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The huge portico that overlooks the Potomac was the president’s own design. The house is built from pine, but the exterior was “rusticated” with a decorative treatment that re-creates the look of stone.

This impressive two-story room is formal enough for state business yet is inviting to all. Washington used boards placed on trestles for a table – easier to clear for dancing.

This charming room was the main public space in the house. A copy of the earliest known portrait of Washington, by Charles Willson Peale, hangs here.

Many visitors find this room a highlight of the mansion because it reflects the family life lived in the house. The original harpsi-chord Washington purchased for his step-granddaughter, Nellie Custis, is displayed.

This study was the setting for Washington’s commercial, political, and public work. A famous bust of the president, commissioned by the Virginia Assembly, is displayed. French sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon came to Mount Vernon in 1785 to make a plaster cast of the general’s head.

Mrs Washington directed a staff of slaves in the kitchen, and at least two cooks’ names have survived, Nathan and Lucy. Much physical labor was required for cooking – fuel and water had to be hauled in by hand.

This guest bedroom, with its beautiful view of the Potomac, is one of five in the house and is where the Marquis de Lafayette, one of Washington’s military aides and a lifelong friend, stayed when visiting.

Martha Washington’s granddaughter, Nelly Custis, lived at Mount Vernon from early childhood. This comfortable room was hers; she even stayed here for a short while after she had married.

Often called Mrs. Washington’s Room, this is where George and Martha slept. Mrs. Washington ordered the bed in the 1790s.

The cupola, with its “dove-of-peace” weather-vane, provides light to the third floor and aids air circulation in summer.