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Here I am outside
Washington's
tomb
on his estate (well, it was his
estate until he died -- now it belongs to the country he fathered) at
Mount Vernon, Virginia. Behind me,
you can see the sarcophagus containing the man who
was "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."
My pilgrimage to Washington's tomb took place on April 15, 1991 (tax day --
hmmm...). I was
married less than three months, and my wife and I were on our belated
honeymoon. The first week of this trip was spent in Virginia, where my
wife's family lives, and then we went to Las Vegas for a week. Since
there are no Presidents buried in Las Vegas, I had to have my fun in
Virginia.
My mother-in-law accompanied me and my wife down to Mount Vernon, where we
traipsed through the house and the outbuildings, then down the path through
the woods to Washington's tomb. I had a real bad sty in my left eye this
day, and it was swollen to the size of a golf ball. This is why I'm standing
at an angle to the camera. You can almost see me asking, "Do I look normal
at this angle?"
...White
House Biography of President Washington...
...The Funeral and Interrments of President Washington's Body...
...The Life of George Washington (1807) Text Online!!...
...The University of Virginia's Site on George Washington's Death...
...Washington's Religious Thoughts (via The Secular Web)...
...The George Washington Papers...
...George Washington Birthplace National Monument...
...The Rising Sun Armchair in which Washington sat at the Constitutional Convention...
...The Washington Monument...
...Valley Forge National Historic Park...
...The First Dentures (and one of Washington's natural teeth) can be found at The New York Academy of Medicine...