Old-time affair at Mt. Vernon

As for beverages, Washington was no stranger to alcohol, enjoying Madeira wine from Portugal, distilling his own whiskey, and enjoying a fruity brandy cocktail.

Washington was his own architect at Mount Vernon, “and he was very good at it,” said Dennis Pogue, associate director for preservation at Mount Vernon. The piazza, which runs the length of the mansion, is “kind of California living in the 18th century,” Pogue said.

The location, atop a sloping hill along the Potomac, catches cool breezes. Lots of windows and shutters allow for the regulation of sun and wind. And the distinctive cupola on the mansion roof serves as the mansion’s air conditioning unit, funneling hot air out the top and drawing cooler air in at the ground level.

Visitors on Wednesday gathered on the mansion’s back porch, a piazza overlooking the Potomac where breezes rolled through.

“It feels good out here. It’s the same thing we do in Texas,” said Chris Moore of Austin, sitting with his wife, Dina. The two had come to Virginia to see their son graduate from officer training at the Basic School at Quantico Marine Corps Base.

Moore said he opted for the smaller crowds at Mount Vernon as opposed to the massive Fourth of July Celebration on the National Mall because it afforded a better place to relax and contemplate the founding of the nation, especially since Mount Vernon on Wednesday hosted a naturalization ceremony for 100 new citizens from 47 countries.