He carried his own compass

George Washington began surveying when he was fifteen years old.  This may have been his first survey in the field, a plan of a turnip field belonging to his half-brother, Lawrence Washington:

From the George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress.

He was surveying on the day he died.  Consider the recollection of his adopted son, George Washington Parke Custis:

 

"As was usual with him, he carried his own compass, noted his observations, and marked out the ground." -- A fitting epitaph for the first surveyor-president.


(An excellent overview of Washington's life as a surveyor with many links to materials within the collections of the Library of Congress can be found here.)