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:
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| 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.)
