A short walk through the woods from the campground, is home to a 1700s plantation. This beautiful estate named “Gunston Hall” and was home to one of our founding fathers, George Mason. 
Who was instrumental and helped write the Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States. Mason was a very wealthy man and one of the pioneering fathers of our country. He built this beautiful home between 1755 and 1759 where he and his young bride lived. You can find more information here at this website. We went on a short walk from the campground about a quarter-mile till you get to the grounds, I had Maxine along for a walk.
It has beautiful well-groomed yards. As you can see from this photo with Patty and Steve. Put Maxine was not welcome inside the buildings, so I took her back to the campground and then we came back and took a tour.
They have a beautiful visitor center with lots of information and of course a gift shop. And they hold different types of ceremonies throughout the year. You can find a lot more information on their website here. On this post I’m just going to highlight mostly the interior of this beautiful home.
The 5500 acre plantation located along the Potomac River was not far from George Washington’s estate. And today is still a quiet beautiful place. It was quiet day and so it was just the three of us on this tour. So we had the guide and the place all to ourselves, with lots of room to explore and take photos. As you enter the main entrance you get an idea of how impressive this home was for the 1700s. Here’s the view you get when you walk in the main door of the stairs going up stairs. 
Of course this is been renovated, but it’s mostly the original woodwork from trees that were growing on the property. And all of the wall coverings and moldings were replicated to the time frame. Here’s a photo of the door we entered from.
Most of the doors on the main floor were beautiful black walnut also from trees on the property.
These are photos of the main parlor where Mason would entertain guests from all over the world.
The walls are covered with a beautiful red velvet type wall covering. Here’s a portrait of the young Mason.
And one of his first wife who died at a young age in her 30s.
As you can tell they have the portraits covered to protect them. These were actually reproductions of the originals that became badly damaged over the years. But they are identical copies of the originals, of the young couple. There was only one room in the house where photographs weren’t allowed and that was the main dining room. The reason being that they do not have the photo rights to the articles in that room, that were on loan to the mansion. But here’s some more photos this one of the master bedroom.
Here’s a photo of what would’ve been the family dining room and Masons office. 
This was actually a very large house for the 1700s. With one bedroom and the family dining room on the first floor. The main parlor and the grand dining room also on the first floor. Along with the large entryway. And on the second floor there was a total of eight bedrooms. The house with it’s four chimneys. Allowed for a total of eight fireplaces four on the first floor, and four on the second floor. Here are several photos of the upstairs bedrooms.
Here’s a couple photos of the beautiful walnut handrails on the staircase, from the second floor landing .
After touring the house we went outside to see more of the grounds. Here’s what the side of the house looked like, with a couple of the outbuildings. 
Here’s a view from the front of the house looking out towards the Potomac River.
From this great spot, if you turn back and look at the house you get a beautiful view of the whole estate.
The house was actually lived in until the 1940s and then was turned over to the state and they started renovations. That’s one of the reasons it’s in such good shape, is that it was occupied for all of those years.
The outbuildings are newer replicas of the originals but a couple of them have working an kitchen and laundry areas like these.
One other treat we got while visiting the property was a sighting of this nice fox.
I hope you enjoyed this quick photo tour of this lovely plantation thanks for coming along, Rick
On The Road with Maxine & Me 
What did Maxine think of that fox? 🙂 That black walnut woodwork is outstanding, Rick!
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Maxine was back at camp when we saw the fox.
But she has been having fun with all the squirrels at the campground 😀
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Great tour!
Hope you aren’t done yet – there are so many museums!
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Beautiful fox!
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Beautiful plantation. They did a great job on the renovation.
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