“Dove of Peace” Weathervane

"I should like to have a bird (in place of the Vain) with an olive branch in its Mouth…"
- George Washington to Joseph Rakestraw, Philadelphia, July 20, 1787

While presiding over the Constitutional Convention during the summer of 1787, George Washington took advantage of being in Philadelphia to commission master builder Joseph Rakestraw to construct a weathervane for his cupola. Washington determined the ornament's dove-of-peace design. He also instructed his nephew George Augustine Washington, who oversaw the weathervane's installation that August, to paint "the bill of the bird…black, and the Olive branch in its mouth…green." Drawing on classical iconography, Washington's weathervane symbolized domestic peace for the new nation that would endure no matter which way or how hard the winds of time might blow.

Transferred to the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association through the generosity of John Augustine Washington III, 1860 [W-2492]