Ann Pamela Cunningham
Preservation of Mount Vernon
1816 – 1875 A.D.

When a lady passenger on a Potomac River boat passed Mount Vernon, estate of the first U.S. President, in 1853 she was suddenly shocked when she saw how it had deteriorated. The roof of the house was collapsing, the well known front portico was held up by wooden supports instead of pillars, and the grounds were neglected and unkempt.

The shaken passenger, Mrs. Louisa Cunningham, wrote to her daughter in Philadelphia: “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 like such a blot on our country!”

Born in 1816, Ann Pamela Cunningham grew up on a South Carolina plantation where she was schooled at home and learned to ride horses. However, when she was a teenager she was severely injured in a riding accident, causing her to become an invalid. For medical treatments she would travel with her mother to Philadelphia to see a specialist, and then Mrs. Cunningham would return to South Carolina by boat—hence her witnessing the decline of Mount Vernon.

Yet while she may have been physically disabled, when she read her mother’s letter, Ann Pamela faced a challenge. At the time proper ladies did not appropriately seek public attention for themselves, but Miss Cunningham did something unusual by sending an anonymous letter to a Charleston newspaper. Addressed to “The Ladies of the South,” and signed “A Southern Matron,” her letter urged the raising of funds “to secure and retain the home and grave” of Washington as a “sacred spot for all coming time!” It was published in December, 1853. Since many newspapers often reprinted material from other publications, her appeal was widely reprinted and it attracted great public attention. However, if Mount Vernon was to be restored it would probably have to be first purchased—and that was a problem. The owner at the time, John A. Washington, Jr. – great–grand nephew of the first president, was a possible obstacle.

After George Washington’s death in 1799 because he had no natural children the Mount Vernon estate had been left to a nephew, and then was passed down through his descendants. However, often due to lack of available cash for the family members, estate upkeep was sporadic and while John Washington was interested in selling, it had to be to the right party. And in his opinion that would be a state or the federal government.

Actually Washington had had offers from private speculators but he’d declined these since he believed the estate should be freely available to the public, and he feared that private owners might charge high fees. Yet he was also skeptical and hesitant to sell it to Miss Cunningham and her associates.

Fortunately, popular sentiment and concern for preservation of Mount Vernon was beginning to spread, as well as support for the efforts of Miss Cunningham and the other women. One Mobile Alabama newspaper editor put it this way: “The purchase of Mount Vernon by women impresses me as a most admirable way to secure the property and set it solemnly apart to the guardianship of the hero’s grave. The form of the tribute, hallowed by womanly affections and executed by womanly devotion, is the most fitting it can assume.”

Of course an important part of public attention and fundraising is support from celebrities and this occurred when they gained the support of Edward Everett, statesman, minister and well known orator. He preceded Abraham Lincoln as a speaker at Gettysburg. His new interest, after a meeting with Miss Cunningham in 1856, brought new support—and as it turned out—he was one of several other celebrities who brought their influence and encouragement.

Tension was eased with this exchange but Washington still wasn’t ready to sell the property to the Ladies Association. Again he sought a sale to a governmental agency, but that again failed.

However, two years later in 1858 when he realized the estate was in almost complete ruin he agreed to sell Mount Vernon to the ladies group. He wrote Miss Cunningham “Under the circumstances, and believing that after the two highest powers in the country [Federal and state governments] the women of the land will probably be the safest, as they will certainly be the purest, guardians of a national shrine…” The final price was ultimately $200,000—which was an immense amount for the time.

At first as the ladies’ group planned their spending they realized that estate repairs should be a priority. Their new treasurer reported: “…the timbers supporting the roof are almost entirely gone…a severe storm might blow it down in its present condition.” The house needed repainting, windows were damaged and the grounds—including the Washington tomb—needed work. As it turned out they learned of a nearby elderly man who retained good memories of how the grounds were originally laid out and he remained a valuable resource for several years.

With continued planning and donations, the restoration continued and in December 1859, the association was able to announce that the final payment had been made. In February, 1860 the Ladies association officially took possession. A year later Miss Cunningham arrived at Mount Vernon to settle in as improvements continued.

In a 1996 online article, Robert Poch summarized the effort at that time: “Mount Vernon was rapidly becoming what she had envisioned seven years before: a permanent memorial to George Washington.”

Then soon after as the Civil War raged around the estate, Miss Cunningham returned to her South Carolina home, where her health began to decline. However, after the war in 1866 she found the strength to return, to address the ladies association meeting for a final time.

By 1874 a frail and failing Miss Cunningham resigned as head of the ladies group with her final words: “Ladies, the home of Washington is in your charge; see to it that you keep it the Home of Washington. Let no irreverent hand change it; no vandal hands desecrate it with the fingers of progress.” She returned to South Carolina where she passed away the next year.

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Anne Adams is a retired church staffer. She lives in East Texas and has an historical column for a local newspaper. She has published in Christian and secular publications for more than 40 years.

References:
Wikipedia
George Washington’s Mount Vernon
HistoryNet