“First in war, first in peace, first portrait hung in the rotunda . . . ”
Those are not the exact words General Henry Lee, who fought with George Washington during the Revolutionary War, used to deliver Washington’s eulogy in 1799, but when History teacher Walt Ellison accepted a replica of the famous Rembrandt Peale portrait of the first president, Ellison felt compelled to coin his own version of the famous speech.
“I try to attend the Georgia Council for the Social Studies Conference every year in Athens,” Ellison said. “When I was there this past October, a representative from the Mount Vernon Ladies Association offered the portrait to me on the condition that it be hung in a prominent place at our school.”
Following the GCSS conference, Ellison met with Principal Audrey Toney to discuss hanging the portrait in the rotunda. She signed off on the proposal and Ellison sent the required paperwork to the association.
Three weeks later the portrait arrived, and was promptly displayed. And the students noticed immediately.
“When I first saw the portrait, I was very confused,” freshman Tex Lindsey said. “There was suddenly a portrait where there used to be white space. I was really curious about it.”
Junior Meetra Nisanian also wondered about the portrait’s origin. “It looked really expensive, and I wondered how the school could pay for it.”
Ellison received the portrait at no monetary cost, along with an educational packet about Washington’s life and a flag that was flown over Mount Vernon. “The flag is in the process of being framed so that it can also hang in the rotunda,” Ellison said.
The Portrait Program, sponsored by the Mount Vernon Ladies Historical Society, offers the portrait to “celebrate Washington’s character, leadership, and accomplishments by hanging a replica of Peale’s “Porthole Portrait” of Washington in a place of honor in our school’s rotunda,” Ellison said.
Mount Vernon, Washington’s home, is owned and maintained by the association, which is the oldest national historic preservation organization in the U.S. Founded in 1853, the Mount Vernon Ladies Association embarked on a single-minded mission — to protect the home from commercial development. The association took possession of Mount Vernon and opened it to the public in 1860, according to its website. Under the association’s 150-year trusteeship, the estate has been authentically restored to its original appearance.
Today, Mount Vernon is a national monument that is open to the public every day of the year, including Christmas and New Year’s, serving an average of more than one million visitors annually.