Washington is a Mason county community about three miles south of the Ohio river. It was settled beginning about 1775 and laid out as a town in 1785. It was named for George Washington. Washington was made the seat of Mason county, Virginia when it was formed in 1788. In 1848 the county seat was moved to nearby Maysville, which has since annexed Washington. Washington is now sometimes called Old Washington. The Washington Court House post office opened in 1794. The population in 1990, before annexation by Maysville, was 795.