Garden FAQs

Gunston Hall’s expert staff, consultants, and volunteers have answered some of the frequently asked questions about the Riverside Garden Project. (Don’t see your answer here? Ask us via email.)

 

Q: How long will it take to finish the riverside garden?

A: Gunston Hall’s garden restoration project is the culmination of decades of archaeology and research  and more than a year of onsite construction work. The garden will change rapidly over the next two years as we work to repopulate it with the types of plants here during the 1770s and 1780s. It is likely George Mason’s garden took decades to mature. Our garden will be no different. Visit regularly to watch the garden grow!

Q: What is a cover crop and why are you  growing it?

A: A cover crop is any crop grown for non-commercial purposes, and intended to improve the soil. Good soils take a long time to build. Plus, the long-time construction required heavy equipment which compressed our soils. To help prepare the soil for our historic plantings, the construction crew sowed a cover crop of turnips in the spring. Turnips are fast growing and outcompete weeds. They grow deep taproots which loosen up the soil. More aerated soil will benefit everything we plant, as the improved dirt will allow  roots to grow much faster than they would in compacted soil.. 

We had a lot of turnips!  Staff cooked some, using both historic and modern recipes.  And we donated hundreds to local food banks.Then we tilled into the soil the remainder.  The turnips will improve the soil quality by to adding organic matter and nutrients as they decompose. Now we have a new cover crop.  We are currently growing a black-eyed peas, sunflowers, and oats. This mixture provides a variety of benefits; each crop contributes something different. Black-eyed peas fix nitrogen into soil. Sunflowers help loosen soil while providing food for pollinators. Oats produce numerous leaves which suppress weeds. Together these cover crops will ensure our soil is ready for 2021.  

Q: How big is Gunston Hall’s garden?

A: Gunston Hall’s fence encloses roughly one acre. The combined square footage of each garden bed equals 41,145 square feet. (Just over nine tenths of an acre.) These plots are a food source in disguise as a pleasure garden.  The flowering borders that surround each bed hide the garden’s ability to produce a lot of food. Over three fourths of the garden’s total space grew fruits, vegetables, herbs, and other important natural products for the Mason family. 

Q: Who did the gardening at Gunston Hall?

A: George Mason designed and managed his garden, but it is unlikely he did any of the physical labor. Enslaved gardeners, and possibly hired or indentured servants, provided most of the work needed to keep the riverside garden beautiful. To learn more about how the members of the enslaved community at Gunston Hall shared the garden space click here.

Q: How many people could Gunston Hall’s garden feed?

A: George Mason expected his garden to adequately feed his growing family and extended family, which depending on the year counted as many as 14 people. There was also enough bounty to ensure the family’s guests had enough to eat. The garden likely provided an abundance of fruits and vegetables throughout most of the year. This food source supplemented staple grains like wheat and corn, the Masons’ livestock, local fish stock, game the Mason’s could access on their substantial property, and  imported goods from around the world. 

Q: How did the garden provide food during the winter?

A: By combining season extension, food preservation, and food storage strategies, the Masons had access to fruits and vegetables most of the year   It is likely that the Mason family and the gardeners they hired or held in bondage were well versed in stretching their food supply during the winter. A variety of crops, like cabbage, beets, or salad greens may have survived as late as October or November and longer if the gardeners protected the plants with glass bell jars. A host of crops were pickled in vinegar, while herbs, sweet potatoes, onions, and garlic were dried or cured before storing. Still others, like winter squash and potatoes, were stored in the Mason’s root cellar. These crops kept for several months before spoiling. 

Q: How did George Mason acquire such a wide variety of plants?

A: George Mason seldom traveled far from Gunston Hall, but his position as a wealthy planter connected him to other planter-gardeners in Virginia and Maryland, some of whom had traveled more extensively. Many of these individuals swapped seeds out of habit, while others were involved in emerging horticultural enterprises. Mason also had contact with the Bartram family, early pioneers in American horticulture. In the early 18th century John Bartram travelled across the colonies collecting different plants to grow in his nursery. George Mason, while attending the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, met members of the Bartram family at their nursery just outside of town. Perhaps Mason and John Bartram exchanged seeds.  We certainly can imagine that they had plenty to discuss in their mutual horticultural interests. 

Indentured Servants at Gunston Hall

When English settlers arrived in the New World, they brought indentured servitude with them.  Under this system, people worked for a set period of time as a payment for something. In Virginia, many indentured servants worked to earn enough money to pay for the cost of their travel from England. Some were children who were “bound” by their parents or the court system.Indentured servants were men and women who willingly signed a contract in which they agreed to work for a certain number of years to compensate for their voyage to America. 

Three different types of indentured servant agreements existed in the 18th century: free-willers, King’s passengers, and redemptioners. George Mason held contracts for all of these kinds of indentured servants over the course of his life. Mason’s records are inconclusive, so it is not known how many he utilized throughout his life.

Free-will indentured servants decided to come to America on their own merit and willingly signed a contract before departing England. King’s passengers, also known as convict servants, were criminals who were sent to America to serve a term of seven or fourteen years, depending on the crime they committed. Finally, redemptioners were passengers who were given two weeks to redeem the price of their voyage once they got to America and if they were unable to make the payment, they were sold to the highest bidder.

There are very few records on the indentured servants who worked and lived at Gunston Hall. The handful that remain give us a look at what type of servitude they were indentured into, the skills they acquired, and their primary responsibilities.

