MOUNT VERNON, Va. (NewsNation Now) — Communities across the country are celebrating Presidents Day, including the historic Virginia home of the first United States president.

Mount Vernon, George Washington’s plantation that has been designated an American landmark, honored the former president Monday with a wreath-laying ceremony, a gun salute and a military demonstration.

In Boston, the U.S. Navy celebrated the federal holiday with a 21-gun salute from the USS Constitution Monday. It’s the world’s “oldest commissioned warship” still afloat and America’s Ship of State, according to the Navy.

The holiday, which is celebrated on the third Monday in February, was originally established more than 130 years ago to recognize George Washington. The first U.S. president’s birthday is February 22.

The holiday became Presidents Day after it was moved as part of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which aimed to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers, according to History.com. The holiday is viewed as a day to celebrate all U.S. presidents.

Presidents Day falls within Black History Month, which was in part chosen because it encompassed the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.

Throughout the decades, U.S. presidents have issued proclamations and statements honoring the spirit of Black History Month.

In the midst of a national reckoning over racial injustice following the May death of George Floyd, activists are revisiting the histories of former U.S. presidents and calling for the removal of Confederate monuments and symbols.

President Joe Biden addressed racial injustice issues in his Presidents Day message, in which he pivoted the country’s focus from “a story of presidents” to the “story of the American people.”

“A story of courage, character, strengthen and resilience, of facing the toughest challenges and overcoming them,” he said.

“Today we’re living through another long, dark winter in our nation’s history. Combatting a deadly virus, joblessness, hunger, racial injustice, violent extremism, hopelessness and despair,” Biden added. “But I know we’ll get through this. I know better days are ahead. I know it because I know the story of the history of the journey of this nation. The American people have never, ever, ever let this country down, given half a chance.”