English Influence on Founders of the New Nation: A Visit to Gunston Hall, Home of George Mason

Gunston Hall Plantation
10709 Gunston Road
Mason Neck, Virginia 22079
(703) 550-9220

Instructional Unit:
This field trip to Gunston Hall would coordinate with a broader study of Pre-Revolutionary America. It is directed toward sixth graders studying American history encompassing the pre-Revolutionary War until 1865. The expected general outcome of this field trip would be a deeper understanding of George Mason, as an individual based on the experience of walking within his walls and viewing the world from his orderly household.

Curriculum Unit:
Grade 6
Social Studies

Objectives:
Background to the eve of the Revolution will have been learned from the students' Social Studies programs in third and fourth grades, in which they learned about Fairfax County history and Virginia history, respectively.

The unit of study in which this field trip would occur would be entitled, English Influence on Founders of the New Nation . In looking closely at the lives of men such as George Mason, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, students may learn that these men were products of generations of English influence, even though they generated new and revolutionary ideas used against that very country.

Students may already be familiar with George Mason as a prominent figure in Fairfax and Virginia history, but this field trip would be a close examination of him in light of his estate and lifestyle. Students may see him for the first time as a pragmatic businessman, husband, father, employer, master. They may conclude that his privileged position in society allowed him the luxury of time to think philosophically about changes in America. They may see how indebted he was to England for not only for the everyday items of use, decorative details in his home, the architectural style of his house and gardens, but also for the business of trade which made him wealthy enough to maintain his lifestyle.

If the students have visited Gunston Hall as third or fourth graders, they will have learned about the plantation community, visiting the on-site museum, the schoolhouse, the kitchen, wash house, chicken coops, diary and gardens as well as the house itself. They will have had an opportunity to handle horn books and slates, candle snuffers, tin lanterns, farm equipment such as baskets, brooms, yokes, and play items such as playing cards and ball and stick games. These are part of Gunston's school tours for children of these ages.

Pre-Visit Activities:

1. A visit for sixth graders will be geared toward observation of details decorative arts, architecture, furniture, and garden design. Through pre-visit research, students have become familiar with the styles of architecture typical of English design during the 18th century.
2. They will have gathered a vocabulary of terms applying to Georgian architecture, Palladian influence, 18th century of woodwork and furniture, and they will have seen some examples of English china and glassware.
3. Students will also have read some copies of original documents describing the layout of the plantation, accounts of commerce between George Mason and the purchasers of his crops, and diary entries of some prominent planters or their family members. Sources for this research could include use of books such as George Mason by Peggy Olden, books on Palladio and his influence on 18th century furniture, china and glassware. Visits to Monticello, Mt.Vernon made with their families could also prime students for the Gunston experience.
4. Students will predict styles that maybe in Gunston Hall, based on this research.

On-Site Activities:
On-site, the tour would begin in the meeting room of the tour center. Docents who are especially knowledgeable about the architecture and decorative arts relating to the house will meet us there. After viewing a film which gives an overview of George Mason's life, we will follow the docent to the main house. The students, teacher, and accompanying parents will be touring in small groups.

The tour will begin in the hall. Students will learn that this area served as a gathering place, especially for entertainment, dances, and in Summer as a breezeway much like a deck on a porch does for us today. The Windsor chairs served almost as patio furniture does today. Decorative details of woodwork will be pointed out, and the story of William Buckland, the indentured servant of George Mason, will be told. Buckland designed the woodwork in Gunston Hall having been brought from England especially for that job.

Attention will be drawn to the elaborate mirror, carefully cared for in the summer with a protective net covering to prevent insects from damaging it. The vivid blue paint of most of the hall will be observed and identified as authentic to the period. The architecture design of the wallpaper adorning the staircase walls will be noted.

The tour will move into the front bedroom, known as "Mother's room" in son John Mason's notes. Here students will see the closets which contained clothing for the parents and a children's clothing chest. There is an opposing closet which was kept locked from which Ann Mason obtained precious commodities such as sugar for particular recipes, or tea. Symmetry of design will be noted.

During tours of the study, parlor, and dining rooms the use of symmetry will be evident in door and window placements, portrait placements, and even in the way dished and other table appointments are laid out. Particular pieces of furniture will be noted and connected with English design names. Porcelain and glassware names and origins will be given. The tour of the main house will conclude with the viewing of the children's rooms upstairs. Students may note a complete abandonment of the very orderly styles of downstairs when they see these rooms.

While one group tours the house, others will be visiting the landside lawn, the formal gardens, the kitchen, dairy, laundry, smokehouse, chicken coops, and schoolhouse. A sense of the massive support system required to maintain the lives of the family in the main house should be evident.

Students will also have an opportunity to browse the gift shop, located in the tour center. They may buy what they like, but would be asked to look for items for sale that are replicas of things found at Gunston having to do with children, with the kitchen and food, with lighting, with decorative objects in the house.

Follow-Up Activities:
Shortly after the tour, students will do post-visit activities. These would include charts listing predictions they had made about what styles and elements they might see at Gunston. Opposing predictions on the chart would be realities as they discovered them. Categories might include overall architectural design of the house, interior floor plan, furniture and appointments, and garden. A category fro surprises-- unpredictable information would be included.

Other follow-up activities would include:

1. Designing and building of paper/ cardboard house models of their own design, based on 18th century English design. Elevations and floor plans could accompany these. Clay models of details of woodwork, of decorative items, porcelain etc. could be made, glazed in appropriate color and fired.
2. Journal entries written in a style similar to the writings they had read or heard from Mason's period could be written on parchment using calligraphy pens.
3. These products might be displayed in a case visible to parents and other teachers and students. They could also be carried on lecture tours to third or fourth grade classrooms.
4. Children, chaperoning parents and the teacher could write to the docents who gave us the tour. These letters could take the style of a communication from the 18th century visitor to Gunston responding to the host's hospitality, or they could be written in modern language. They should include predictions and confirmations of surprises.
5. Further post-tour activities could include research on topics drawn from the tour, such as William Buckland-- visits to other houses he worked on in Annapolis, the history of porcelains in England, visits to the Museum of American History of the Museum of American Art to see more portraits of the period. Students could prepare their families armed with their knowledge gathered from the Gunston Hall experience.

It is my hope that all of them feel a sense of having touched another time in America, through seeing how the people of our past lived and the objects and buildings that they used for practical purposes and that fulfilled aesthetic needs.

Appendices:
none

Bibliography:
none

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