William Buckland

After receiving training as a carpenter and joiner in Oxford, England, William Buckland, at the age of 22, decided to sign an indenture contract with Thomson Mason, who was acting on behalf of his brother George. Buckland’s indenture began in 1755 and lasted for four years. His skills in designing and building fashionable woodwork yielded a sum of £20 sterling (an amount equaling about 3 months wages for a skilled laborer) per year in addition to room and board which included “meat, drink, washing, [and] lodging.” Buckland played a significant role in the creation of Gunston Hall and produced the elaborate interior designs that can still be seen today. Upon completing his indenture, he continued to design and construct houses and public buildings on the Northern Neck of Virginia and in Annapolis, Maryland.

William Bernard Sears

A skilled woodcarver, William Bernand Sears must have fallen on hard times. While living in London, he stole several articles of clothing and pawned them off. Sears was punished with a sentence of serving seven years as a “King’s Passenger,” or convict servant. At the time, only about 50% of Europeans newly arrived in North America lived longer than 6 months. Sears was placed on the colonies-bound ship Tyral in 1752. After beginning work on Gunston Hall in 1754, George Mason seems to have bought Sears’ contract–and thus his labor–from another person in the region. As a master carver, Sears translated William Buckland’s designs into wood. 

After Sears completed his indenture, he continued to work as a master carver. He carved a wooden mantlepiece in the dining room at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, as well as trained Washington’s enslaved carver, Sambo Anderson. He then worked on two churches, including Pohick Church in Lorton, Virginia. Sears’ 1818 obituary stated that he “lived for a considerable time in the family of Col. George Mason of Gunston, who ever spoke of him in terms of highest respect.”

Timothy Hanly

Timothy Hanly was a sawyer, or someone skilled in sawing wood into boards. He came to America as a redemptioner, with two weeks after his arrival in the New World to find money to pay for his trip across the Atlantic. Hanly discovered what most other redemptioners learned: it was almost impossible to earn the money that quickly.  Hanley proved unable to pay his passage fare within the allotted time. George Mason bought his contract, paying the debt in exchange for Hanley’s work for a period of time. The Masons needed Timothy Hanly’s specialized skills in sawing wood, because one of the middle Mason sons, Thomson, was building his home, Hollin Hall. Hanly’s indenture lasted for 18 months.

John Davidson and David Constable

John Davidson from England, signed a contract as a free-will tutor for George Mason in 1770. Very few records of Davidson exist, but we can assume that his indenture term lasted between three to four years because another indentured tutor, David Constable, started his term in 1774.

David Constable, also someone who traveled to the colonies of his own free will, graduated from the College of Aberdeen in Scotland. Soon after, he left the British Isles to move to Virginia and tutor Ann and George Mason’s children.Constable lived and worked at Gunston Hall from 1774 through1781. After he completed his indenture, the young man moved to the Carribean island of Saint Kitts, where he took over his ailing brother’s business. George Mason helped smooth the way for Constable, writing to the Governor of Virginia, Thomas Nelson Jr., asking for a passport for Constable to travel to the West-Indies in 1781.

Thomas Spalding

Thomas Spalding, a free-will brick maker and brick layer, arrived at Gunston Hall in 1774. His contract stated that his indenture would last for four years, during which time, he would also receive a salary of £12 sterling. According to the Fairfax County Court, Spalding was not capable of performing his duties, and the court changed his original contract. The Court ruled that Spalding would have to finish the remainder of his indenture, but he would no longer receive wages.

German Coachman, Name Unknown

When George Mason needed someone to be a coachman, or drive his carriage, he purchased from another plantation owner an indenture contract that still had two years left. We know little about the man who was under contract. We know that he was a German immigrant, but we do not know his name.  When he was not driving the carriage, the man served as a waiter in the mansion. After he fulfilled his contract in 1787, the coachman stayed on at Gunston Hall, working out several yearly contracts. Staying on as a wage worker was a fairly common practice for people whose indenture agreements had run out. The unidentified man received wages of  £15 a year plus clothing. The clothing likely included livery (a uniform). A surviving letter to George Washington tells us that Mason did not think much of the coachman but kept him on because it was difficult to find skilled coachmen. Mason wrote to Washington that the coachman was “exceedingly lazy” and “incorrigibly addicted to liquor.”

People of Gunston Hall

Gunston Hall was a busy, thriving enterprise made possible by the work of hundreds of people who were not part of the Mason family. Some people, such as Thomas Halbert, a tenant farmer, and Mrs. Newman, a governess, had a choice. Others, such as Cato, an enslaved man who probably worked in the fields, and William Bernard Sears, an indentured servant, toiled at Gunston Hall in bondage.

We are still uncovering the details of their lives. Historical documents and archaeological evidence tell us that their experience was far removed from that of the people who lived in the mansion that remains today. From the food they ate to the clothes they wore to the work they did to the buildings they lived in, many residents experienced much more hardship and much less elegance than the Masons did.

Learn more about all of the people who lived in and around the property.

Making Rosemary Stem Cuttings

Duration: 30-45 minutes to set up (plus 1-2 minutes daily for 30-60 days)
Recommended Ages: Suitable for ages 7-11 with minimal adult assistance and age 12 and older without supervision.
Description: Garden at home by growing rosemary from stem cuttings, and learn how cuttings were important in the 18th century. Over the next few months, your cuttings will develop roots and become new plantlets.

Colonial Gardening

While we often think of starting new plants from seeds, we should not overlook propagating—or making new plants—from cuttings of existing specimens.  The process of taking stem cuttings is especially useful when you need to be certain of what you are growing. Some plants are unpredictable when they start as seeds. For example, an apple grown from seed may be sour, mealy, tart, sweet, or bitter, no matter what was the taste of the original apple. In these situations, using seeds is a bit like rolling a handful of dice! Gardeners almost always reproduce apples, peaches, pears, and other fruits from cuttings. Like identical twins, a plant grown by cutting is genetically the same as the mother plant. 

