Liberty Hall

• This Band of Devoted Women: Preservation Stories of Mount Vernon and Liberty Hall

  By Becky Shipp

  Mount Vernon, 1850s and Liberty Hall, 1934

  Ann Pamela Cunningham of South Carolina established the Mount Vernon Ladies Association (MVLA) in 1853. Her work and legacy of rescuing and restoring Mount Vernon, the former home of George Washington in Virginia, is recognized as the beginning of the historic preservation movement in the United States and the inspiration for many women to become involved in this work in their own communities. 

• Uncovering the story of Harry Mordecai, Bricklayer and Plasterer at Liberty Hall Historic Site

  By Sharon Cox

  Orlando Brown House exterior, photograph by Hilly Dobner, 2019.

  My first introduction to Mordecai’s work at the Orlando Brown House was a report of Jacqueline Ridley’s tour of Liberty Hall. Jacqueline is a descendant of Mordecai. Harry Mordecai had been known as a free African American plasterer who was thought to have plastered the Old State Capitol and the Orlando Brown House. Curator Kate Hesseldenz was able to provide Jacqueline with a copy of Orlando Brown’s record of paying Mordecai for some of the plasterwork at Orlando’s house and Orlando’s letter to his father about the construction progress.