You’ve Never Seen George Washington Like This Before

MOUNT VERNON, VA – Before dignitaries and members of the press gathered for the ceremonial ribbon cutting on June 11, a large group of school students had already beaten them into one of the immersive galleries of Mount Vernon’s new George Washington: A Revolutionary Life Education Center.

Judging from their enthusiasm, the Education Center scored major points for its “Hands-on-History” interactive learning opportunities.

The new 21,000-square-foot Education Center, hailed as Mount Vernon’s “Birthday Gift to America” for the nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary, offers visitors a fresh, immersive, human, and accessible look at George Washington and the founding era.

Among the center’s most engaging attractions is a large interactive lab where visitors can help make decisions alongside Revolutionary War General George Washington. Using avatars representing members of Washington’s advisory team, visitors weigh competing recommendations and help determine the course of action on issues facing the future president.

The 18 desktop units display historic faces of Washington’s individual advisors who share their opinions on issues while simultaneously playing large-scale visuals on a jumbo screen and then ask for the user’s decision to help General Washington decide the course of action at play. The effect is to explore important questions about leadership, democracy, and national identity.

The Education Center appears to have accomplished its goals. Its immersive, deeply researched narratives and designs connect Washington’s leadership to the challenges Americans face today, according to the brief introductions made in the Great Hall by Doug Bradburn, Mount Vernon President and CEO; Carly Fiorina, VA250 Honorary National Chair; and Anne Neal Petri, 24th Regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.

“This is a dream, and it is very inclusive.”

— Sheila B. Coates, founder and president of Black Women United for Action

A Fresh Look at Washington

“Most importantly there had been a lot of great new research and historian’s work done on George Washington and the founding era that we wanted to include that make these stories come to life for people as they are today,” Bradburn said, noting it is “A more conclusive story, a more complete story, that puts George Washington not only at the center but in the midst of all the people who knew him, all the people with all their different characteristics.”

Bradburn explained that the previous exhibits, seen by millions of Americans, needed a “re-do,” noting technical issues in the exhibit established one year before the iPhone was invented.

“If you can imagine that!” he added.

Bradburn noted that “flow challenges” of the old exhibition space also needed new designs to yield to “large, oversized images to draw you in—moving images and screens—you’ve got immersion, you’ve got the sense of drama that you are in a special place. You’re in the 18th century!”

An Inclusive Story

And not only is the center being called “immersive, human, and accessible,” but the center was also termed “inclusive” by Sheila B. Coates, one of Mount Vernon’s leading civil rights activists, who has been working closely with Mount Vernon to honor the enslaved population of Mount Vernon for more than four decades.

Coates was honored with the esteemed Ann Pamela Cunningham Medal by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association at the George Washington gala birthday dinner in February 2026. She wore it around her neck for the Education Center opening.

Coates, the founder and president of Black Women United for Action (BWUFA), praised Mount Vernon’s leadership for the extensive inclusion and connections in the new center to the enslaved individuals of Mount Vernon.

“It’s inclusive!” said Coates.

“This is a dream, and it is very inclusive,” Coates added. “How can you have American history without the Black history being a part of it?”

A sixth-generation Virginian, Coates has worked with the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association for decades and is credited with establishing the Annual Slave Memorial Wreath-Laying Ceremony, an observance that has grown into an internationally recognized act of remembrance honoring the enslaved people of Mount Vernon. This year’s program is scheduled for Oct. 3, 2026.

In 2023, she helped establish the BWUFA Fellowship at the George Washington Presidential Library, in partnership with the MVLA, to support research into African American history and leadership.

A Birthday Gift to America

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, Mount Vernon demonstrates its goal of being at the center of the national conversation about leadership, democracy, and identity, offering a powerful visual way to understand the founding era through Washington’s life and decisions.

According to the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, the transformative experience of the new Education Center is Mount Vernon’s “birthday gift to America” and an investment in civic education, supported by philanthropic funding and designed to bring George Washington’s story to life for a new generation.

Rare Artifacts Bring History to Life

Also included in the newly opened Education Center are rare and original objects from George and Martha Washington, more than ever before displayed, including George Washington’s dentures—the only complete surviving set—featuring a lead base with a combination of human teeth and animal bone, revealing the realities of eighteenth-century dental practices and dispelling the myth that his dentures were made of wood.