House right now. It was built in 1755 and 1759 and was the home of george mason and his first wife. If you look at the house, the carving and decoration outside, the house tells us that george mason belonged to the strata of society he thought he did. He was a wealthy man. The house tells us that in the details. The driveway you come up was lined, in his lifetime, with cherry trees. He didnt ever addon to the house. The house you see now is what mason built in 1769. Its kind of interesting because most other Founding Fathers did add third floors or wings, like mount vernon and monticello. George mason saw people like jefferson and others of the founding generation going into deep debt doing things like this. Today we would think of it as keeping up with the joneses or keeping up with the kardashians. Mason did not want to be in that position himself. So, we are going to have a chance to explore all of the spaces in the house. We will learn who george mason was and why we remember george mason today. Why dont we step inside . We are stepping into the central path of the mansion, which is where visitors would have come during george masons lifetime. This space is decorative and beautiful, again meant to show off that george mason belonged to the higher level in society. This might be the only space some visitors ever saw. Some might be asked to wait here while the manservant, probably an enslaved person, went to see if whoever you had come to visit was available. You waited in this space. Visitors who were deemed worthy of a visit were invited to the public spaces on the righthand side of the hall. Family friends, close business associates, members of the family, they would have been in the private side of the house, and this part of the house would not have been seen by many people outside of the mason family. Lets start with where george mason would have been at this time of day, about 10 00 in the morning. The space were walking into now, george masons office, was also a multifunctional room, because during his lifetime it was also a dining room for his family when they did not have formal guests. It was also a space where his son, who served as a copier in the days before copy machines, did all the copying of george masons writing by hand. One of his younger sons remembers being in this space with his father when he got lost amongst his papers. This was his favorite room. While it was his office, this is where a lot of the ideas we see in the declaration of rights and the constitution happened. We know that from a letter george mason wrote in 1787. He wrote that he wanted papers from his desk, and some from the dining room in a bookcase. We know he was thinking about things that were in the constitution here in this space. As you may know, in 1776, he gets invited to the Virginia Convention in williamsburg. He gets there a little bit late. He is not super excited about traveling. He is assigned to a committee to write a declaration of rights for virginia. He decides he is done with the committee. He takes himself to the tavern down the street and writes a beautiful document that states that all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, among which are life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and safety, and the pursuit of property. It might sound familiar. The first draft ends up in a newspaper in philadelphia around the time Thomas Jefferson is drafting the declaration of independence. We dont know, but we think it is possible this might have had some influence on Thomas Jeffersons writing of the declaration. Mason gets invited to philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention. Its the furthest he has been from home. He is not happy about it. He is concerned about leaving the kids that are still at home with his second wife. He has remarried after the death of his first wife. Not too excited about it. Gets to philadelphia, ends up being one of the top five speakers of the Constitutional Convention. He is very adamant about many things. In early september, late august, he stands up at the Constitutional Convention and says wait, this document does not have a declaration of rights. It goes to a vote and it is unanimously down voted. George mason at that time does not see a bill of rights added to the constitution. He is pretty unhappy about that. There are some reasons why they didnt do it at the time. The 55 men at the Constitutional Convention had been there for three months. They didnt have any money left. They hadnt seen their families. They were hot. They were tired. They couldnt agree on anything. Many of the Founding Fathers present at the convention also thought they did not need a bill of rights, that the constitution was structured in such a way that it provided protection for the members of the new nation and the citizens of the new nation. There are a couple of reasons that didnt happen. It didnt matter to george mason. He was pretty upset about it. He wrote 17 objections on his first copy of the constitution. They ended up in newspapers come on broadsheets. He wrote letters to friends and family and he said how is it going, how are the wife and family, and by the way, here are my objections to the constitution. Mason continues to pursue a bill of rights onto the constitution. He gets elected to the Ratification Convention in virginia. In fairfax county, they are proconstitution. In stafford, less so. Virginia does still ratify. Mason continues to sue for a bill of rights. As it happens, madison runs for congress on a platform that he will add a bill of rights to the constitution should he be elected. He did. James madison proposed a bill of rights in 1789. It passed. George mason wrote at that point, after not having signed the constitution in 1787, that he could cheerfully put his hand and heart to this government in 1789. He saw the bill of rights added to the constitution about nine months before his death. That is why we remember george mason today, but he would not have been able to do it without so many other people on the property. One of those was his first wife, and subsequently his second wife. Anne mason and sarah mason. Why dont we go across the hall to see their space . We are stepping into the bedchamber. In the 18th century, master bedrooms were often on the first floor. This is a space for mr. And mrs. Mason, but it functioned as a space for the operator of the household, who happened to be, in this case, mrs. Mason. After the death of the first mrs. Mason, the older daughter took over that mantle until george mason remarried seven years later. The space you see around me is all about the woman of the house. They are sharing a bed, but the dressing table might have been a space where mrs. Mason wrote her correspondence. The closets on either side of the fireplace are storage for clothing, but also for things that typically today we would store in a pantry, sugar, cinnamon, pepper, expensive