Washington Heritage Museums Announces "Transformative" Gift from Daughters of the American Revolution
Gift will go towards the capital campaign to preserve and interpret the Mary Washington Monument site.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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Washington Heritage Museums this week announced a $100,000 donation from the Daughters of the American Revolution, a “transformative gift” that will go towards making the Mary Washington Monument “more accessible and welcoming.”
“This most recent gift is part of a remarkable $255,000 in total support from DAR toward WHM’s $1.6 million capital campaign to preserve and enhance the monument site and honor the enduring legacy of Mary Ball Washington, mother of George Washington,” WHM wrote in a press release.
The organization manages five sites in Fredericksburg that have ties to George Washington and his family, with the Mary Washington monument and caretaker’s lodge being the most recent acquisition. The site also includes Meditation Rock, where Mary went often to pray for her son George’s safety during the Revolutionary War and near where she is buried.
WHM launched the capital campaign, “A Monumental Vision,” last year to raise funds for interpreting the site, making it accessible to visitors with mobility constraints, and preserving it.
Just last month, the organization announced that the monument had been vandalized, an act that director Anne Darron described as “heartbreaking … considering how much time and care WHM has put into revitalizing the property.”
“WHM responded swiftly to vandalism at the monument, working with local experts to restore the site,” the press release states. “As part of its long-term vision, WHM is also enhancing security to protect this national treasure.”
The recent gift from DAR continues and strengthens the relationship between the two organizations, which is “historic and profound,” according to the press release.
“At its very first meeting on October 11, 1890, DAR pledged to ‘make it our first work to aid in the completion of the monument to the mother of Washington,’” the release states. “That promise was fulfilled with extraordinary generosity, as DAR members raised nearly three-fourths of the $11,500 needed to complete the monument, which was dedicated in 1894 with President Grover Cleveland in attendance.”
WHM is working with FIELD Design, led by landscape designer Sally Harman, to create a plan for the monument site that includes “ADA-accessible pathways, slope stabilization and improved security, enhanced historical interpretation, and hardscaped areas for small events in a park-like setting.”
Darron said in the press release that “the Daughters of the American Revolution have been—and continue to be—essential partners in our mission.”
“Their generosity and dedication inspire us, and we look forward to continuing this collaboration as we steward the legacy of Mary Washington for generations to come.”
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