the Upper and Lower gardens, as well as the Old Vault where Washington’s grave used to be. I enjoyed how they tied the musical to the estate and gave the history of the Revolution throughout the tour. I would recommend this tour for Hamilton fans.
The Founding Flowers tour takes visitors through both the Upper and Lower gardens and discusses the landscape design of the estate. The National Treasure Tour gives you a look at the filming locations for the tour. Finally the Through My Eyes Tour is about the people who worked and were enslaved at Mount Vernon.
Adding on a tour to your day at Mount Vernon is a great way to learn more about the history of the estate. Note that tours are only offered Friday-Sunday.
Take a Photo Sightseeing Tour
Cost: $11
I highly recommend taking a boat tour to view the estate from the Potomac when spending a day at Mount Vernon. This 45 minute river cruise takes visitors along the Potomac to Fort Washington and back.
You start the cruise at the Wharf in Mount Vernon. The boat has two levels. The upper level is all outdoors while the bottom floor is mostly indoors with a front and back deck.
Along the way, you will see various homes and sites until you get to Fort Washington where the boat turns around. Fort Washington was a fort built to defend DC, right before the War of 1812. No ship has ever been able to challenge it. The walls are 12 feet wide at the top and 27 feet wide at the bottom and the river is so shallow, that ships cannot sneak by.
Visit the Museums
Included as part of your grounds ticket is the museum and education center. Inside this exhibit hall there are two separate exhibits. The first exhibit is all about George Washington’s life. The other exhibit is all about the slaves at Mount Vernon. Plan to spend an hour or two visiting the museum when spending a day at Mount Vernon.
Visit the Distillery
Another thing to do when spending a day at Mount Vernon is to visit the distillery. This distillery was created to look like Washington’s original distillery. It is open on the weekends April through October. In order to visit it, you need to make a reservation online ahead of time. You can also try the whiskeys in the restaurant.
Grab Some Food
Mount Vernon has several food options for visitors. The only thing I found I did not like when spending the day at Mount Vernon was all the food was located outside of the grounds. Therefore, you had to finish your visit to the estate before getting any food. You were not allowed to leave and come back. Thus, I recommend eating a large breakfast and bringing snacks if you plan on doing a lot of tours.
There is a food court located next to the gift shop where you can find a variety of quick bites to eat such as burgers, pizza, and salads. You can also opt to eat at the Mount Vernon Inn which has a menu inspired by the colonial times.
As you can see there are a ton of things to do when spending a day at Mount Vernon. It is the perfect addition to any Virginia or DC trip. If interested in visiting other presidential homes in Virginia, make sure to check out Jefferson’s estate Monticello and Madison’s Montpelier. Virginia also has other cool regions to explore such as Leesburg, a wine tasting region, and Shenandoah National Park.
