Grave of the Presidents

In 1977 I took a school trip to Washington, D. C. I remember visiting the grave of George and Martha Washington but no longer have the photographs taken that day. Seems all but 3 or 4 of those photos have disappeared over the years.

So, thanks to the school trip photos taken in 1978 by my husband, Barry, I share the following:

Mount Vernon. Photographed 1978

The grave of the first and greatest of the presidents is that which needs the briefest description. So familiar is every American with the scene and story of Mount Vernon. The vault, which was built in obedience of the provisions of Washington’s will, is a roomy brick vault, with an arched roof, very simple in design and construction, and so substantial as to promise to endure for another century. Through an iron gate the two sarcophagi are seen; on a marble tablet in its arch is the inscription:

Within this enclosure rest the remains
of
General George Washington

The coffins, which lie in the open vestibule of the vault proper, are of Pennsylvania marble; that of Washington bears an American shield, the other but two words – “Martha Washington.” A few feet behind them is the vault door, bearing the inscription: “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”

Hutchinson News 9/19/1878 

Tomb of George Washington. Taken 1978.

From the will of George Washington:

The family Vault at Mount Vernon requiring repairs, and being improperly situated besides, I desire that a new one of Brick, and upon a larger Scale, may be built at the foot of what is commonly called the Vineyard Inclosure, on the ground which is marked out. In which my remains, with those of my deceased relatives (now in the old Vault) and such others of my family as may chuse to be entombed there, may be deposited. And it is my express desire that my Corpse may be Interred in a private manner, without parade, or funeral Oration.

What President graves have you visited and photographed? I've been to Washington, Kennedy, Eisenhower and Roosevelt.