Mount Vernon Estate & Gardens was officially nominated Monday, Jan. 12, for the World Heritage List by U.S. Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne during a ceremony on the Estate's Bowling Green with George Washington home in the background.
"For the first time in 15 years, the United States is submitting to the World Heritage List, the official list of the world's most significant and cultural sites," Kempthorne said in making the nomination official.
"The two sites we are nominating include Mount Vernon — America's first home — and the spectacular Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in Hawaii. This is indeed a very special place and special time for all of us," Kempthorne said.
"If both of these sites are approved, as we expect they will be, they will join the other 20 U.S. site and 878 sites worldwide that are now part of the World Heritage List. These include the Grand Canyon, the Statue of Liberty, and Yellowstone National Park," he said.

THE UNESCO WORLD Heritage Committee will consider the nominations and announce their decision in the summer of 2010. Chosen sites are designated under the World Heritage Convention, of which the United States was the prime architect. Interior's National Park Service is the principal technical agency for U.S. participation in the Convention.
"Thanks to the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, Mount Vernon Estate has retained more of its original buildings than any other of the U.S. sites," Kempthorne said. There is a core of 16 surviving 18th-century structures situated within a landscape of associated gardens, fences, lanes, walkways and other features.
Kempthorne, a former Idaho U.S. Senator and two-term governor, lived about a mile from Mount Vernon Estate while serving in the Senate. His children graduated from Mount Vernon High School.
"When I was in the Senate I would often just walk over here to sit on the porch and read and look out at the Potomac River. It is truly a beautiful spot," he told the group seated on the Bowling Green on the cold but bright sunlit afternoon.
"We had to make the case why Mount Vernon is of international significance. We couldn't use George Washington's significance and legacy. We had to look at the site itself regardless of Washington," said Dennis J. Pogue, PhD, associate director, Preservation, Mount Vernon Estate, who had the lead role in producing and assembling the 165 page nomination application.
"Mount Vernon is one of the best preserved sites of British colonization in America. And, we are uniquely qualified to represent that element of history," Pogue said.
"Today is a very special occasion in the long history of this great American home. George Washington created it and it falls to us to promote it. This nomination brings us full circle," said Brian Hook, assistant secretary, U.S. State Department. The nomination will be submitted through the State Department to the World Heritage Center in Paris, France.

"ALTHOUGH WE fully realize this is only a nomination, we will be very thrilled and honored to become a World Heritage site. About 70 million visitors have toured Mount Vernon. In 2008 alone we welcomed 1,150,000 visitors, including 18,000 on a single day," said James C. Rees, executive director, Mount Vernon Estate & Gardens.
After review by the World Heritage Center staff, the International Council for Monuments and Sites, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the nominations will be considered for inscription on the World Heritage List. However, that inscription does not impose any legal restrictions on property owners or neighbors of chosen sites, nor does it give the United Nations any management authority or ownership rights, according to the Department of Interior.
Sites are selected for their cultural and natural value. The Mount Vernon nomination rests on its cultural value. The Hawaiian site is the first U.S. site nominated for both its cultural and natural values, according to Interior. It consists of a 1,200 mile-long string of islands, atolls, coral reefs, and adjacent waters that runs northward from the main Hawaiian Islands.