Washington Winter Show 2016

40 George Mason’s Gunston Hall This page is in honor of Hilary Gripekoven First Regent of Gunston Hall (2013–15) “In a monarchy he would have been called the power behind the throne.”  1 T his accolade reminds us that George Mason, while sometimes called the “forgotten” Founding Father, played an immensely important role in developing our governmental institutions and establishing American civil liberties. Mason was the chief author of the 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights, and his 240-year-old document outlining basic human rights remains profoundly influential. Not only was it the archetype for similar statements in the other American colonies, but it also served as a model for the Déclaration des droits de l’homme of the 1789 French Revolution and for the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution. 2 In addition to his monumental political legacy, Mason enhanced the nation’s cultural heritage with his beloved Virginia plantation, Gunston Hall, a premier example of colonial-era craftsmanship, architecture, and landscape design. George Mason’s Background Colonel George Mason of Gunston Hall lived as did many other well-to-do Virginia planters. He inherited much of by Lucie Stephens Holland and Rebecca Martin Figures 1 and 2: Dominic Boudet, George Mason IV and Ann Eilbeck Mason, 1811, after 1750 portraits by John Hesselius. The originals, no longer extant, were painted in honor of the couple’s marriage. He was 25 years old and had inherited a substantial plantation. She was the only child of well-to-do planters and would manage the domestic affairs of Gunston Hall until her death at 39. (All photographs, Courtesy of Gunston Hall) Celebrating 240 Years of American Liberties