ALEXANDRIA, VA – Every so often, and it happened again yesterday in a text, someone tells me they won’t visit Mount Vernon because “it was a slave plantation.” I understand that instinct. Living in a city as old as Alexandria, where every street corner seems to hold both beauty and pain, we are constantly wrestling with the truth of our past.

Just a couple of nights ago, I had Thanksgiving dinner with friends at the Mount Vernon Inn, where the candlelight, the warmth, and the centuries-old traditions felt meaningful. It brought to mind the little-known fact that George Washington himself helped shape early national observances of Thanksgiving. His 1789 proclamation urged the young nation to pause, give thanks, and reflect — even as enslaved men, women, and children lived and labored on th

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