The enslaved community at Mount Vernon began to dissolve in 1801 as a result of Washington’s death and his directions about manumitting his slaves in his will. During and after the American Revolution (1775–1783) Washington’s views on the morality of slavery evolved, and he stopped buying and selling people. In their spare time, they formed friendships, found love and got married, had children, cared for their homes and families, and maintained diverse religious practices. Enslaved men and women at Mount Vernon worked from Monday to Saturday as skilled or field laborers, sometimes resisting their enslavement by escaping, by committing theft or arson, or through more passive means. From the demographic information in these lists, historians have reconstructed extended multigenerational families. Perhaps the most valuable written records of this community are the two sets of slave inventories that Washington prepared in 17. Most of what we know about the enslaved community at Mount Vernon comes from records kept by the white people in their lives, as well as archaeological finds. Washington was, thus, living in the midst of a large African and African-American community. At the height of its development under Washington, the estate was home to more than 300 enslaved people of African extraction compare this to the roughly 30 residents of European extraction, which includes members of the Washington family, their managerial staff, and hired and indentured craftsmen, together with their families. Washington acquired these men and women through inheritance, purchase, natural increase, and his marriage to Martha Dandridge Custis.
George Washington‘s Mount Vernon estate relied on the labor of enslaved Africans and African Americans to power its five distinct farms: Mansion House Farm, River Farm, Dogue Run Farm, Muddy Hole Farm, and Union Farm.
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