ere stated, very little of his
correspondence with his manager during these years survives.

He returned from the Revolution with a strong desire to beautify his
estate, a desire in part due no doubt to seeing beautiful homes
elsewhere and to contact with cultured people, both Americans and
foreigners. One of his first tasks was to rebuild and enlarge his house.
From a small house of eight rooms he transformed Mount Vernon into the
present large mansion, ninety-six feet and four inches long by
thirty-two feet in depth, with two floors and an attic, an immense
cellar and the magnificent portico overlooking the Potomac. The plans
and specifications he drew with his own hands, and those who have
visited the place will hardly deny that the mansion fits well into its
setting and that, architects tell us, is a prime consideration. The
flagstones for the floor of the portico he imported from Whitehaven,
England, and these still remain in place, though many are cracked
or broken.

The portico runs the entire length of the house, is over fourteen feet
deep and its floor is one hundred twenty-four feet ten and one-half
inches above high water-mark, according to calculations made by
Washington himself. From it one commands miles of the Potomac and of the
Maryland shore and there are few such noble prospects in America.
Washington owned a telescope and spy glasses and with them could watch
the movements of ships and boats on the river. The portico was a sort of
trysting place for the family and visitors on summer afternoons and
evenings, and some of the thirty or so Windsor chairs bought for it are
still in existence.

[Illustration: West Front of Mansion House, Showing Bowling Green and
Part of Serpentine Drive]

[Illustration: Experimental Plot, with Servants' Quarters (restored) in
Background]

This was the second time our Farmer reconstructed his house, as in
1758-60 he had made numerous alterations[6]. In 1758 he paid John
Patterson L328.0.5 for work done upon it, and the whole house was pretty
thoroughly renovated and remodeled in preparation for the reception of a
new mistress. In March, 1760, we find the owner contracting with William
Triplett "to build me two houses in front of my house (plastering them
also) and running walls to them from the great house and from the great
house to the washouse and kitchen also." By the "front" he means the
west front, as that part toward the river is really the rear of the
mansion