Fruit trees were among the first crops planted by English settlers in the new world. Colonial planters understood the best way to reproduce fruit trees, and they often used cuttings. Almost two centuries after the first Europeans arrived in Jamestown, Virginians were still using this technique.

Staff helped guests use the same process at Gunston Hall to help preserve the genetic material of the site’s historic boxwoods.

George Mason wrote in 1787 to his son John requesting “a few young Trees of the best kinds of Pears and Plums, by any Ship to Potomack River. . .also a few young Grape Vines, of good kinds; the roots should be carefully covered with Moss, or some such thing, or set in Boxes of Earth.” Colonists preferred cuttings, or small trees grown from cuttings, for two reasons. Cuttings helped colonists be sure that the variety they received was desirable. Only the most wealthy colonists could afford to purchase trees–rather than small cuttings–shipped across the ocean. 

Cuttings were also used over shorter distances. George Washington recorded in his diary in April of 1785, “[Colonel] Mason. . . sent me some young shoots of the Persian Jessamine & Guilder Rose.” This type of exchange was common in this time period. George Mason and others sought rare plants because they enjoyed gardening, used their gardens to display their status, and hoped to improve the resources available to American farmers.

Discover the basics of growing plants from cuttings and build your 18th century skills! Making new plants from cuttings is exciting.

What do you need

Plant Materials: Look around for what is available.  For example, can you find some live rosemary, lavender, sage, or fig. Fresh rosemary cuttings sold at grocery stores may also be used.
Soil: If possible, open a new bag of potting mix. A bag you have already opened but recently purchased is ok, too. Soil mixes labeled for potting are generally better than topsoil or soil dug in your backyard. Potting mixes better avoid compacting over time and are easier for new roots to work into. If your cuttings rot, it is possible the mix is carrying soil borne diseases. Clean the vessel with soap and water. The 1 to 2 cups of soil used for cutting propagation can be microwaved for 90 seconds in a microwave safe container, allowed to cool, and then returned to the vessel.
Small Pot or Container: Your cuttings will be 4 to 6 inches. Their containers may be small. A small pot 3 or 4 inches deep, a 6 oz mason jar, or a coffee cup is about the size you are looking for. If you use something without a hole or two  in the bottom, add some rocks or broken crockery to create a small drainage pace–still, be extra mindful about over-watering. You may put 2 to 3 cuttings in one pot.
Scissors or knife
Water
Spray Bottle: This item is optional.
Auxin or Rooting Aid: This is an optional ingredient. This method gets good results without plant hormones, but the powders are effective in speeding up rooting.
Paper and Pencil: For notes, sketches, and questions

1. Prepare your container by loosely filling it with soil and moistening the dirt with water. If your soil is really dry, you may find it helpful to pour some of it  in a bowl, add water, and mix it with your hands. It is easy to make the mistake of just wetting the surface while the bottom stays totally dry–this will kill your cutting!

2. Find a healthy rosemary plant, or another plant from that materials list above.  If you want to experiment with another plant, that is fine, too. If you do not have access to a plant ask around. Rosemary commonly overwinters in Virginia. Perhaps a neighbor can pass a piece of a healthy plant over the fence.  If you are not under a stay-at-home order, check with friends or family. They may have rosemary or other plants to try, and they might be happy to exchange a few cuttings for some new plants in a month or two.

3. Use scissors to cut 4 to 6 inch long cuttings. Your cuttings should include some of the brown woody part of the stem and some new growth at the opposite end (top of the cutting). The woody part will look light brown and appear bark-like.

4. Next you will remove all the leaves from the bottom half of the cutting. Plants breathe through their leaves. As they breathe, water moves from the roots and out of the plant in a process called transpiration. If too much water leaves, then the cutting will dry out and die. By removing leaves we are slowing the plant’s water loss.

Step 4
Step 5

5. Using your scissors or a knife gently scrape the top layer of bark from the bottom inch of your cutting. This ‘wound’ helps the plant grow roots more quickly by helping it jump start its healing process. This wound and healing process works in a way that is similar to the way exercise helps us get stronger. The exercise ‘wounds’ our muscles making us feel sore or tired, but as we recover we become stronger than before. Cuttings build new roots, stems, and leaves as they recover.

6. Slide your prepared cutting into your container. Make sure the “wound” is underneath soil. Dirt that is to 3 inches will usually work well for this type of cutting. Place your container where you will see it everyday that is warm and receives some sun.

7. Take notes. Include the date. Make columns, so you can record when you watered your cuttings.

8. Check your container daily. Make sure the soil remains moist at all levels. You can check with a toothpick and visually. Insert a toothpick. It should feel wet when you pull it out. Wet soil will also appear darker. Overtime, it will become easy to tell if the cuttings need water. If it is too dry your cutting will not root. If you notice lots of algae it is too wet. Imagine the soil is a slightly wet sponge, from which  you can squeeze only a few drops of water. A spray bottle may be helpful at this step.

9. Once a week gently tug on your cuttings. If they come up easily take a look. You may see root nodes or tiny roots. Either way, return them to the soil. If they do not come out easily, they may have started growing tiny roots. Write in your notes the date you saw roots.  If you could no longer pull your cutting up, record that. Include how many cuttings formed roots.

10. Your cuttings should have substantial roots after several months. At this point you may plant them outside or in a larger pot. Be careful about introducing them to the sun too quickly. A few days outside in partial sun will help them adapt to more light and warmer temperatures. Plants can sunburn just like we can!

