Another Building Block in a Rich History

In a ceremony steeped in Masonic tradition, Mount Vernon officials and local Masons laid the cornerstone for a museum yesterday morning at George Washington's historic estate.

The Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center will house theaters, exhibits and life-size models of George Washington at three pivotal periods in his life: ages 19, 45 and 57.

At yesterday's consecration, members of the Alexandria-Washington Masonic Lodge No. 22, dressed in tuxedos and white aprons, poured corn kernels and cruets of canola oil and red wine over the cornerstone. An architect and other officials inspected the rock. Then prayers were read aloud.

The rituals were fitting, given that Washington was once a high-ranking member of Lodge No. 22. In 1793, he took part in a similar testing and consecration for the U.S. Capitol, according to Emily Coleman Dibella, assistant director of public affairs for Mount Vernon Estate & Gardens.

But although pains were taken to give the ceremony the ring of authenticity, Mount Vernon actually switched the stone.

The reason? The true cornerstone is an original piece of the White House, donated to Mount Vernon by the administration of President Harry S. Truman after a renovation of the executive mansion in the 1950s. It is sandstone, and officials didn't want to stain it in the ceremony.

So after Masons poured wine and oil on the mock stone, officials and guests sealed the real stone with mortar.

The education center is part of a modernization project at Mount Vernon that also includes an orientation center, where guests can buy tickets and watch a 20-minute film on Washington's life and accomplishments. Both facilities are slated to open Oct. 27, Dibella said.