George Washington's Gardener Slept Here
Using Letters, Records and Timber Samples, Preservationists Rebuild House 'as Old as Our Country'

By Jackie Spinner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 13, 2008

A stack of leather-bound gardening books sat on a simple wooden desk in the middle of a small room. Two broad-brimmed hats, one for winter and one for summer, hung on pegs in the corner. In the bedroom, a pair of shoes lay at the foot of the bed, as if the gardener had just stepped out of them.

With the restoration of a two-story pine structure used by one of George Washington's gardeners, William Spence, Mount Vernon is again complete nearly 209 years after the first president died.

The gardener's house, built around the spring of 1776 and glimpsed yesterday as another spring approached, is the last of 16 original 18th-century structures to be restored on the historic estate on the banks of the Potomac River in Virginia.

Piecing together letters, plantation records and samplings of timber from the house, preservationists were able to reconstruct a building that was part of a major expansion at Mount Vernon before Washington left to command the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War.

Originally an infirmary for slaves, the gardener's house, like all historic structures at Mount Vernon, was restored to look as it did upon Washington's death in 1799. It will open to the public March 21, completing a decades-long renewal of the historic site that included the 2006 opening of a new visitors center, museum and education center. Mount Vernon attracts 1 million visitors a year.

Preservationists said the gardener's house was surprisingly intact.

"The chimney was still there," said Dennis J. Pogue, preservation director for the nonprofit Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, which owns and maintains the estate. "The fireplace was still there. We found things like evidence where shelves had been. That is not a big discovery, but in a project like this, that's exactly what we're looking for."

Visitors will be able to peek into three rooms on the bottom floor, where the gardener probably lived, entertained guests and worked in his study. The barren second floor will be available for researchers but off-limits to visitors.

"We were able to peel back the layers and see so many things," said Jordan H. Poole, Mount Vernon's restoration manager. "To think, this building is as old as our country."

It also is one of relatively few surviving 18th-century support structures at an American plantation.

The restoration began three years ago with a forensic investigation. The date of the building was confirmed through a dendrochronological, or tree ring, sampling, which determined that the structure was built from trees cut down in 1775 and 1776.

A 1775 letter to George Washington from a nephew, Lawrence Washington, indicated the building's initial use as a hospital.

Plantation records show that the building was later used to support spinning operations, as a house for one of Washington's estate managers and as a residence for the head gardener.

The first gardener to live in the house was a German, John Christian Ehlers. Spence, who came from Scotland, became head gardener in 1799 after Ehlers was dismissed. Little is known about the men, though Washington once described the bachelor Spence as "industrious sober and orderly -- and understands his business -- In short I never had a hired servant that pleased me better."

"The gardener was extremely important to George Washington," said Carol Borchert Cadou, senior curator. "The gardener helped George Washington see his vision of Mount Vernon," which included a working farm of wheat, corn, buckwheat, oats and rye; fields of plants and flowers; and groves of hybrid boxwoods and tulip poplars.

Cadou said Washington selected a Scottish gardener because he considered the landscape of Mount Vernon similar to Scotland's.

From historical records, it appears that the house was later occupied by Nathan Johnson and his family. Johnson was a slave who worked as a chief house servant at the estate for George Washington's relative John Augustine Washington III, the nephew of a nephew.

Preservationists found two pieces of wood that confirmed the Johnsons probably lived there: a section of door frame and a modillion from the exterior cornice, both marked in pencil with the date 1856 and the words "Nathan house."

"At Mount Vernon, we typically have documentation," Pogue said. "In this case, it was kind of sketchy. There wasn't a whole lot of documentation. But we had the physical investigation."

The Ladies' Association bought the estate in 1858 but did not begin restoring structures until the 20th century. The effort began with Washington's old tomb in 1938, then moved to such structures as the storehouse, the smokehouse and others in ensuing decades.

Before the gardener's house, the last building restored was the spinning house in 2004.

While other buildings were being renovated, the gardener's house was modified to add a restroom and first-aid room.

The house also served as a security control room until 2005. All modern equipment, including utilities, was removed before the restoration.

"We're just really thrilled," Cadou said. "The restoration of this structure represents a huge leap for Mount Vernon and the ability to convey the historical interest of George Washington."