Federal agencies are responsible for ensuring that their programs comply with Federal, State, and local laws concerning protection of historic properties. We recognize the value of irreplaceable historic cultural resources and are committed to protecting them from damage. Numerous federal laws have been passed to protect these resources. It is the federal government’s position that historic resources provide important benefits to the American people and that the government should provide leadership in the preservation of the historic resources of the United States.
 
The importance of Historic Preservation was not always recognized or practiced in our country. The first effort to protect our nation’s historical heritage was assumed in 1853 in the person of a frail, sickly young woman named Ann Pamela Cunningham. Ann’s Mother, South Carolina socialite Louise Dalton Bird Cunningham witnessed the deteriorated condition of George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate while cruising the Potomac River. Appalled at the condition of the estate, Cunningham wrote to her daughter, “If the men of America have seen fit to allow the home of its most respected hero to go to ruin, why can’t the women of America band together to save it?”
 
In the five decades since George Washington died at his beloved Mount Vernon estate, ownership of the proud and stately mansion passed to a series of family members who were overwhelmed by the financial responsibility of maintaining the property. Washington’s great-great nephew, John A. Washington owned the estate and wanted to sell it with the proviso that it be preserved as a historic site.
 
In response to her Mother’s question, Ann Pamela Cunningham ignited the preservation movement when she invited influential women from each of the thirty states to serve as Vice-Regents of the newly formed Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, the first national women’s organization in America. The Association earned support of important political and financial leaders and was finally able to take possession of Mount Vernon in 1860.
 
Struggling to finance restoration and maintenance of the estate, efforts were soon to be interrupted by the Civil War. Cunningham directed that an appeal be made to the commanders of both Union and Confederate forces to give a pledge for the safety of Mount Vernon; both as a reward to the ladies of America and as a tribute to the Father of his Country. Throughout the Civil War, Mount Vernon was held sacred by both armies.
 
After the war, fund raising and restoration began anew; original pieces of furniture were obtained and returned to their previous rooms. Analysis of paint layers restored the hues chosen by George Washington. Today, Mount Vernon appears much as it did over 200 years ago.
 
The original vision of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association has established the foundation of historical preservation in the United States. In her farewell address to the Association in 1874, Ann Pamela Cunningham wrote:
 
Ladies, the home of Washington is in your charge – see to it that you keep it the home of Washington. Let no irreverent hand change it; no vandals hands desecrate it with the fingers of progress. Those who go to the home in which he lived and died wish to see in what he lived and died. Let one spot in this grand country of ours be saved from change. Upon you rests this duty.”
 
(Submitted by Dane Bowerman)