First regent Margaret Harman Nichols accepts the Spirit of Virginia Award with President and CEO Douglas Bradburn
Photo by Susan Laume   

History is filled with the accomplishments and good works of a multitude of determined women. March is Women’s History Month. 

Since 1859, one women’s group, the Mount Vernon Ladies Association has cared for first U.S. President George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate, the grounds, and important archival papers. On March 15, they were once again recognized for their successful restoration, preservation and management efforts over 160 years, this time by Virginia Governor and First Lady Glenn and Suzanne Youngkin. On Friday, the Youngkin’s presentation of the “Spirit of Virginia Award” honored the Ladies work in celebration of Women's History Month.

“The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association commitment to preservation has provided an unmatched opportunity for Virginians to learn about George Washington’s legacy and the Commonwealth’s history," said Gov. Glenn Youngkin. “In rescuing America’s most historic home and pioneering the preservation space, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association embodies what it means to uplift the spirit of Virginia, and we thank them for their past and ongoing efforts.”

In making the award, First Lady Suzanne Youngkin recognized the Association as the first national historic preservation organization, and oldest women's patriotic society in the United States. She noted that the organization was formed and the purchase made at a time “when women could not vote or own property in their own name.” The First Lady noted that the day of this presentation, of the first of six awards to be given in 2024, is particularly significant. It marks the 116th anniversary of when the last private owner of the estate, John Augustine Washington III, agreed to the sale to preserve the estate and prevent its sale to land speculators.

First Lady Youngkin shared the historic anecdote that during a 1853 nighttime steam boat journey on the Potomac, passing the deteriorating mansion, the captain sounded the ship's bells in salute. The founder’s mother, on that boat, seeing the mansion later commented to her daughter: 

“If the men of America have seen fit to allow the home of its most respected hero to go to ruin, why can't the women of America band together to save it?”

The Spirit of Virginia Award recognizes unique qualities and standout achievements across the Commonwealth and salutes Virginians for their uncommon contributions in private industries, education, culture, the arts, and philanthropy. The idea for the award came to the Youngkin’s during COVID and their campaign for the governorship, as a means to celebrate the resiliency of Virginia citizens. The Governor and Mrs. Youngkin will present five more Spirit of Virginia Awards in 2024, and all recipients will be recognized during a holiday reception at the Virginia Executive Mansion to take place at the end of the year.

Accepting the Spirit award for the Association, Margaret Harman Nichols, the 23rd, First Regent said, “We are honored to be the first recipient of the 2024 Spirit of Virginia Award. The Association’s legacy of stewardship began with our trailblazing founder, Ann Pamela Cunningham, and has continued for the last 166 years uninterrupted. It is fitting that the home of the man who was first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, was rescued by the women who were first in preservation.” Nichols said of the women, “Long before women’s rights and environmental groups, the Association was breaking ground, creating the emergence of the national preservation movement. They led the movement in a country then on the brink of civil war.” All their work was accomplished as a not-for-profit organization, without taking government funding.

Every homeowner will identify with the need for constant upkeep on a home. The President’s estate is not different. Mount Vernon has twelve original buildings on its grounds that are exposed to weather and more than a million visitors a year. The Mount Vernon Ladies Association describes its current restoration projects underway, to include major work on the mansion, and work on the Smokehouse. The mansion restoration is a major effort to protect the original building fabric and structural integrity. The work area is fenced off on the north side of the mansion, and the New Room is not now included in the home tour; the cellar also is part of the work area. The Smokehouse work now underway includes repair of siding boards on its east and north elevations. Sealing the Smokehouse exterior will protect the building’s framing, which includes some of the few surviving original sills on the estate.

Looking back into history, in 1853, after hearing news that the estate was in extreme disrepair, Mount Vernon Ladies Association founder Ann Pamela Cunningham determined that it be restored. Cunningham challenged women across the country to save the Washington’s home. She formed the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, convincing Washington’s heir and last private owner to sell the mansion and 200 acres. The price was $200,000, the equivalent of about $5.7 million today. The ladies mounted a fundraising campaign, encouraging the establishment of regional clubs, selling portraits of Washington, holding concerts, dramatic readings, plays, tableaux, fairs, and festivals, including a strawberry feast in Georgia, and lectures by famous orators of the day. Their efforts were so effective that by June 1860 they were able to pay off the entire purchase price and take possession of the estate. 

The National Women’s History Alliance, founded in 1980 is a non-profit educational organization, committed to ensuring women’s history becomes mainstream, realizing “women’s history remains largely absent from school history curricula and the media.” They successfully lobbied Congress to designate March as National Women’s History Month, now celebrated across the country. 

The National Women’s History Month’s theme for 2024 celebrates “Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.” The theme recognizes women throughout the country who understand that, for a positive future, we need to eliminate bias and discrimination entirely from our lives and institutions.

For more on Mount Vernon or to participate in its on-going preservation, see mountvernon.org.