Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Weathervane Wednesday ~ A Founding Father's House


Every Wednesday for almost a year and half I've been posting photographs of weathervanes located in or near the Nutfield area (the former name for the land where Londonderry, Derry and Windham, New Hampshire are now located). Most are historically interesting, or just whimsical and fun weathervanes. Today's weathervane is located in far from New England. Have fun guessing where you may have seen this weather vane.

Do you know the location of weather vane #105? Scroll down to see the answer.... 





Today's weather vane was found on top of George Washington's home, Mount Vernon, in Alexandria, Virginia.  This is the "dove of peace" and it is a symbol of the estate.  Although it is difficult to see in the photograph, the dove is holding an olive branch in it's beak.  There are many items in the Mount Vernon gift shop with this dove symbol.

This weather vane was chosen by George Washington in 1787 at the end of the Revolutionary War.  The original weather vane is inside the new museum, and the one seen here is a reproduction.  The original was made by Joseph Rakestraw in Philadelphia, and Washington wrote to his nephew on 12 August 1787 with instructions to paint the beak black and the olive branch green.  Today the weather vane is gilded to protect it from corrosion.

 
1974 US Postage Stamp
of the Mount Vernon Weather Vane
 
Mount Vernon official website  http://www.mountvernon.org/

Click here to see the entire collection of Weathervane Wednesday posts!

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

1 comment:

  1. The more I find out about George Washington, the more I like him. We haven't seen Mount Vernon, but this summer we did see Montpelier (Madison) and Monticello (Jefferson). They were both terribly conflicted about whether they should free their slaves. As I understand it, Washington just freed his -- comparatively simply and directly. The dove of peace. Aahhhh.

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