It was a three day weekend this week. I decided it was a good weekend to visit Gunston Hall, the home of George Mason, since I had never been there before. I invited my brother, Tim, to join me and we went on Saturday.
George Mason lived during the same time as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Mason was at the Constitutional Convention but refused to sign the Constitution for various reasons including because it did not have a bill of rights to guarantee individual liberty. He lost friends (like for instance George Washington) because of his refusal to sign the constitution.
Mason later wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the Constitution of Virginia. The Bill of Rights was based off of (almost word for word) Mason’s Virginia Declaration of Rights.
George Mason and his wife, Ann, built the house and the grounds to show off their wealth. 
Although Mason fought for the end of the slavery, he owned slaves himself. The slaves lived and worked on the grounds of Gunston Hall.
The picture above is inside the small building used for school for the slave children who lived on the grounds (if I remember correctly).
This is the room above the school room where the teacher would have slept.
Although there were no signs leading to the cemetery, we saw on the map at the parking lot that there was a small cemetery on the grounds. I really wanted to visit it.
This was the pathway to the cemetery. So pretty!
The gravestones of George and Ann Mason in the cemetery.
Here is the side of George Mason’s gravestone.
If you click on the picture, you should be able to zoom in and read what it says.
So pretty!
One of the unmarked gravestones on the walking path.
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We took a tour of the house. The house is pretty and it was interesting to learn more about George Mason.
According to our tour guide, George Mason was a homebody and didn’t leave the grounds of his house very much. He had chronic illnesses which made it hard to travel. Also he didn’t like people very much although he would have visitors come and visit him at his house occasionally.
Although the tour guide didn’t say this, but I think maybe a couple of other reasons he may not have left much was because it was much harder to travel anywhere back then and also look at that view from the grounds!
The next few pictures are flowers in the gardens. Enjoy!
Overall, I enjoyed visiting this historical house. The house and the grounds were beautiful and I learned a lot about George Mason.
Thanks Tim for joining me on this field trip!
