George Washington Cemetery

Photo by Matt McClain/The Washington Post) Michael E. Ruane Reporter covering local news, Washington institutions and historical topics December 13 Young Col. Washington came home to Mount Vernon packed in a foam-lined wooden box that was fastened with 14 screws and labeled “keep dry.” He had been away for 216 years, but inside his gilded frame he still looked soldierly in his red waistcoat and pale sash. Around his neck he wore a silver officer’s pendant, marked with the British royal coat of arms. And his face was that of a confident man, accustomed to command. This was the youthful George Washington painted in his 40s by the artist Charles Willson Peale. The famous portrait returned to display at Mount Vernon on Thursday for the first time since 1802. Here was not the dour, white-haired figure on the dollar bill, nor the black-clad older man with bad dentures depicted in other portraits. This was the earliest known painting of the country’s first president and the man who would lead the Colonial forces to victory in the Revolutionary War. The painting,“George Washington as Colonel in the Virginia Regiment,” was uncrated and hung with care in Mount Vernon’s Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center, where it opened to the public Thursday. It will be on display for the next two years. “We always mourn [Mount Vernon pieces] that got away,” said Susan P. Schoelwer, Mount Vernon’s executive director for historic preservation and collections. Now one is back. “It’s absolutely thrilling to be able to experience the young George Washington instead of the battle-worn Washington,” she said. “It’s the only likeness that we have of him depicting his appearance prior to the Revolutionary War.” Dermot Rooney and David Schlaegel place of the portrait of George Washington at Mount Vernon. (Photo by Matt McClain/The Washington Post) The painting is on loan from Washington and Lee University. In October, the university, grappling...

His visit to nearby Arlington National Cemetery took place on a gray and rainy day -- not unlike the conditions at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery east of Paris, which Trump was set to visit in early November before canceling.Trump, who was in France to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, said at the time that aides had insisted the weather made it unsafe to fly by helicopter to the cemetery.He was also criticized for failing, upon his return from France, to visit Arlington to mark Veterans Day.Trump later explained that he was "extremely busy on calls for the country" that day, but added, in an interview with Fox News, "I should have done that."Carrying a large black umbrella, the president took part in a brief ceremony in Arlington, part of a "Wreaths Across America" day when volunteers lay thousands of wreaths on the tombstones of military veterans.In brief remarks to reporters, he said the government was working to expand Arlington, where more than 400,000 men and women are buried, by purchasing nearby land. "We're working very hard on it. We'll get it done."Arlington, on land once owned by a descendant of George Washington, lies directly across the Potomac River from the capital, just a few minutes' drive away.

For the 10th consecutive year, the George Washington chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution is involved in the campaign to place pine wreaths on graves in the veterans’ cemetery.Wheeling resident Gary Timmons, local Wreaths Across America chairman, said about 2,000 people from throughout the region participated in the project in Washington County last year. He said members of the Young Marines organization saluted as each wreath was laid on a grave.Timmons said volunteers are encouraged to arrive at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies at noon Saturday to help place the wreaths. The event will begin with a brief ceremony.“Last year, over 10,300 wreaths were placed at this cemetery, and for the third consecutive year, with graves that were already decorated by families, every grave was marked,” he said.The SAR’s George Washington chapter started its partnership with the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies in 2008, when it raised funds to buy and donate a four-person electric cart to transport families around the cemetery. The chapter also dedicated a boulder along a memorial walkway in the cemetery. The chapter has an arrangement with the national SAR organization so that for every two wreaths sponsored, a third wreath is provided free. “The George Washington chapter is proud to be the largest gatherer of sponsorships for this cemetery,” Timmons said.The National Cemetery of the Alleghenies was established in 2008 on approximately 300 acres near the border of Washington and Allegheny counties. It was created to serve the tri-state area after a study found there are in excess of 300,000 veterans in this region. To date, more than 15,000 people have been interred in the cemetery.The origin of Wreaths Across America dates back over 25 years ago when Merrill Worcester, owner of a nursery in Harrington, Maine, had an overabundance of Christmas wreaths and donated the excess wreaths to Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.This program’s goal is to generate sponsors for holiday wr...