Rosemary_Final #1

Questions:

Imagine you were George Mason’s son John, and you just discovered a new kind of plant. As you examined the plant, you thought maybe you could make 2 or 3 good cuttings without harming the plant. Next, you decided to send pieces of it to several leading citizens, so they could help you make more of the rare plant.

 

  • How might you pack it to make sure it had enough water and air?

 

 

 

  • Who would you send your cuttings to?

 

 

 

  • Pick an important figure from the colonial period. Write a letter to that person describing where you found the plant, how the plant looked, and how you think people might use it.

 

 

The Founders as Gardeners

Many of our founders, like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, and James Madison, were Virginia landowners who sold crops from their huge estates. By selling cash crops from these plantations and by not paying most of their workers, these leaders and their families achieved immense wealth. They believed agriculture would be important in building our country’s future. They thought that they could help.  

Each of these founders felt that as a leader of Virginia (and later, the United States), it was their responsibility to share agricultural resources with other people. These resources often included new seeds or cuttings. New crops had the potential not only to provide food for American families, but also to yield surplus products for sale in American and European markets. Men such as George Mason  thought that successful farmers would be the type of citizens the United States needed to build a thriving democracy.

Elite Virginian landowners had the time and resources to think about experiments, propagation, and sharing seeds and cuttings largely because of work provided by enslaved, indentured, and paid servants. Less wealthy people   had less leisure time for such activities. Many Virginians needed to spend most of their time on the backbreaking work of everyday life.  

Advanced propagation from cuttings—grafting!

Many people in the 18th century were familiar with propagation by cuttings, but fewer people had the more advanced skills needed for grafting. When grafting, an horticulturist takes a cutting and merges it with another growing plant in order to combine the good traits of both plants. Fruit trees are often grafted. The top, or scion, is usually a tasty variety, and the bottom is a hardy root, often called the rootstock.

Grafting was common during the colonial period. For example, George Washington recorded in 1765 a substantial list of grafts, “Grafted 48 Pears. . .12 Spanish Pears. Next to these are 8 Early June Pears then 10 latter Burgamy—then 8 Black Pear of Worcester—and lastly 10 Early Burgamy. Note all these Pears came from Colo. Masons.” George Mason’s immense orchard planted by his tenant farmer Thomas Halbert likely utilized cutting propagation and grafting. The indenture contract (today we would call it a lease) from 1752 required, “an Orchard of two hundred Winter Apple Trees, at thirty feet Distance every Way from each other, and eight hundred Peach Trees, at fifteen Feet Distance every Way from each other. . .well trimmed, pruned, fenced in, and secured from Horses, Cattle, and other Creatures.” Colonists had many uses for fruit.  They could eat it fresh, dry it to eat in winter and early spring, and use it to make alcoholic beverages. As a result, they needed a lot of fruit trees. The high-level skills needed to make cuttings, graft, set-up and care for orchards and gardens were in high demand in eighteenth century Virginia. 

Many elite Virginian hired or indentured servants to manage their elaborate kitchen gardens and orchards. This skilled work gave gardeners and orchardists  higher status than some other laborers and allowed some of them to receive better living quarters, rations, pay, or even land at the end of contract. George Mason’s choice to use Thomas Halbert to set up an orchard was not unusual. We know George Washington hired or indentured five different gardeners at Mount Vernon. 

For paid servants and indentured servants, gardening provided a chance for upward mobility that was unavailable to the enslaved people working along side those indentured or paid servants. Gardening skills were portable, and free people who possessed them were likely to find it relatively easy to get work.  Working in a garden could offer some opportunity for enslaved people. People in bondage who gained gardening skills may have been able to use those abilities to supplement their own diets by creating kitchen gardens in the yards next to their dwellings.

Take a Closer Look at Sarah Brent Mason

By Denise McHugh

Who is Sarah Brent? Much like for George Mason’s first wife Ann, or for Mason’s daughters or daughters-in-law, the information on Sarah is sketchy, gleaned from various public records and through letters and documents almost exclusively of male family members.

It is worthwhile to initiate our search for Sarah Brent in the century earlier than our time period. Giles, Fulke, Margaret, and Mary Brent, offspring of a distinguished and well-to-do Catholic family in Gloucestershire, England, arrive in Maryland in the years 1637 and 1638. Giles and Margaret especially come to prominence in this new place. Giles earns the appointments of deputy governor, treasurer, and chief justice of the province of Maryland. Unmarried Margaret, a major landowner in St. Mary’s County and Kent Island, even serves in the capacity of attorney to Lord Proprietor Cecil. Eventually, however, Giles and Margaret fall into disfavor with the established order. By about 1650, they move to Virginia. Giles selects as the site for his plantation land that is across the Potomac River from southern Maryland, near the mouth of Aquia Creek in Stafford County. Probably within a year, in about 1651, 22-year-old or so George Mason I, a friend and neighbor of the Brent family in England, emigrates across the Atlantic Ocean and gains a patent to land in the same area of the Northern Neck of Virginia.

Giles’ nephew, George, great-great grandfather of our Sarah Brent, settles in this area in 1660, coming straight to Virginia from England. In the ensuing years, as this area of Virginia develops at a rapid clip, the names of Giles Brent and George Mason, and the names of their sons, appear in records as prominent leaders of the community. Even during this early period, there also is a Brent-Mason connection through marriage.

The long-standing relationship between the Brents and Masons probably continues to the time of our George Mason, with George Mason IV likely considering the Brents as old family friends. The Brent-Mason connection comes up in at least one 18th-century record preceding the marriage in 1780. In 1760, George Mason IV sends to George Washington a survey he had conducted of land originally owned by the Brents. Mason’s father had purchased some of this property from the Brents some years ago and now Washington is buying more of it to add to his holdings at Mount Vernon.

