Mount Vernon: Protecting Our National Shrine From Fire
So sacred is George Washington's home to every American, that during the Civil War it was the only place, North or South, declared as neutral ground by both sides. Soldiers from both sides had to lay down their weapons before entering the estate.
And yet, only a few years before, the mansion and its grounds were falling to ruin. Many outbuildings were already gone. The federal government, preoccupied with the looming clouds of war, could not buy the estate from the Washington family.