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Cedar roof shingle attributed to George Washington's estate at Mount Vernon, measuring 3.5˝ x 17.5˝, with red paint toward the teardrop-shaped bottom. Mounted, cloth-matted, and framed with an attribution caption to an overall size of 13˝ x 26˝. In fine condition.
The red roof is one of Mount Vernon’s most recognizable architectural features, giving Washington’s mansion its distinctive appearance overlooking the Potomac. Mount Vernon notes that wood was the dominant roofing material in Washington’s Virginia, and that Washington purchased hundreds of thousands of shingles for the estate, many split from rot-resistant cypress trees from the Dismal Swamp. The roof was red by the 1790s, though preservation research has shown that earlier shingles may have been painted slate blue. Painting or staining the shingles helped protect them from sun and rain, and the red color used on Mount Vernon’s roofs today was matched to paint preserved on an original shingle discovered in the mansion attic.
