DIED, AT Mount Vernon, on Saturday evening the 22d ult. Mrs. MARTHA WASHINGTON, widow of the late illustrious Gen. George Washington. To those amiable and christian virtues, which adorn the female character, she added dignity of manners, superiority…

Martha Washington wrote this letter to her son and his wife from the Continental Army’s winter camp at Middlebrook, New Jersey (she accidentally misdated it 1778). Martha’s displeasure at not having received letters recently from the…

Partial transcript:

"...am obliged to be my one [own] Housekeeper which takes up the greatest part of my time, - our cook Hercules went away so that I am as much at a loss for a cook as for a house keeper. - altogether I am sadly…

Partial transcript:

"...the President seemed a good deal surprised - at the quantity of wine that you have given out, as it never was his intention to give wine or goe to any Expence to entertain people that came to Mount vernon out of curiosity…

This undated letter was written in the mid-1790s, most likely in 1795, during George Washington’s second Presidential term. In it, Martha Washington offers feminine advice to her granddaughter Nelly regarding her attire for an upcoming formal…

Partial transcript:

"P.S. please to inform Mr. Washington [i.e. Lund Washington] that I have made every possible Enquiry after his Negroes, but have not seen any belonging to him, the General or myself, I have heard that Ned is in York a pioneer,…

March 30, 1767

My Dearest

It was with very great pleasure I see in your letter that you got safely down. We are all very well at this time but it still is rainney and wett. I am sorry you will not be at home soon as I expected you. I had…

The Powels were important figures in upper-class Philadelphia and good friends of the President and his wife.  This note is a reply to an invitation to join the Powels at a circus (in fact, the first documented circus in America). …

This invitation dates to the brief period the Washingtons spent at Mount Vernon between the Revolution and the Presidency. The Porters were among the hundreds of houseguests that Mount Vernon hosted every year (many of them uninvited). Thomas…

In this letter to her Philadelphia friend Elizabeth Powel, Martha Washington refers to her search for additional slaves to assist in the kitchen at Mount Vernon. It is notable especially for a paragraph alluding to the suspect trustworthiness of…