George Washington died in 1799. By 1851 John Augustus Washington III wanted to sell Mount Vernon and its properties. It was not profitable and overwhelmed with visitors.
The U.S. Government did not want it nor did the Commonwealth of Virginia. It was falling deeper into disrepair.
In 1853 Mrs. Louisa Cunningham wrote a letter to her daughter Ann Pamela Cunningham who was virtually a cripple since thrown from a horse at age of 16 “I was painfully distressed at the ruin and desolation of the home of Washington and the thought passed through my mind. Why was it that the women of this country did not try to keep it, repair it, if the men could not do it?”
Mary Lipsey, speaking to the Burke Historical Society on December 18th, weaves history of how "The Ladies" acquired, saved and made Mount Vernon alive again. A video of this presentation is at: