MOUNT VERNON, Va. — It is one of the first questions that occurs to a visitor at George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate: How much of the mansion really dates back to Washington’s time, and how much has been replaced?
The estate is in the midst of a project that will help answer that question, down to every nail in the floorboards.
Architects and preservationists are at the estate, building a computerized database of every piece of the mansion. Laser scans are recording three-dimensional images to the tiniest detail, and workers are crawling on their hands and knees to photograph and document key components.
Combined with the already meticulous records that Washington himself kept of his work on the mansion, as well as those over the last 150 years, the model will provide a comprehensive database that the estate will use to guide future restoration efforts.
For example, Mount Vernon will soon have to put in a new fire suppression system that by necessity requires installation of new sprinkler heads. The database will guide that installation process to ensure that the installations occur with a minimum impact on the house’s oldest parts.