title

SEED to table:
Farming at
mount vernon

The Farmer

The Businessman

Instructional Ideas

Download the Manual

Order the Program

Mount Vernon Partnership

George Washington—The Businessman

George Washington was an innovative farmer, who worked to expand and diversify his farming operations in order to create a profitable business. By the late 1760s, Washington switched his cash crop from tobacco to wheat. The switch to grain crops gave Washington a dependable cash crop, something tobacco did not provide. In 1770, he began construction on a new mill, replacing an older mill inherited from his elder brother, in order to grind his wheat crop into flour for sale locally as well as in Europe and the West Indies. With an expanded and more efficient gristmill, Washington could turn his corn and wheat into cornmeal or flour. The gristmill produced goods and also provided a service for local farmers, who could bring their grain or corn to the mill to be ground. Rather than pay cash, local farmers would pay a toll of 1/8th of the output for this service. Washington also purchased grain from local farmers in order in increase his output of flour for sale. He would pay his suppliers either in cash or credit, which could be redeemed at local merchant stores where Washington had an account.

In 1797, Washington constructed a distillery at his gristmill complex, where he generated another product –whiskey–from his grains as well as an expanded base to obtain cash. By 1799, the distillery became his third most profitable industry after his fisheries and mill. By 1799 the gristmill complex consisted of Washington’s merchant mill, one of the largest distilleries in Virginia, a cooperage, the miller’s cottage, animal pens, and a small wharf on Dogue Creek where barrels full of flour were loaded onto boats which carried the goods for sale at local markets and as far away as Europe and the West Indies.