In 1760, George Brent is residing at the plantation Woodstock, which is located in the same region as the home of his grandfather in the 1600s. Brent had met and married Catherine Trimmingham in Bermuda in about 1730. Together, George and Catherine Brent have seven children: Sarah, the eldest, who comes to wed George Mason IV; two sons; and four other daughters. Within six years of their marriage, the couple has moved to Virginia (actually moved back, in George’s case).

Sarah Brent comes to take over the management of the household when the mother dies in 1751. The new mistress of Woodstock is between 20 and 22 years old at the time, not much older than Nancy Mason, eldest daughter of George Mason, when she begins to oversee the house and family at her mother’s death in 1773. Although available records are not complete, we can assume that most, if not all, of Sarah’s brothers and sisters are living at home when their mother dies. Robert is about 20 years old; Catherine, about 15, Jane (also called Jean in some records) , about 13; George is about 10; and Elizabeth and Susannah appear to be younger. At least four of these siblings marry in the 1750s.

Sarah Brent heads the Woodstock household for 27 years until her father’s death in 1778. Interestingly, her sister Elizabeth is likely at home as well, since a genealogy shows her dying unmarried in 1783. However, it is Sarah whom her father remembers in a special way in his will, executed the year of his death. George Brent bequeaths Sarah a silver tankard, salver, and two porringers which had belonged to her grandmother as a “lasting monument of the sense I have of her merit and the case she has taken of me.”

Sarah Brent and George Mason wed on April 11, 1780, about two years after her father’s death and several months after George Mason writes to friend James Mercer that as justice of the peace, he had been signing two or three marriage licenses each day and wishes to get one himself. “I find cold Sheets extreamly disagreeable” he comments to Mercer. It is likely that Sarah is a practicing Roman Catholic, like her father and the Brent family. However, Sarah and George are married by Rev. James Scott of the Anglican Church. Like her step-daughter Nancy, Sarah is more mature than most 18th-century women marrying for first time. She is about 50 years old, George is 55, and Nancy, who weds in 1789, is thirty-four.

In a move that was not typical for the age, George and Sarah sign a marriage agreement several days before they are wed, protecting in a limited way Sarah’s individual property. Under the terms of this contract, Sarah gives ownership of her slaves to her husband for the length of her marriage, but regains possession of them should her husband die and there be no offspring between them. Under these same conditions, Sarah is promised as dower 400 acres of her husband’s land at Dogues Neck.

Over the years, it has been pointed out that the marriage agreement between Sarah and George indicates that their relationship was more business-like and convenient, rather than loving. However, the marriage compact also can be seen as a fair solution between two practical people who want to safeguard their property for future generations — Mason for his children and Sarah for the sons and daughters of her sister Jean in Dumfries. In Sarah’s will of 1794, she indeed does pass on to these children and one of their offspring the slaves she regains upon the death of her husband.

At her marriage, Sarah brings to the household her ten-year-old nephew, George Graham, eldest son of her sister Jean. George is the same age as George Mason’s youngest son, Thomas, and eventually is sent away to school with Thomas and John. To our 20th-century eyes, it may appear unusual that George Graham moves from his own home to that of his aunt. However, gentry families often made various arrangements to offer sons a proper education, including periods of time spent with relatives.

During marriage to George Mason, Sarah has the opportunity to live at Gunston Hall with most, if not all, of George Mason’s children. When she enters the household in 1780, at least six children are at home: Nancy is 25; Thomson is 21; Mary, 18; John, 14; Elizabeth, 12; and Thomas, ten. Also, George and William both live at Gunston Hall during a portion of the 1780s, George with a wife and children. Nancy and Sarah remain in the house together for nine years, until Nancy’s marriage to Rinaldo Johnson. This sizeable length of co-habitation seems to indicate that the two women, both mistresses of Gunston Hall at different times, had at the very least a cordial relationship.

The relationship with another Mason daughter, Mary, may have more the cordial. In her will, Sarah bequeaths to Mary a mourning ring commemorating George Mason’s death. This gift seems to reflect affection for this young woman, although there also is a connection between the Cook family, into which Mary married, and the Brents.

Not a great deal is known about the marriage of George and Sarah Mason. However, signs exist of an amiable relationship. We should note that Sarah did not have to marry at all, since her father’s will provided her with a home and an annual allotment of 25 pounds for as long as she was single. It is possibly the union of George and Sarah that brings about the re-decoration of the mansion in the latter years of Mason’s life. If this is indeed the case, the decision to give a new look to the house appears to reflect a bond between the couple.

Existing correspondence indicates some level of care, perhaps affection, of George for his wife. In 1783, Col. Mason writes to his son George in France, thanking him for obtaining a watch for his stepmother. While at the Federal Convention in 1787, George keeps in touch at least once with Sarah, enclosing a letter for her in his letter to his eldest son. Unfortunately, this correspondence has not been located. In 1791, Sarah breaks her leg and in September 1792, a month before his death, George offers an update on her health to son John. He relates that she is “still unable to walk a step, ‘tho- I think she begins to gain her strength in her leg and foot.”

Sarah Brent accompanies George Mason through some of the hardest trials of his life. They are together during the final period of the American Revolution, when fighting in Virginia leads Mason to move his wife and younger children across the Potomac River to the Eilbeck home, Mattawoman, for safety. Perhaps it was Sarah who consoled George after his Constitutional defeat in Philadelphia and again after the ratification convention in Richmond. Sarah is present during the final month of Mason’s life, when he remarks to his son, “I hardly remember so sickly a Season.” George comments on his own “troublesome Cough,” but also on the poor health of son William, daughter Betsey, and his wife.

