Country Vacations & Resorts

Time in Office: 1789 to 1797
Terms: Two
Birthday: February 22, 1732
Birthplace: Pope’s Creek Estate, (Near current-day Colonial Beach), Westmoreland County, Virginia.
Date of Death: December 14, 1799
Place of Death: At his home – Mount Vernon, Virginia
Buried: In a tomb on his estate at Mount Vernon. It was then locked and the key to the tomb was thrown into the Potomac River.

Who would guess by looking at the traditional pictures of George Washington that he was actually part of a “blended family” as it is called today. Washington was the first-born son from his father’s second marriage, had two, older step-siblings, and five younger siblings. His father died when George was only eleven but George didn’t whine or cry or make excuses – he just got on with his life – and lucky for Americans he did!

Due in part to his father’s early death, George did not receive the formal English education as planned, but instead spent many years with tutors. George spent many of his younger days at Ferry Farm in Stafford County (near Fredericksburg) Virginia.

George Washington began his travels around the country (as it was then), early. In 1749 at the age of 17, he was appointed the official surveyor of Culpeper County, Virginia. Three years later he traveled with his half-brother Lawrence to Barbados, hoping to find a cure for Lawrence’s case of tuberculosis.

Washington’s early military career had him traveling mainly in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. He then resigned from the military and stayed mainly in and around the Shenandoah Valley and Williamsburg until around 1774, but he kept his hand in politics while beginning to build his family and his plantation at Mount Vernon.

Travels during the American Revolution (1775-1787)

In 1775 George Washington attended the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. George was a man of convictions and action and came dressed in his full military uniform – prepared to do whatever his peers requested of him. He assumed command of the Continental Army on the field in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1775 during the seige of Boston. Washington next moved his army to New York City followed by successful army campaigns in Trenton and Princeton, New Jersey (1776-1777.)

Next came the Battle of Brandywine in September of 1777, a quick skirmish (unsuccessful) at Germantown, Pennsylvania, and by December 1777, George found himself camped with his men and few supplies at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Those that survived the winter moved onward and by June 1778 found themselves embroiled in the Battle of Monmouth (New Jersey.) By 1783 Washington was able to disband his army, gave a farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern, New York, and by December 23rd 1783, he resigned his commission.

Continental Congress

Presidency (1789-1797)

George had done nothing BUT travel near and far since 1749 and he was far too busy to do much more than work as America’s first President. Remembering that his trip for the inauguration – from his home in Mount Vernon, Virginia to New York, took eight days in 1789, it is not surprising that George Washington strayed not far from his homebase at 190 High Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There was no White House available for the first President of the United States.

For further information on modes of travel in George Washington’s time, visit this informative page from Colonial Williamsburg. To find out where travelers like George Washington stayed during their journeys visit Historic Inns and Taverns of New England, or Destination “C” for images and a virtual visit to Mitchie Tavern – Charlottesville, Virginia.

More about history travel and next up, spending a few years traveling with John Adams…an entirely different personality…

“Traveling with American Presidents” list.