George Mason built for the future; both his words and his house endure.  With his words, in the 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights, he built a framework of freedom.  "That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights...namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety."  His immortal document served as the inspiration for the U.S. Declaration of Independence, Federal Bill of Rights and the French Declaration of Rights of Man.  After being copied in many emerging democracies, it also served as a model for the United Nations' Declaration of Human Rights.

Mason's concern for detail, so evident in the careful choice of the right words in his documents, reveals itself again and again in his plantation home, Gunston Hall, in northern Virginia.  His keen powers of concentration, you'll learn, sometimes caused him to lose track of some very important details, however, such as the whereabouts of his nine children.  His son, John, said, "I have frequently known his mind, tho' always kind and affectionate to his children, so diverted from the objects around him that he would not for days together miss one of the family who may have been absent, and would sometimes at table enquire for one of my sisters who had perhaps been gone a week on a visit to some friend, of which he had known but forgotten."

George Mason suffered from gout and therefore served the cause of the Revolution primarily with his pen from the confines of his study at Gunston Hall.  He did, in spite of his handicap, attend every session of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia during the long hot summer of 1787.  He made dozens of speeches and helped draft the Constitution, but when he lost the battle to include a Bill of Rights and a ban on the slave trade he refused to sign the finished document.

    For the most part he did not travel great distances, content to travel instead in his mind.  John Mason recalled, "The small dining room was devoted to (my Father's) service when he used to write, and he absented himself as it were from his family sometimes for weeks together, and often until very late at night during the Revolutionary War..."  Mason's walnut writing table was salvaged from a fire in July 1880, and has been returned to the study at Gunston Hall.

It is the interior woodwork that places Gunston Hall among the most attractive of Virginia's colonial plantations.  The house, unassuming from the outside, is unrivaled in its exquisitely carved interior woodwork.  This work was designed by William Buckland, a 21-year-old indentured carpenter whom George Mason's brother engaged in England.  He chose well, for Buckland went on to achieve distinction in the roughly five buildings he designed before his early death. He was one of  the first to use chinoiserie in America.  He used the new style in the dining room at Gunston Hall, designing scalloped frames over the windows and doors, each with intricate fretwork, or designs.  This is the only room with a chinoiserie woodwork scheme to survive from the colonial era. 

Buckland’s delightfully designed drawing room combines the strong classicism typical of mid-century English design, reflecting the influence of Andrea Palladio, with rococo elements which were a popular part of the “modern” or French-influenced style that was fashionable in Mason’s day. On the wall is a portrait of Ann Eilbeck Mason, of whom her devoted husband, George, said, "She never met me without a smile."

If you think you've seen a representative sampling of Virginia colonial houses, you haven't until you see Gunston Hall.  It is not only beautifully built and decorated; it also features a picturesque Colonial Revival garden.  From the main house you gaze down a 230-foot boxwood allee, planted by George Mason, to the Potomac River overlook.  This allee is the only truly original feature of the garden.  Flanking the garden on raised knolls are twin gazebos.  On either side of the allee on both upper and lower terraces are networks of flower beds (parterres) which, though balanced, are not similarly designed or planted.  The garden design was based on the remembrances of John Mason combined with current understanding of colonial garden design.

    The gazebos offer a view of the house, garden, river and Deer Park, which was once stocked with white-tailed deer.  You can take the two-mile Barn Wharf Nature Trail which begins at the front of the house.  The trail offers the chance to enjoy spring wildflowers and nesting bluebirds. Hours at Gunston Hall are 9:30 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s

Day.  An orientation film about George Mason is shown at the visitor center.  Admission is charged.

    Bird fanciers may want to extend their day by visiting the nearby Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge.  The wildlife refuge is open year-round.  This is the first sanctuary established for the protection of the American bald eagle.  Here on this 2,272-acre refuge a wide variety of wildlife make their home.  Much of the marshlands, forests and wooded swamps are inaccessible to visitors, but the peaceful protection they offer serves both wildlife and man.  More than 226 species of birds have been spotted at Mason Neck.  When you visit bring binculars and a field guide for bird identification, as you will undoubtedly spot some unfamiliar varieties.  There are two hiking trails: Great Marsh Trail is 3/4 of a mile long and handicap accessible; Woodmarsh Trail is three miles long with mild hills and contours.

Directions: From I-95 northbound, take the Fort Belvoir exit.  The sign reads “Mt. Vernon-Ft. Belvoir.”  Travel north on Route 1, then turn right on Route 242, Gunston Road, for Gunston Hall and Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge. From I-95 southbound, take the Lorton exit and turn left on Lorton Road.  You will then make a right on Armistead Road, then right (southbound) on Route 1,  Richmond Highway, Route 242.  Proceed four miles to the entrance for Gunston Hall or 4 3/4 miles for Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge.