Mourning pin

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Van Braam cup and saucer, c. 1795

Martha Washington as first lady

In the mid-1790s, Dutch merchant Andreas Everardus van Braam Houckgeest designed a Chinese porcelain service specifically to present as a gift to First Lady Martha Washington. This cup and saucer is one of the few remaining pieces of the service. The cup is emblazoned with Martha’s initials, and both pieces display the linked names of the fifteen states of the Union. A Latin inscription under Martha’s initials translates as, “Our Union is our Glory, and our Defense against Him [i.e. England’s King George III].”  Image courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies' Association.

1795

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W-1497/A&C

Copper Saucepan

Daily life at Mount Vernon

This saucepan would have been used by Mount Vernon’s kitchen slaves to prepare meals for the Washingtons and their guests. Made of copper, the saucepan is lined with tin to avoid the distinctive metallic taste imparted to food by copper cookware. George Washington willed all of the kitchen cookware to his wife upon his death. It is believed that Thomas Peter (husband of Martha Washington’s granddaughter Martha Parke Custiis) purchased the pan in 1802, at an auction held after Martha’s death (image courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies' Association).

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Trunk

Marth Washington and the Revolutionary War

Despite accepting the generalship of the Continental Army, George Washington longed to return to Mount Vernon and private life with his wife throughout the Revolutionary War. This is probably one reason that Martha Washington traveled to the Army’s winter quarters every year, dealing with arduous and often dangerous traveling conditions. The General’s wife was fondly remembered by many of Washington’s aides in memoirs of the war years. This trunk was identified by one of Martha’s granddaughters as the one that she traveled with during the Revolution (image courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies' Association).

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CT-7308/W368

Needle case and pincushion made at Valley Forge

Marth Washington and the Revolutionary War

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Fan

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Martha Washington's calling card and case

As First Lady, Martha Washington entered into an important and new public role. Just as with the President, there was debate over what her official title should be. Suggestions included “Lady” and “Marquise.” Early on, Martha herself decided that she should be addressed simply as “Mrs. Washington,” which was printed on her official calling cards. One of these is pictured here, along with an elaborate calling card case owned by Martha. (Courtesy of Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial.)

Courtesy of Arlington House, the Robert E.
Lee Memorial.

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Hannah Glasse, The art of cookery, made plain and easy: which far exceeds anything of the kind ever yet published

Daily life at Mount Vernon

First published in England in 1747, Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy was probably the best-known and most widely used cookbook in both England and the American colonies in the eighteenth century. The book went through a number of editions. Martha Washington’s copy dates from the early 1770s, and was part of a list of English goods requested by George Washington (image courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies' Association).

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Clay figurines

Daily life at Mount Vernon

These ceramic toy figurines of a man holding a gun and a fashionably dressed woman were discovered by archaeologists in the remains of an eighteenth century trash heap at Mount Vernon.  Jacky and Patsy Custis, Martha’s children, may have played with these toys or ones similar to them (image courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies' Association).

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Diamond ring

This diamond ring was probably given to Martha Custis by her first husband about 1750. It was among the furnishings and accessories brought to Mount Vernon by Martha after her marriage to George Washington (image courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies' Association).

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