Mount Vernon

This past weekend, Laurel and I went to Mount Vernon for several reasons: to see the Christmas decorations (which consisted of a few garlands, and that's about it); to see the third floor, which is only open to the public in December; and to see the new education center. The place was lovely, as usual.

I love the fact that I live in George Washington's hometown, because he is my favorite historical figure of all time. (Read His Excellency by Joseph Ellis to find out why he was so great.) But I think Laurel and I were more excited about critiquing the education center and the tour guides than anything else (that's what working in the museum field will do to you). I could write a whole paper on this, but I'll keep my points to a minimum.

1) The orientation film was crap (even though it had Pat Sajack in it, whom I love.) It was confusing and didn't give the visitor an overall idea of who Washington was and why he was so important. 2) The tour guides kept referring to him as "General Washington," which I found a bit odd, considering his greatest achievement was establishing the office of the Presidency. 3) The house tour gave almost no insight on who Washington was as a person. It was more about domestic life during the 18th century. 4) The new education center and museum were a vast improvement to what was there before, but I still had problems with its interpretation and design.

Lastly, I'd like to say that sometimes we get frustrated with museums "dumbing things down" for visitors. But then you go on a tour with people who ask questions such as: Did they have showers? Where did they go to the bathroom? Did Martha Washington go up and down the stairs after she moved her bedroom to the 3rd floor? (That was probably the worst question of the tour.)

Ok, that's enough of my rant for now.