Martha was First Lady for eight years. After George's retirement, she went back to Mount Vernon with George and spent some of the happiest days in her life until her death. She died on May 22, 1802, at Mount Vernon, in Virginia. George had died two years earlier. She was buried on the plantation's grounds, next to George. When Martha died, the nation lost a great woman, a hero of her own kind, honored for many things but mostly for being America's first First Lady, one they could always lean on for help and comfort.