The most common popular image of Martha Washington is of an elderly woman wearing a lace cap.  Martha did indeed wear such caps, as was common for women in the eighteenth century. Family tradition holds that Martha  gave this cap to her…

"The first stamp to honor an American woman was the 8-cent Martha Washington (1732–1802). She was selected from a list of prominent females submitted to Third Assistant Postmaster General Edwin C. Madden. Martha Washington, wife of George…

These were the homes of Martha Washington’s four grandchildren. Tudor Place in Georgetown, home to Martha Parke Custis Peter, was just across the Potomac from Arlington House, home of George Washington Parke Custis. Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis…

Although George Washington included a provision in his will to free his slaves upon the death of his wife, he was only able to free those who legally belonged to him. Many of the slaves at Mount Vernon were part of Martha Washington’s dower…

In his will, George Washington left his entire estate to his “dearly beloved wife Martha Washington,” for as long as she lived, with a wide variety of specific bequests to be fulfilled immediately. In the first extensive section of the…

This broadside ballad, the imagined lament of Martha Washington upon the death of her husband, was printed in Boston c. 1810. By this time, the first President was a widely revered figure, and the ballad projects a mood of near-adulation (image…

This bill is dated June 24, 1802, a month after the death of Martha Washington. It is for a coffin, costing $50 (or fifteen British pounds). The coffin was presumably for the body of Martha Washington (image courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies'…

A letter expressing condolences from President Adams, and requesting interment of George Washington's body under a monument in Washington, D.C. This was never carried out, and Washington was buried at Mount…

This miniature portrait of Martha Washington was painted by Joseph Field in 1801, after her husband’s death and not long before Martha’s own. One visitor to Mount Vernon in 1801 deemed it a “striking likeness.” Although the…