New Visitors Center Improves Mount Vernon's Access
Construction Phase at
Mount Vernon Visitor's Center
Photo by Charles Pannell
On July 8, 2001 George Washington's Mount Vernon unveiled a new 12.5 million dollar visitors center complex. This state of the art facility adds 27,000 square feet to the existing facility and greatly improves access at this historic landmark. The renovated complex includes a gift shop, expanded dining options, new bathrooms, a lecture hall and an outside garden area.
The new gift shop covers 6,600 square feet, twice the space of the previous shop. This extra space allows wheelchair users more room to roll around and leisurely browse through the shop. The gift shop carries a wide range of books, children's toys, holiday items and Mount Vernon private-label foods and wines.
The expansion of the food court brings several new dining choices to Mount Vernon. The previous cafeteria-style snack bar was replaced with a modern food court. This new food court serves fresh baked goods, coffee, deli sandwiches, ice cream, pizza and Mrs. Field cookies. There is plenty of room to roll around in the new food court, and accessible seating is available inside or in the new outside garden patio area.
Another dining option available at Mt. Vernon is the Mt. Vernon Inn Restaurant. The renovated complex includes the addition of another dining room to the existing Mount Vernon Inn Restaurant. A new accessible entrance from the gift shop to the restaurant was also added. The Mount Vernon Inn Restaurant is open for lunch and dinner, Monday through Saturday. The menu features colonial and regional specialties served by colonial-costumed servers. Call (703)780-0011 for dinner reservations.
The new complex also includes a 200 seat lecture hall with accessible seating and assistive listening devices. The lecture hall serves as the new location for Mount Vernon's lecture series and other educational programs. It also allows corporate clients to combine a special presentation with a lunch or dinner at the Mount Vernon Inn Restaurant. "Special groups will be able to sponsor a speaker in the lecture hall, a reception in the garden, and a sit down dinner at the expanded restaurant," says Executive Director James Rees. "With our new facilities, the options are almost unlimited."
George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate & Gardens offers a wide variety of options for visitors. On the 500-acre Estate, visitors can experience the Mansion tour, the four-acre colonial farm site, two museums, four gardens and over a dozen outbuildings. Complete access information, including a helpful map detailing the most accessible route through the Estate is available at the entrance. Wheelchairs are available for loan on a first-come basis. Additionally there is an accessible shuttle bus which transports visitors uphill from the Potomac River dock. For more information about Mount Vernon visit www.mountvernon.org or call (703)780-2000.
Mount Vernon is located at the end of the George Washington Memorial Parkway in Virginia, just 16 miles from historic Old Town, Alexandria.
Read more about Mt. Vernon and Alexandria in the Summer 2001 issue of Emerging Horizons.