wines. Those things were kept in the Master Chamber because they were expensive. They had to be imported. When somebody used them to make things happen in a household, they would come in through the door we entered through, see mrs. Mason and ask for what they needed. While george masons running politics and the business of the plantation, mrs. Mason is running the business of the household. That business of the household affected the way that guests would see the house on the other side. Why dont we step into the public space of this house . We are stepping into the public side of the house right now, looking at the space that mrs. Mason would have governed when she talked to visitors here. This really illustrates where george mason was coming from. The space is highly decorative. It would have been where he interacted with people like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington when they came to visit. It is very much meant to show, again, that he belongs in that strata of society. The reason he was able to do that is because three generations back, his great grandfather immigrated from the United Kingdom and staffordshire county here to virginia, a little south of us. He came with enough property and enough people to get rights to the land. He continued to build the property up northward to where we are here on masons neck. Over the course of his lifetime, he did gain much more property, and his son gained much more property as well. Our george masons father, also george, purchased some of the land that ultimately became the property here at gunston hall. George mason, the gentleman portrayed in the portrait behind me, consolidated all of that land and built this house here between 1755 and 1759. That is what allowed him to be part of this grouping in society. With that background, he then becomes part of the conversation about the constitution and politics in virginia and america. This is the space in his home where he would have been having those conversations with other people. The parlor we saw, the space he used as his office, was where he thought about that personally and privately. This is where he thought about it publicly. That being said, i cant imagine that his wife would not have been part of that conversation as well. Unfortunately, she did die reasonably young. She was only in her 40s when she passed away. His older daughter might have gotten involved in the conversations to some extent when she became mistress of the household. Subsequently, his wife sarah, an older woman, about 50 when they got married, would have taken over that position. George mason did have children, but they all came from his first wife. George and sarah had no children, although she did bring a young son to the marriage, george graham. George grahams son ultimately becomes one of the owners of gunston hall after our george masons death. We have taken a look at the people who may have had conversations in this house. Why dont we step into the dining room . At about 10 30 a. M. , this space would have been a very active with people getting it ready for lunch. So, we are stepping into the dining room. This space was used for dinner, public meals. The space it self is beautifully decorated, a wonderful table with silverware and dishes. But it this time of day, people were in here getting it ready. And those people were probably enslaved africans. We know that george mason owned somewhere between 80100 25 people. It was originally about 5000 acres. We still have 550 today. Most people worked in the house or right around it. There are a lot of people we dont know a lot about. We dont know if george mason freed any of his slaves or sold any of his slaves. Any of his slaves. We do know that he was giving all of his enslaved people to his children. One of the people we do know more about was a young enslaved man who served for some time as a footman. In 1784, he was serving on a ship owned by george mason. At that time, he ran away. We dont know why or what happened to him when he came back, but he did come back to gunston hall. When he served as the position of footman, he would have been acting as a serving man. In the dining room, he was in that capacity. He would see if your glass needed to be refilled or when it was time to serve the next course of the meal. I can only imagine what it would have been like to be somebody like him in this space listening to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson have conversations about life, liberty, and freedom, while looking like he is not really listening to these conversations, and knowing that they did not mean anything about him. George mason did leave a legacy of life, liberty, and freedom. It is complicated. He did own slaves, but he left a legacy for us to have a conversation 250 years later. We are going up the staircase. This is where the mason family would have gone up the stairs, and any other guests. The enslaved population, paid servants, indentured servants were probably using another staircase. It is hidden from view of guests. If you come and visit, you have the opportunity to walk up that staircase and get that experience. We have stopped in a long hallway that seems atypical in an 18thcentury home. More often than not, there are about five rooms upstairs. George mason, interestingly enough, gets seven plus a storage room. These bedrooms line the hallway. There are not any assigned bed chambers. Guests were probably using corner chambers, and the kids were using the inner bedrooms. The inner bedrooms dont have any fireplaces. They have fewer windows. It made for the space being a little warmer in the summer, cooler in the winter, less desirable for visitors. But if we step down the hall and take a look into one of these beautiful bedrooms on the side, you can see more windows, a fireplace, maybe a little more comfortable for visitors. The family story goes that this bedroom we are looking into is the one Thomas Jefferson stayed in just weeks before george mason passed away. George mason had nine children. Most of his nine children ended up in politics or government, in some way involved in the new country. They were not as prolific as george mason. They were not as wellknown known. But they were still involved. They thought they were supposed to be engaged the same way george mason himself did. Unfortunately, his oldest son passed away shortly after our own george masons death in 1796. So, our george mason dies in 1792. His oldest son dies in 1796. The property falls to his grandson, who was not very old at that point. He ends up not living at the house and it falls into other hands. It goes to the nephew by marriage, george mason graham, son of george graham, sarahs nephew. That being said, many sons and grandsons used their grandfathers legacy in positive and negative ways. One of george masons grandsons followed his grandfathers footsteps into politics and helped author the fugitive