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A $1,782 Field Trip
In 1888, Principal Launcelot Minor Blackford went to great lengths to show students the home of the first president.
Any given year, Episcopal students make roughly 100 trips throughout the Washington, D.C., area to museums and historical sites as well as to meet with scholars, experts, and professionals in politics, business, government, and nonprofit work. Such learning ventures have a long history at the School, dating back at least to all-day expeditions led by Launcelot Minor Blackford during his tenure as principal from 1870 to 1913.
In 1885, Blackford put together a School excursion to Mount Vernon, the historic home of George and Martha Washington. He left a rather dour summary of the trip in his diary — “A wearisome day … Extravagance” — but three years later, on June 5, 1888, he was preparing for another trek to the Founding Father’s estate. This journey didn’t promise to be any easier; the group of 61 would leave shortly before 10 a.m. and return around 6:15 p.m. Transporting everyone the roughly 10 miles south — a 25-minute car ride today — would require one omnibus, five hacks, three “daytons” (likely horse-drawn buggies or carriages), and two buggies, at a cost of approximately $1,782 in today’s dollars.
Still, Blackford must have deemed a visit to the home of the first president worth the enormous effort. Interest in Mount Vernon in the late 1880s may have been stimulated by centennials of key moments in George Washington’s life, such as his unanimous election to serve as the first president of the United States in 1789. By this time, Mount Vernon held a long tradition of welcoming visitors; in 1794, Washington wrote, “I have no objection to any sober or orderly person’s gratifying their curiosity in viewing the buildings, Gardens, &ca. about Mount Vernon.”
Blackford did not offer details in his diary of what he and his charges saw in 1888. But Mount Vernon records include the observations from another visitor to the estate about that time, and she wrote of hearing “stories and traditions of Washington not seen in the histories.” Among the highlights for her: Washington’s correspondence with his wife, his officers, and others; the general’s collection of swords as well as his instruments as surveyor; and Washington’s tomb.
“As I took a parting view of the Potomac,” she wrote, “stretching away to the south and the east, the long reach of the Maryland shore, and at the dignified old mansion, that was certainly a fitting place for the home of such a man.”
Blackford’s diary entry after this trip seemed to suggest the experience was far better than the earlier “wearisome” outing. “The day was very successful. … The boys behaved unexceptionably and were happy.”
