Ann Pamela Cunningham (1816-1875)

Ann Pamela Cunningham was the grandniece of Mark Bird (1738-1812) and Mary Ross (1744-1790) Ann Pamela Cunningham was born August 15, 1816, at her father's Rosemont Plantation, in Laurens County, South Carolina. Ann died May 1, 1875, at Rosemont Plantation.

In 1853, Ann Pamela Cunningham founded the Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union and saved George Washington's Mount Vernon Plantation. Ann raised the funds nation wide to purchase and restore Mount Vernon as a public shrine when the U. S. Government would not. Ann lived in Mount Vernon before and during the restoration. The Association appealed to the American people in a campaign to raise two hundred thousand dollars need to acquire Mount Vernon Plantation from John Augustine Washington Jr. In December, of 1858, Ann Pamela Cunningham and the Association purchased the mansion, outbuildings and two hundred surrounding acres. The restoration of Mount Vernon began immediately and Mount Vernon was opened to the public. Sense 1858, the Association has owned and maintained Mount Vernon under a charter granted by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

In her farewell address, on June 1, 1874, Ann Pamela Cunningham, founder and first Regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association wrote "Ladies, the home of Washington is in your charge, see to it that you keep it the home of Washington. Those who go to the home in which he lived and died wishes to see in what he lived and died. Upon you rest this duty. Let them see that we know how to care for the home of our hero."

Linton Chronicles a publication of the Linton Research Fund Inc.

Bird Chronicles a publication of the Linton Research Fund Inc.