Telephone Tower in Stockholm, Sweden before they figured out bundling lines into cables. There are 5000 lines in this tower (1890).
Soon after inheriting Mount Vernon, John Augustine Washington III came to realize that the estate could not be profitably operated and maintained. Of course even then it was a popular tourist destination, but in those days the tourists were uninvited intruders who made managing the farm and home even more difficult. So, reluctantly, he offered to sell the property to the state of Virginia or to the federal government.
Virginia passed, being unable to afford it. Likewise Congress refused the offer, the proposed sale blocked by Congressmen who did not believe preservation of historic properties was a proper function of the federal government. The once magnificent home of John’s famous great-granduncle George was beginning to deteriorate. The future of Mount Vernon was in great doubt.
Louisa Bird Cunningham saw Mount Vernon while traveling down the Potomac by steamboat in 1853. Saddened by the sight of the dilapidated home, she wrote her daughter Ann Pamela Cunningham, “I was painfully distressed at the ruin and desolation of the home of Washington and the thought passed through my mind: Why was it that the women of his country did not try to keep it in repair, if the men could not do it? It does seem such a blot on our country!” Galvanized by her mother’s letter, Cunningham sprang into action.
In 1853, Cunningham founded the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, the first historic preservation association in the country, and she began raising the funds to acquire and restore the estate. Initially John Washington was not receptive to the notion of selling to the Association, continuing to insist instead that Mount Vernon should be a government-owned property. But with the success of Cunningham’s efforts and with the encouragement of the state of Virginia, in 1858 he agreed to the sale. On February 22, 1860, one hundred sixty-two years ago today, the final payment was made, and the Mount Vernon Ladies Association took possession of the property.
The oldest women’s patriotic society in the United States, the Mount Vernon Ladies Association still owns and operates Mount Vernon. It is the most popular historic estate in the United States, hosting about one million visitors per year.
Notice the phone numbers are 3 and 4 digits.