At George Mason’s death, after twelve years of marriage, Sarah probably moves to Dumfries to live with her sister Jean. Rather than claiming the 400 acres cited in her marriage compact, Sarah agrees to a financial arrangement with her stepson, George. This settlement consists of a sum of 35 pounds monthly, promised for the remainder of her life. Sarah dies in 1805 or 1806. We are not certain where she is buried, although there is a Brent burying ground not far from the former site of Woodstock.


Bibliography

Brent, Chester Horton. The Descendants of Coll Giles Brent, Captain George Brent, and Robert Brent. Privately published. 1946.

Copeland, Pamela C. and Richard K. Macmaster. The Five George Masons: Patriots and Planters of Virginia and Maryland. Lorton, Virginia: The Board of Regents of Gunston Hall, 1989. Reprint.

Rutland, Robert A., ed. The Papers of George Mason. 3 vols. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1970.

Smith, Daniel Blake. Inside the Great House: Planter Family Life in Eighteenth-Century Chesapeake Society. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1980.

Unpublished research files, Gunston Hall Plantation, “Brent Family,” “George Brent,” and “Sarah Brent Mason.”

a woodcut image of enslaved men processing tobacco for shipment.

Enslaved People at Gunston Hall

During the 18th century, the Masons kept hundreds of people enslaved at Gunston Hall.  Some people such as Anthony and Sabrina were inherited by George.  Ann likely brought several people with her when she and George married.  Other people such as Kack and Daphne were likely born on the plantation.  Sarah Brent brought yet more people with her when she and George married 8 years after Ann’s death. 

By examining documents such as Mason’s will and correspondence, and conducting archaeological explorations, we have started to piece together information about the lives of people enslaved by the Mason family.

Gunston Hall’s enslaved workers did a tremendous range of work. For instance, people such as Poll cleaned the mansion, prepared the Masons’ food, washed the laundry, tended the chickens, and cared for the kitchen garden.

Other enslaved people, including Great Sue, worked the tobacco and wheat fields. And still more people held in bondage provided the skilled work that kept the community running. Liberty did carpentry, and one person remembered that Gunston Hall’s community of enslaved people also included “coopers, sawyers, blacksmiths, tanners, curriers, shoemakers, spinners, weavers & knitters, and even a distiller.”

When we compare the food remains in a trash pit near homes of people who were enslaved with trash deposits adjacent to the mansion, we can peek into their daily lives.  Enslaved residents of Gunston Hall seem to have eaten much more fish than their owners did. They also ate a lot of small game animals. In contrast, the Masons’ trash suggests the people in the mansion mainly ate domesticated animals.  One written record from the year after George Mason’s death indicates that the Masons purchased–at least once–herring and the salt to cure it for the people they kept in slavery.

Learn more about some of the individuals kept in slavery at Gunston Hall.  For more information about people enslaved at Gunston Hall please take a tour, schedule an appointment in the research library, or read Among His Slaves: George Mason’s Struggle with Slavery by Terry K. Dunn.

Ancilla and Bridget

Ancilla and Bridget may have worked  in plantation houses or kitchen yards, cleaning, doing laundry, or caring for children. Although the Mason family transferred them from household to household, they were kept together. Might they have been sisters? 

Ancilla and Bridget “and their future increase” (or descendants) were traded among Mason family members to pay several debts. The chattel slavery system meant that under the law Bridget and Ancilla were property, rather than human beings with the same fundamental rights of all people. The Masons determined Ancilla’s and Bridget’s monetary worth based on their ability to work and the likelihood that they would have children.  

In 1760, Ancilla and Bridget were sold to Ann Thompson Mason, and they served her until she died  just two years later. They spent the rest of their lives under the ownership of George Mason.

Yellow Dick

Born in 1762, Dick served at table at Gunston Hall and later worked for George Mason’s son, George, at his property at Lexington Plantation, originally a part of Gunston Hall plantation. Dick is one of the many enslaved people the Masons and the Eilbecks (George Mason’s wife’s family) moved around. Family members often transferred their enslaved workers to other family members. Dick ran away from Lexington in 1784 at age 22, and an advertisement offered a reward of £5 for his return. Runaway ads from 1786 and 1787 show that he ran away again. It is possible that Dick was not caught this second time.

Liberty

Born around 1747, Liberty was a skilled carpenter. After George Mason’s death, he was enslaved to George Mason’s son, George.  Carpentry was a skill often passed down to family members. Liberty may have been related to the enslaved carpenters who built Gunston Hall. Like many people enslaved in colonial Virginia, Liberty either did not have a last name or his last name was not recorded.

Nace

Nace was skilled at handling and breaking horses. His talent allowed him to earn some wages from a neighboring plantation owner, Martin Cockburn. Cockburn’s accounts show that he paid Nace several times over an eight-year period for work with horses. Nace had substantial responsibilities. He was described as a “black overseer” in a 1797 document. In this role he disciplined and directed the work of other enslaved people who worked on one of Gunston Hall’s four “farms” or “quarters.” The position of overseer was normally held by white men.

Priss

Priss was the child companion of George and Ann Eilbeck Mason’s daughter. Amongst gentry families in George Mason’s day,  a grandfather might provide his grandchild with a similarly aged enslaved child. Such was the case with Priss, who was born enslaved in 1758. Parents and other relatives also sometimes gave enslaved children as gifts to wealthy free children. At the age of seven, Priss became the property of three-year-old Sarah Mason.

Sampson

Sampson was enslaved by George Mason’s wife’s family, the Eilbecks.  He was born in 1762 on their Mattawoman Plantation, located in southern Maryland. His mother was Bess, who gave birth to at least seven enslaved children. A 1662 Virginia law made enslavement a hereditary institution that passed through the maternal line.

