The view of the hall is from the East, showing the main stairway. To the right, doors open into the Music Room and Parlor; to the left are Mrs. Washington’s Sitting Room and the Family Dining Room. The paneling of the hall is as Washington improved it in 1775, and the original colors are restored. The pattern of wall paper above the stairs has been worked out from recently discovered fragments of what was originally there. The key of the Bastile, presented to Washington by Lafayette, in 1789, hangs in a glass case between the doors on the left, while opposite may be seen the brass hunting horn received from the same friend.

Four of Washington’s swords are shown: one he used during the Braddock campaign; his dress sword (damaged by rust); a sword made for him at the Solingen Armory in Prussia; the silver-mounted blade he wore when resigning command of the army (1783) and at his inauguration in 1789. In the case with the swords is the sash worn by General Braddock when he was wounded, and given by him to Col. George Washington, who was then his aide-de-camp.

By his will, Washington bequeathed to each of his nephews one of his five swords, with the following injunction: “Not to unsheathe them for the purpose of shedding blood except it be in self-defence or in the defence of their country and its rights, and in the latter case to keep them unsheathed and prefer falling with them in their hands to the relinquishment thereof.”

The clock on the stairs belonged to Lawrence Washington, the founder of Mount Vernon, and the hall lantern was given to him (1745) by Admiral Vernon, for whom the estate was named.

The marble top table belonged to Washington, and the engravings are reprints of originals. The restoration of the hall is due to the Vice-Regents for Michigan and Alabama.