The Archaeology of Tourism at George Washington’s Mount Vernon
Author(s): Joseph A. Downer
Year: 2020
Summary
This is a paper/report submission presented at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.
Since the time of George Washington’s death in 1799, people from across the globe have visited his home at Mount Vernon in Fairfax County, Virginia to walk the same ground that he trod, and to pay respects to the man many considered to be the American Cincinnatus. From the early 19th to the 21st centuries, visitors to Mount Vernon have left their own indelible mark on the landscape and buildings of Washington’s home. As archaeologists, we see both the deliberate and unintended actions of sightseers and tourists reflected in the archaeological record. This paper discusses the archaeology of heritage tourism at Mount Vernon, looking at visitor journals and diaries, the graffiti inscribed on and within the mansion and its outbuildings, and the range of archaeological artifacts either left behind or lost by those visitors to Washington’s home, to show how the landscapes of the past evolve with each new generation.
Cite this Record
The Archaeology of Tourism at George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Joseph A. Downer. 2020 ( tDAR id: 457156)
This Resource is Part of the Following Collections
Keywords
General
commemoration
•
Experience
•
Heritage Tourism
Geographic Keywords
United States of America
Temporal Keywords
19th - 21st centuries
Spatial Coverage
min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 906