In 1754, George Washington became the proprietor of Mount Vernon, located on the Potomac River in Fairfax County seven miles south of the city of Alexandria. Through a series of alterations and remodelings, completed by 1787, Washington transformed a simple farmhouse built by his father into the mansion that it is today. The composition of the house is set off by its cupola, rusticated wooden siding, and famous portico. Every aspect of the estate—the architecture of the mansion, the decoration of its interior, the planning of the outbuildings, the layout of the gardens, and the operation of the plantation—received Washington’s most careful attention. After Washington’s death at Mount Vernon in 1799, the property gradually fell into disrepair. In 1858 some 200 acres of the original 8,000-acre plantation were acquired by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, organized by Ann Pamela Cunningham. The association continues to maintain the meticulously restored Mount Vernon complex in its matchless Potomac River setting as a shrine to the father of our country.