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Show WASHINGTON BIRTHDAY Although considerable attention was given to George Washington's Wash-ington's birthplace during the celebration of the 200th anniversary anniver-sary of his birth, in. 1932, it is likely that if asked to name it the average American would say Mount Vernon. Our first president was born, however, at Wakefield, on Pope's Creek, some 50 miles below Mount Vernon, and the mansion man-sion in which he was born stood'until it was burned on Christmas eve, in 1780. Washington moved to Mount Vernon, then called Hunting Creek, when he qas about three years old. The original mansion at Mount Vernon burned in 1739, and the present one was erected shortly thereafter. His birthplace, Wakefield, has long been marked by a granite shaft, erected by congress, and a tract of 365 acres, of which John D. Rockefeller jr., donated 254 acres, has been set apart by the government as the George Washington Birthplace National Monument. A new brick replica of the original mansion, one story with an attic, and with two outside brick chimneys at either end, was dedicated on Washington's birthday, 1932, with appropriate ceremonies. |