The Virginia Declaration of Rights – First Draft

The Virginia Convention met in Williamsburg on May 6, 1776, and by May 15th had passed a resolution calling for the Virginia delegates at the Continental Congress to move for independence. At the same time they formed a committee for drafting a bill of rights and a constitution for Virginia. George Mason took the lead on this project and his notes below are considered the first draft. To this draft eight additional propositions were added by the committee before it was read to the Convention on May 27, 1776. After debate, and several changes, the Declaration of Rights was passed unanimously on June 11, 1776.

[First Draft, ca. 20-26 May 1776]

A Declaration of Rights, made by the Representatives of the good People of Virginia, assembled in full Convention; and recommended to Posterity as the Basis and Foundation of Government.

That all Men are born equally free and independant, and have certain inherent natural Rights, of which they can not by any Compact, deprive or divest their Posterity; among which are the Enjoyment of Life and Liberty, with the Means of acquiring and possessing Property, and pursueing and obtaining Happiness and Safety.

That Power is, by God and Nature, vested in, and consequently derived from the People; that Magistrates are their Trustees and Servants, and at all times amenable to them.

That Government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common Benefit and Security of the People, Nation, or Community. Of all the various Modes and Forms of Government, that is best, which is capable of producing the greatest Degree of Happiness and Safety, and is most effectually secured against the Danger of mal-administration. And that whenever any Government shall be found inadequate, or contrary to these Purposes, a Majority of the Community had an indubitable, inalianable and indefeasible Right to reform, alter or abolish it, in such Manner as shall be judged most conducive to the Public Weal.

That no Man, or Set of Men are entitled to exclusive or seperate Emoluments or Privileges from the Community, but in Consideration of public Services; which not being descendible, or hereditary, the Idea of a Man born a Magistrate, a Legislator, or a Judge is unnatural and absurd.

That the legislative and executive Powers of the State shoud be seperate and distinct from the judicative; and that the Members of the two first may be restraind from Oppression, by feeling and participating the Burthens they may lay upon the People; they should, at fixed Periods be reduced to a private Station, and returned, by frequent, certain and regular Elections, into that Body from which they were taken.

That no part of a Man’s Property can be taken from him, or applied to public uses, without the Consent of himself, or his legal Representatives; nor are the People bound by any Laws, but such as they have in like Manner assented to for their common Good.

That in all capital or criminal Prosecutions, a Man hath a right to demand the Cause and Nature of his Accusation, to be confronted with the Accusers or Witnesses, to call for Evidence in his favour, and to a speedy Tryal by a Jury of his Vicinage; without whose unanimous Consent, he can not be found guilty; nor can he be compelled to give Evidence against himself. And that no Man, except in times of actual Invasion or Insurrection, can be imprisoned upon Suspicion of Crimes against the State, unsupported by Legal Evidence.

That no free Government, or the Blessings of Liberty can be preserved to any People, but by a firm adherence to Justice, Moderation, Temperance, Frugality, and Virtue and by frequent Recurrence to fundamental Principles.

That as Religion, or the Duty which we owe to our divine and omnipotent Creator, and the Manner of discharging it, can be governed only by Reason and Conviction, not by Force or Violence; and therefore that all Men should enjoy the fullest Toleration in the Exercise of Religion, according to the Dictates of Conscience, unpunished and unrestrained by the Magistrate, unless, under Col- our of Religion, any Man disturb the Peace, the Happiness, or Safety of Society, or of Individuals. And that it is the mutual Duty of all, to practice Christian Forbearance, Love and Charity towards Each other.

That in all controversies respecting Property, and in Suits between Man and Man, the ancient Tryal by Jury is preferable to any other, and ought to be held sacred.

(That the freedom of the press, being the great bulwark of Liberty, can never be restrained but in a despotic government. That laws having a restrospect to crimes, & punishing offences committed before the existence of such laws, are generally dangerous, and ought to be avoided.)

N.B. It is proposed to make some alteration in this last article when reported to the house. Perhaps somewhat like the following That all laws having a retrospect to crimes, & punishing offences committed before the existence of such laws are dangerous, and ought to be avoided, except in cases of great, & evident necessity, when safety of the state absolutely requires them. This is thought to state with more precision the doctrine respecting ex post facto laws & to signify to posterity that it is considered not so much as a law of right, as the great law of necessity, which by the well known maxim is — allowed to supersede all human institutions.

Another is agreed to in committee condemning the use of general warrants; & one other to prevent the suspension of laws, or the execution of them.

The above clauses, with some small alterations, & the addition of one, or two more, have already been agreed to in the Committee appointed to prepare a declarition of rights; when this business is finished in the house, the committee will proceed to the ordinance of government.
T.L. Lee

The entire document is in George Mason’s handwriting, except for the end portion beginning “That the freedom of the press…” which is in Thomas Ludwell Lee’s hand.

The first draft manuscript of the Virginia Declaration of Rights is held by the Library of Congress.  Click through to see the pages online.

Riverside Garden Restoration

Come see how our garden grows. 

The garden’s historic structure is now visible.  Guests may climb the mansion’s exterior side stairs to peek over the fence.  Even better views of the garden are available during tours of the mansion itself.  Guests may look through the windows to see the garden’s broad pathways and the four planting beds.  The garden is surrounded by what John Mason called a “high, paled fence.”  This 18th-century style design has tall vertical boards installed next to each other without gaps. Elegant gates mark the three entrances to the garden.

