This plain statement empaneled above the doorway of the rigidly simple brick vault at once marks its importance. Within the doubly ironed portals may be seen two marble sarcophagi; that on the right contains the body of General Washington and the one on the left the remains of his wife. At the rear of this open vault, and connected with it through a square iron door, is an inner vault containing the remains of many of the Washington family. To the memory of Bushrod Washington and John Augustine Washington, successors of the General (whose bodies are within the vault), marble shafts were erected in front of the tomb, while to the east are the graves of Nellie Custis and her daughter.

Washington selected this site for the vault only a few months before he died. His executors carried out his explicit directions as to construction, which accounts for its extreme simplicity. Because of Washington’s distaste for display, the character of this tomb should never be changed. Extensive repairs for the preservation of the original structure were made by the Association in 1886. To this hallowed spot come pilgrims from every land.