Recent trip to Mount Vernon-observations...

[Clisby Clark]

Couple of wood observations...

The exterior is faux stone-basically pine painted with sand-mix paint to make it look like stone. This looked pretty good.

I noticed that the formal rooms had very rough floorboards with exposed nails. They looked exactly like most old subfloors you see except they weren't run on an angle. This struck me as as odd since the ceilings had intricate plaster mouldings. I would've thought t&g planes would've been fairly common enough to make a better looking floor.

There is a room with faux mahogany paneling. All the wood is pine finished to look like bookmatched mahogany. It looks pretty good until you either look really close or know what real mahogany looks like.

Overall, it is a great trip and if you visit the DC area I would highly recommend it for a great day trip. They have a great museum and grounds tour. The man had a heckuva view of the river!

[Howard Acheson]

I've toured quite a few old historic homes including Mount Vernon and Monticello. The observations you make are pretty universal construction and decorative techniques used during the antebellum period and post civil war in the south. Charleston and Savannah are loaded with wooden faux stone faces. Stone was a symbol of wealth and class but was very expensive. The wood craftsman--many were slaves--were adept at accomplishing faux appearances. In Louisiana, Alabama and along the Mississippi River much use was made of cypress. Almost all the exterior woodwork and particularly the front doors were faux oak grained painted cypress which is impossible to detect until you are within an arms length. Natchez has a number of antebellum houses and prior to the "war of secession" there were more millionaires than any other city in the US. Many of their homes are still there.

As for the floors, there were no effective protective finishes until the late 1800's. Plus folks wore shoes and boots that contained nails and other abrasives. They were also less fastidious than most folks today. At best they might scrape off the mud from unpaved sidewalks and roads before coming into the house. Floors were frequently swept and then washed to keep them presentable. Some times the upstairs family rooms might have been painted but the downstairs public room floors were generally not an architectural appearance item. They might have rugs if the family was wealth enough. Long leaf southern pine was the flooring material of choice.

It's great to go into old historic home to see woodworking on view. Go to some of the Boston area historic homes for outstanding examples of fine furniture. Newport is another area with great homes and furniture.

[Mike Cruz]

Howard, I find it funny that the DC area is considered the south. Southerners usually call us Northerners, and Northerners usually call us Southerners... We are, after all, right on the line... but it is funny hearing it (or in this case seeing it...) none the less.

Also, your comment about stone being expensive struck me oddly too. Now, Mount Vernon may be a little different, but where I live, just an hour north of DC (and even where I grew up, even closer) rocks seem to be plenty plentiful. As a matter of fact, we've got LOADS of 'em. So much so, that whenever you take back roads out here, you don't have to go far to find rock fences that stretch for miles. Many have been taken down over the years, or left to succum to the weather and gravity, but many have been maintained. Also, stone farm houses, while not a dime a dozen, are fairly common, too.

Would it have really been that far of a stretch for the builders to have gotten enough stone to build the structure?

BTW, the tone of this is not argumentative, just that I'm a bit puzzled...