Within the planting beds, staff have planted the boxwood edging, as well as parts of the perennial borders and many historic varieties of vegetables.  Dozens of fruit trees are in the garden already or are ready to be planted soon.

All spring, summer, and fall, Gunston Hall’s horticulturist and her volunteer team grow vegetables and flowers that were familiar to George Mason, his family, and the enslaved workers who tended the garden.  

Visit our Learning from Home: Cooking and Drinking page to learn more about foods consumed by people at Gunston Hall.

Explore the People of Gunston Hall page.

What’s next for the garden?

We expect the final construction on the terraces to be done by the end of the summer of 2023.  We look forward to then welcoming visitors into the garden itself.  Until the garden opens to the public, the best views of the garden are available from inside the mansion during guided tours.

Over the next few years, we will continue to add historic varieties of fruiting trees and shrubs and perennial flowers to reproduce the borders that framed the garden beds.  Seasonally, we will plant medicinal plants and vegetables within the beds.   

You can help!  Volunteer shifts are available Monday through Thursday and Saturday each week.  To apply to be a garden volunteer, please visit our Volunteer Opportunities page.

Curious about what we’re planting?  Check out the plant list we’re using to decide.

Background on the garden

The riverside garden restoration is the culmination of more than four decades of archaeological research.  Both staff and consulting archaeologists have gathered evidence from dig sites.  Staff, volunteers, and interns have conducted years of documentary research. And staff have learned from the inspiring work done at other sites in the region and around the world.  

Under the leadership of architecture firm Glave and Holmes and landscape architect Robert McGinnis, Gunston Hall conducted additional, targeted research and developed a restoration plan.  We began construction in 2019.  

Carefully, and under the supervision of our archaeologist, the area was cleared of plants and leveled.  Then we added topsoil and leveled the space, taking care not to disturb the archaeological record beneath the ground.  Next, came the structure of the garden, including the four planting bed, the bowling green, and the fence.  For much of 2020, cover crops helped protect the soil from erosion, while also adding nutrients, aerating the soil, and helping prevent weed growth.

Growing Personalities: Q&A

Watch our August 7, 2020, program when we partnered with Monticello and Mount Vernon for a live streaming event that explored the personalities reflected at each property. In this 45-minute event, you will discover the gardens of historic leaders George Mason, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington.

Architect and Master Carver

Architect: William Buckland

Under the supervision of George Mason, William Buckland produced the designs for the elaborate interiors of Gunston Hall. Born in 1734 in Oxford, England, Buckland moved to London in 1748 to begin his apprenticeship as a joiner/carpenter. Through his brother Thomson, George Mason indentured Buckland for the completion of his property in colonial Virginia. Upon arriving, with the shell of the exterior likely completed, Buckland focused his attentions on the interior of the mansion. The completed interiors represented the English Rococo in its full spectrum. The “Gothik,” the “French Modern,” the “Chinese,” the Palladian and the Classical were all represented within the walls of Gunston Hall. An extraordinary building when it was built it remains so today. After his indenture ended, Buckland continued to work in the area. In 1760, he completed the new “Glebe House” for Truro Parish, located near Gunston Hall. He produced the interiors for Colonial Tayloe’s Mount Airy from 1761 to 1764, which unfortunately were lost to fire in 1844. He also produced a bookcase, chimneypiece and a plan for Robert Wormeley Carter’s (1766) house and worked on Landon Carter’s Sabine Hall (1766). In addition, he drew a house plan (1767) for Alexander Henderson in Colchester. Buckland worked on a number of public buildings during his career including the Richmond County Prison (1763) and the Richmond County workhouse (1767). His move to Annapolis, Maryland in 1771 led to two important commissions, the Chase-Lloyd House (1771) and the Hammond–Harwood House (1774). Sadly, Buckland died at the age of forty in 1774 unable to see the completion of his last project. The first house he worked on, Gunston Hall, serves as a reminder of where William Buckland began and the importance of English design to the society of colonial Virginia planters.

William Buckland
William Buckland

Master Carver: William Bernard Sears

Born in London, William Bernard Sears’s exact year of birth. According to his son’s recollections, George Mason indentured Sears to work on Gunston Hall. Sears worked as the master carver charged with translating William Buckland’s designs into wood. The bond between the two men was undoubtedly strong because they continued working together after completing Gunston Hall. Sears worked with Buckland on the interiors of Mount Airy in 1761. With Buckland’s move to Annapolis, their collaboration appears to have ended with Sears remaining in the Alexandria area. A notation in 1772 for a purchase of carving and gilding tools acknowledges his abilities to do expensive finishes in addition to carving. That same year he worked on two churches including Pohick Church. Sears also worked at Mount Vernon, completing the chimneypiece in the small dining room in 1775 with Going Lanphire. In 1777, Sears entered public service after being appointed Deputy Sheriff of Loudoun County until 1781. It appears that he stopped working as a master carver about this time. He died in 1818 and is buried in Alexandria.

The Grounds

Both the interior and exterior of Gunston Hall demonstrated the Masons’ good taste and refinement. The room arrangement, carvings, wall coverings, and furnishings combined to present a gracious, fashionable home. Visitors to the newly constructed and decorated home had no doubt that the owners were cultured, stylish people.

Outside told a similar story. George Mason shaped and interacted with the land in ways that underlined his status as one of the colony’s (and then state’s) leading planters, thinkers, and political actors. In fact, the landscape is arguably one of the most important extant documents of Mason’s personality and character. Mason self-consciously designed the setting for his home in ways that reflected European ideas of landscape, incorporating principles of perspective, symmetry, and grace. His careful arrangement of trees, walkways, fences, roads, etc. reminded his visitors of his education and leading role in Virginia society.