slave act. If you are familiar with the film 12 years a slave, thats the law that made that possible. James murray mason worked on that law as part of his grandfathers legacy. Not very positive, but a very interesting legacy george mason left behind. Other grandsons were involved in politics as well. They did some more positive things, helped shape government thereafter. Its very interesting to see the way george masons life has been used, his legacy has been used. Here it gunston hall, it is important to know the george mason owned people. He also opened the door for us to have the conversation 250 years later. He opened the door for us to expand to whom the declaration of rights applied. In the 18th century, it would not have applied to me. It might not have applied to you. But because today we have continued to have this conversation, it does apply to all of us, and i think that is very special, very important, and why we still talk about george mason the way we do today. So, we have stepped over here to the servant staircase. This is a reproduction of stairs we know to have been here during george masons lifetime. The last private owner took them out because he thought they were not accurate. But this would have been accessed to the second floor and all the way down to the basement for the people working against an hall. The enslaved population, paid and indentured servants who found themselves working here at gunston. It is putting narrow, pretty windy, doesnt have a handrail. You can only imagine what it would have been like to be going up and down with a full skirt, a basket of laundry, or a chamber pot. This has access from the side passage of the house. This would have been enclosed during george masons lifetime. It would have included the kitchen behind me, the well house, the laundry, some other small buildings like a chicken coop. In george masons lifetime, things that needed to get done could come directly from the interior into this workspace. It would have been a busy space that would have been enclosed and hidden from visitors coming up the driveway or from the Potomac River and entering through the beautiful garden just on the other side. That garden would also have included things like vegetables that would have been used in the kitchen and in the house. There would have been access back and forth and it would have been beautiful for the masons to wander through. This would have been where most of the enslaved people worked. Hot, dirty, smelly. If you have ever been to a horse yard or a cattle yard and had that kind of odor wafting through, imagine that odor in this space along with all the garbage that was checked out the window. That was pretty evident here. Lots of garbage overtime. Thats not to say they were just shocking garbage. There were probably designated locations for it, but that would have been part of the life here. It is possible that the enslaved cooks who worked in the building behind me would also have lived on the second floor in a kind of garrett space. The laundry maids might have lived in the laundry, but they might also have lived in a slave quarter that no longer exist. It was off the side of the house. John mason described it. It was screened by mulberry and cherry trees and it was called the negro quarters. That space did not survive because it was wooden it was not taken care of during its lifetime. After george mason died, those spaces went into disrepair and were demolished. Gunston hall became a museum in the 1950s. The last private owner was a gentleman by the name of lewis earl. He was a wealthy man who bought gunston hall just after the death of his first wife to be his country estate. He married again, a young woman named eleanor. Eleanor was a member of the National Society of the colonial dames of america. If you are familiar with the daughters of the american revolution, it is similar, except that your ancestors have to arrived pre1776 and have to have done something important. She dies. Mr. Hurtle never remarries until 1949. But not terribly long after his second wifes death, he writes his will and deeds the property to the commonwealth of virginia under the operation of the National Society of the colonial dames of america. That is how we still operate today. We are owned by the commonwealth and operated by the dames. We opened in 1961 is a museum. From there, we have had an illustrious history filling the house with objects and interpreting george mason. In recent year, the mission has shifted to focus on the ideals put forward in the declaration of rights and the constitution. If you come today, you experience us talking about george mason and why he is still important to us today. We are a little under a quartermile away from the house now. We have walked down the driveway up to the family cemetery. We have approached this beautiful avenue of cedar trees planted by the last private owner about 100 years ago. I am standing next to a red oak tree we think was planted in honor of george mason after his death in 1792. George is only a little ways away. He is right over here in this walled section of the cemetery. The wall was added by the last private owner under the funding from the sons of the american revolution. Georges burial was not well marked. The two tombs you see, one is original. This one on the right is the tomb of his first wife. She died in 1773. She was the third burial on the property. The first two were their last two children, who were twins, about three months before. They are buried at the foot of her tomb. George mason was buried right next to ann. Never fear, neither of them are above ground. The tombs are just markers. The tomb on the lefts george masons marker, but it was not added until about 1990 when we discovered that george mason had originally intended for anne and himself to have these boxes. The original for george masons, we think was stored in alexandria until his death, but when he died, it was unable to be found and his sons were not able to put it over his tomb. In the 1990s when we discovered that story, we installed a tomb over his grave. His son george mason in lexington is also buried here. His grave is on the property, but many of them are not properly marked because the Burial Ground fell into disrepair after his death. When visitors come to gunston hall, i hope they remember the special, personalized experience we are able to offer personally. And also that george mason did something really incredible, really special, that helped shape the way we think about ourselves as americans today. He sat down and wrote the first declaration of rights that existed in the newly formed america. He opened the door for us to continue to have conversations about it today. Whether or not you agree with where the conversations have been going, the fact that we are even having them is due to george mason and people like him in the founding period. I hope thats what visitors take away