Landmark Lecture: A Digital Gateway: Researching the Enslaved Community at Mount Vernon & Beyond
2026-09-22 18:30 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Dower House, 1670 31st Street NW, Washington, DC, 20007, United States
At his death in 1799, George Washington recorded 318 enslaved people at Mount Vernon. This number does not reflect the numbers of individuals who worked the property during the entire tenure of the Washington family from 1735 – 1858, and it does not begin to address individuals enslaved on the numerous properties owned by Washington or the vast acreage he administered on behalf of the Custis family. In 2014, to better understand the lives of those enslaved individuals, Mount Vernon’s digital humanities program designed a unique database to capture the events of their daily lives. This database compiled, deduped and organized references from ledgers, diaries, work reports, etc., to provide a means to quantitatively analyze these textual references. This presentation explores the Slavery Database with a focus on issues of data entry, data manipulation and the complexity of working with text as data in order to recreate the community enslaved by the Washington and Custis families.
Molly Kerr is a Founding Director at History Revealed, Inc. With educational interests in cultural anthropology (University of Mary Washington) and archaeology (University of Arkansas, Fayetteville), her professional experience ranges from contract archaeology to teaching teachers how to make history more engaging in the classroom to the creation of a database cataloging the enslaved of George Washington. Most recently, she has focused on store accounts from the 18th century for what they tell us about the people, places, events and material culture of the communities residing in Colchester and Alexandria, Virginia.
Members: FREE | Non-Members: FREE

Landmark Lecture: A Digital Gateway: Researching the Enslaved Community at Mount Vernon & Beyond (Virtual)
2026-09-22 18:30 - 20:00 | Dower House, 1670 31st Street NW, Washington, DC, 20007, United States

Tudor Tots: Z is for Zipcode
2026-09-23 10:15 - 11:00 | Tudor Place
There could be a new friend right around the corner! Let’s learn what it means to be a good neighbor and a member of the community. Early learners aged 18 months to four years old and their caregivers will explore what makes a neighborhood and a community. Discover how Tudor Place is piecing together its history through group story time, museum artifacts and a hands-on art project.
Member Child: $5 | Non-Member Child: $10 | Accompanying Adult: Free

Brew to the People: A Coffeehouse Conversation: A People in the World
2026-09-24 18:30 - 20:00 | Tudor Place
Celebrate America 250 with Brew to the People, a lively, after-hours experience inspired by the colonial coffeehouses where ideas, gossip and revolution were brewed. Explore fascinating objects from the past in the feature exhibition: Founding Fortunes: The Estate Sale of Martha Washington and spark great conversations before heading to the Dower House for coffeehouse-style cocktails and treats. Come get energized by history, community and a spirited night out .
☕︎ Because Caffeination without Representation is no laughing matter. Here at The Liberty Bean there’s freedom in every cup. ☕︎
Members: FREE | Non-members: $25
Not a member yet? Sign up here today for this and other benefits to avoid an espresso rebellion.

This event is part of America250 at Tudor Place.
