A New Jersey mansion served as George Washington's headquarters during the Revolutionary War. Take a look inside.

The Dey family purchased the 600-acre estate circa 1720.

Dirck Dey, Theunis' father, bought the property. Before the mansion was built around 1770, it was a successful farm with about 300 acres of surrounding wilderness.

Theunis Dey soon became one of the wealthiest landowners in the area and was dedicated to the patriot cause, serving as the colonel of the local militia himself.

The estate's grounds contain pieces of history, too.

Archeological surveys have been conducted on the property to find buried artifacts. One 2012-2013 excavation recovered more than 6,000 artifacts, per the mansion's visitor center. These mostly consisted of ceramic shards and pieces of clay, while other recovered tools were likely from Native American peoples.

The property sat in a strategic location for the Continental Army.

While no major battles took place nearby, the area was sought after by Washington for its high ground, as well as its proximity to New York City and the nearby Passaic River.

The mansion was just one of many homes where Washington stayed during the war. He typically requested to use a home in advance, but never forcibly took anyone's property, my tour guide said.

While it was usually uncommon for families to remain in their homes during Washington's stay, Theunis Dey needed to stay because of his militia duties.

The property's gardens and outdoor decor were all more recent additions.

The home's structure and much of the layout are original.

While the furniture and decorations are donations, the home's foundation, as well as many floorboards and walls, have remained unchanged from the 18th century.

Altogether, the home has three floors, including the attic, three bedrooms, as well as multiple parlor rooms and multi-use rooms. The large first-floor hall, where soldiers slept during Washington's stay, was used for dining and social events.

Every main room in the mansion has a fireplace, and the home's largely brick front exterior served as a status symbol at the time.

The parlor room served as a living room for playing games and socializing.

One of the room's primary purposes was to display the family's affluence.

"The parlor in particular would have been the chief means for the family to showcase their wealth, gentility, and their good taste," Lucia McMahon, a professor of history at William Paterson University, said in a virtual talk at the mansion.

The room served as the women's parlor during social events. My tour guide said many women would defy expectations of the time period by privately discussing politics and other subjects, even though such discussions were discouraged.

Washington used the men's parlor as his office during his stay.

This was the busiest room in the mansion during Washington's stay, according to my tour guide. In the three months he was here, Washington wrote roughly 400 letters from this room to Congress and other generals.

The room also served as a dining room for Washington and high-ranking officers. They held dinner meetings lasting up to 12 hours, during which Washington spoke to different groups of officers over multi-course meals.

On some occasions when French officers came to visit, they were surprised by how much Washington ate and quipped that he always had food in his mouth, my tour guide said.

Aides-de-camp stayed in a nearby room.

Washington's small, trusted group of officers, known as aides-de-camp, stayed in the mansion with him and assisted with day-to-day camp operations.

Aides-de-camp consisted of lawyers, physicians, speechwriters, and even equestrians. These officers slept and worked out of one small room. The Dey family eventually gave them an extra room for their personal belongings.

One of Washington's aides-de-camp was a young Alexander Hamilton, then in his 20s.

Soldiers slept in the home's halls, often lying shoulder-to-shoulder on the floor.

With Theunis Dey and at least seven other family members living in the home, the accommodations were sometimes cramped. The Deys and Washington's men essentially split the home down the middle, with each keeping to their respective sides.

My tour guide said roughly 100 soldiers would pack in to the mansion's first- and second-floor halls, largely to prevent anyone from reaching Washington in the night.

The soldiers woke early in the morning and returned late at night to avoid waking the Dey family. During the day, they'd conduct drills and scout the area.

George Washington was given the master bedroom by the Dey family.

At the time, master bedrooms were considered the best bedrooms in the house due to their privacy, ample space, and amenities. The room where Washington stayed included a handful of amenities common for the time.

Bedwarmers were long pans that held hot coals to warm beds. Pictured on the dresser is a wig stand, used to hold the powdered wigs so common of the era, although Washington didn't need one.

During this period, it was also common for mattresses to be held up with ropes. When the ropes needed to be tightened, a bed key — pictured on the bed — was used.

Many notable figures slept in the guest bedroom, including the infamous traitor Benedict Arnold.

Thanks to long stagecoach travel times, guests usually stayed for at least a few weeks. This made guest bedrooms a staple of wealthy homes.

The Marquis de Lafayette stayed about four nights in the room, as did Benedict Arnold. Shortly after Arnold's stay in the room, he was given command of West Point from Washington and soon defected to the British.

Another French officer, Marquis de Chastellux, documented his stay at the mansion. He said he was surrounded by "the greatest and best of men" during his visit, according to the mansion's visitor center.

The Dey Mansion's original kitchen burned down about five times.

Kitchens often had fires burning in fireplaces for long periods. Because the Deys' kitchen was made of wood — a much cheaper alternative to brick and other materials — this meant frequent trouble.

The original kitchen was detached from the mansion, which didn't put the rest of the house in danger and made it easy to rebuild. Most recently, the kitchen was remade in the 1930s, built on the foundation of the original one.

Two chairs are the only things that remain from the house's original decor.

The chairs were donated by descendants of the Dey family and are one of the few surviving belongings from the family's time in the mansion.

When the Deys sold the estate in the early 19th century, it passed through 17 different owners until it was acquired by Passaic County, New Jersey, in the 1930s.

One souvenir from Washington's stay was accidentally left behind.

Pictured above is George Washington's favorite shaving mug, which he forgot to take with him upon leaving the residence. It stayed in the Dey family for 200 years before being donated to the county.

The mansion serves as a reminder that the war was won in homes as much as on the battlefield.

As the spotlight on the US' founding grows brighter for the 250th anniversary, historic properties like the Dey Mansion showcase the combined effort and support of Americans across the 13 colonies, and how, without this support, the Continental Army might not have prevailed.