The East Front of Mount Vernon

This painting, titled The East Front of Mount Vernon, is one of two paintings of George Washington's Fairfax County plantation made by artist John Savage between 1787 and 1792. They are the two earliest known images of Mount Vernon. Here an arrow has been overlaid to pinpoint the location of the House for Families, which was built by the 1760s and served as the main quarters for the enslaved who worked at the Mansion House Farm. In 1786, 67 enslaved house servants and skilled laborers lived in those quarters, while 149 other enslaved men, women, and children who worked on the plantation lived under much rougher conditions. In 1792 the House for Families was demolished and replaced by new quarters that were attached to the nearby greenhouse.