Mount Vernon: The real ‘National Treasure’

By Josh Eiserike

Published: July 3, 2008

About 25 visitors gather by the east lawn of Mount Vernon on a hot Tuesday morning for a special National Treasure Tour.

This tour, running through the end of October, shows visitors a different side of George Washington's home—the side featured in the 2007 Disney film "National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets."

"We wanted to see what they saw in the movie," Pam Davis said. Davis, 43, of Orlando, was visiting Washington, D.C., for the first time with her husband Fred, and their children, Kathleen and Alexander.

Edna Hertsch, a historic interpreter at Mount Vernon, dresses in period clothes (including a wide brim hat), to lead up to two daily National Treasure tours.

Hertsch said National Treasure 2 director John Turteltaub wanted to show audiences parts of Mount Vernon they wouldn't typically see.

The tour, which includes stops at the east lawn, basement and wharf, which provided the back-drop for a scene where Nicholas Cage's character sneaks from the Potomac River to Mount Vernon, near the wharf.

He crashes the president's birthday party on the east lawn and takes the president into the basement, in search of a secret passage. This is all under the pretense of getting the president alone for a few minutes to ask about a secret book, supposedly passed from president to president, documenting all of the nation's secrets.

"This whole area was turned into a magical setting, a party for the president," Hertsch said. "This east lawn was lit up so much with all their lights and cameras, you could see across to the Maryland shore."

After describing how Hollywood used a similar John F. Kennedy Mount Vernon party as reference, Hertsch took the group to the basement, through the same entrance Nicholas Cage used in the movie to trap the president in a secret passageway.

"We can only take a certain number in our basement at one time for safety's sake," Hertsch said.

As the tour files down into the basement, Hertsch describes the actual structure and explains how it was used for storage, not secret passageways.

She said the slave, Charlotte, referenced in the film was a real person, but did not draw a map of the property.

The basement, built of bricks and sandstone support, is a cramped area, the ceiling not much taller than the height of an average person. There are modern additions such as heating, cooling and other wiring, but it's essentially what one would expect: an old basement. It's also easy to hear the footsteps of other visitors touring the rest of the mansion, one floor above.

"They actually didn't do any filming down here," Hertsch said.

The production team took precise measurements and built a set, a replica, in Hollywood.

"I'm sorry to tell you there's no secret tunnel down here, that's Hollywood," Hertsch said.

There is, however, a sloping tunnel on the grounds, part of the icehouse. The National Treasure tour includes a look at the icehouse from two different vantage points, but no crawling through the tunnel (Besides, when Disney looked at the tunnel to reference what an 18th century tunnel might look like, it was crawling with spiders).

Despite the incongruity of some of the Hollywoodization of Mount Vernon, the tour still captured visitors' imaginations.

"You could see the mark (on the cornerstone) of George Washington's half brother," Alex Calhoun, 15, of Chesterfield said. Alex visited Mount Vernon with his brother, Zack, and parents Rick and Robin. "I saw it in the movie and I could relate to it even more here."

Staff writer Josh Eiserike can be reached at 703-878-8072.