Description

The Vaughan Plan, drawn by Samuel Vaughan in 1787, has been an invaluable resource in the continuing quest to restore the Mount Vernon Estate.
Samuel Vaughan, an English merchant, philanthropist, liberal, and Unitarian leader arrived at Mount Vernon in August 1787. He made sketches of the Mount Vernon mansion and the formal area around it in his journal, embellishing it with a perspective of the river and the Maryland shore beyond. From this sketch and his field notes he derived the finished plan which he sent as a gift to George Washington.
In his acknowledgement of November 1787, Washington wrote that the plan "describes with accuracy the house, walk and shrubs." This was a polite over simplification as there were minor errors in the ground, the elevation, and the first floor plan of the mansion. Washington took exception only to the omission of mounds at the west end of the Bowling Green, and the indication of planting in this area that would have interrupted a vista. The scale of the ground plan was distorted, indicating that these dimensions were paced rather than measured by chain or tape. Each of the two placements have images from the drawing and field notes of the Vaughan Plan on the front and an enlargement of some of the writing on the back. The heat resistant placemats are approximately 11 ¼" x 16 ¾" x ¼". Made in the USA.