George Washington’s reference to agriculture stemmed from “his personal must earn a residing.” The primary U.S. president used his 18th century property in Virginia, Mount Vernon, as a testing floor for horticultural practices. Greater than 300 enslaved folks, largely ladies, toiled on the 500-acre property, many as area laborers.
At present, the property is managed by the Mount Vernon Girls’ Affiliation (MVLA), a nonprofit, and is residence to Washington’s historic manor designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the George Washington Presidential Library (by Ayers Saint Gross), in addition to gardens, tombs, an lively farm, a distillery, and a gristmill.
Nelson Byrd Woltz Panorama Architects (NBW) has been tasked with ideating a masterplan for the property that pulls connections between the home, its panorama, and its agricultural ingenuity.
The panorama plan is occurring on the heels of a $40 million renovation of the historic manor at Mount Vernon that MCWB Architects accomplished with MVLA in 2025.
The masterplan by NBW will prioritize enhancing the property’s “250-year-old bushes, soils, drainage methods, circulation networks, viewsheds, agricultural fields, and customer infrastructure,” the agency stated.
“Mount Vernon is among the most vital cultural landscapes in the USA,” Thomas Woltz, NBW proprietor and senior principal, stated in a press release. “We’re partnering with the MVLA to develop a long-term framework that respects the property’s layered historical past, whereas strengthening its ecological resilience and customer expertise.”
“George Washington’s deep engagement with agriculture and land stewardship makes this challenge uniquely significant, and we sit up for contributing to the considerate stewardship of this historic panorama,” Woltz elaborated.
Beyer Blinder Belle will present historic preservation and architectural companies, and Nitscsh Engineering civil and stormwater engineering companies. Linnaea Tillett Lighting Design Associates and ETM Associates are additionally on the challenge group.
Jonathan Kavalier, Mount Vernon’s newly appointed government director of Gardens & Landscapes, will work carefully with NBW on the challenge. Kavalier stated the panorama plan is about “advancing ecological resilience and considerate stewardship” on the compound.
