if George Washington really had chopped
down a cherry tree he would have done it
here and if he ever threw a stone across
the Rappahannock River then this is the
spot
both childhood stories have found their
way into the legend of George Washington
commander-in-chief of the Continental
Army and ultimately America’s first
president but the reality of
Washington’s early life may be equal to
the myth he was one of five children who
grew up on a farm in Northern Virginia
and went on to greatness and now
archaeologists working near
Fredericksburg with support from the
National Geographic Society have
uncovered the exact site of that very
farm Washington’s father Augustine moved
his family to fairy farm in 1738 and
young George was 6 years old
the future President lived here until he
was in his 20s archeologists always knew
this was the right area but only when
the team uncovered some well crafted
cellars did they realize they had found
the actual foundation of Washington’s
boyhood home
what we’ve uncovered is the Washington
landscape as it stood in the 1742 1770s
but also on that landscape or other
outbuildings including a kitchen a slave
quarter the site is incredibly rich in
history and not just Washington’s it’s
it’s a tricky it’s a tricky site it’s a
site that had continuous occupancy from
about 1700 till the early 1990s and not
in the same buildings there are trenches
here built during the Civil War by Union
troops fighting to capture rebel hell
Fredericksburg
the team has already brought up
thousands of artifacts but one
potentially special fine deserves notice
a clay pipe with Masonic symbols it is
that George Washington was a Mason
actually became a Mason when he was
living in Fredericksburg without being
able to say for sure it’s tempting to
wonder if this isn’t something that
actually belonged to George each piece
is clean cataloged and store it’s all
part of the team’s ultimate goal to
recreate what was until recently
believed to be lost the long run where
we’re sitting will turn once again into
into the the home of Augustan Washington
with its landscape in place with it with
animals and crops growing and be open to
the public to come in and certain
experience as a as an eighteenth-century
farm and yes visitors will have a chance
to see if they too can hurl a rock
across the Rappahannock as Washington
supposedly did sponsored by National
Geographic mission programs taking
science and exploration into the new
millennium
down a cherry tree he would have done it
here and if he ever threw a stone across
the Rappahannock River then this is the
spot
both childhood stories have found their
way into the legend of George Washington
commander-in-chief of the Continental
Army and ultimately America’s first
president but the reality of
Washington’s early life may be equal to
the myth he was one of five children who
grew up on a farm in Northern Virginia
and went on to greatness and now
archaeologists working near
Fredericksburg with support from the
National Geographic Society have
uncovered the exact site of that very
farm Washington’s father Augustine moved
his family to fairy farm in 1738 and
young George was 6 years old
the future President lived here until he
was in his 20s archeologists always knew
this was the right area but only when
the team uncovered some well crafted
cellars did they realize they had found
the actual foundation of Washington’s
boyhood home
what we’ve uncovered is the Washington
landscape as it stood in the 1742 1770s
but also on that landscape or other
outbuildings including a kitchen a slave
quarter the site is incredibly rich in
history and not just Washington’s it’s
it’s a tricky it’s a tricky site it’s a
site that had continuous occupancy from
about 1700 till the early 1990s and not
in the same buildings there are trenches
here built during the Civil War by Union
troops fighting to capture rebel hell
Fredericksburg
the team has already brought up
thousands of artifacts but one
potentially special fine deserves notice
a clay pipe with Masonic symbols it is
that George Washington was a Mason
actually became a Mason when he was
living in Fredericksburg without being
able to say for sure it’s tempting to
wonder if this isn’t something that
actually belonged to George each piece
is clean cataloged and store it’s all
part of the team’s ultimate goal to
recreate what was until recently
believed to be lost the long run where
we’re sitting will turn once again into
into the the home of Augustan Washington
with its landscape in place with it with
animals and crops growing and be open to
the public to come in and certain
experience as a as an eighteenth-century
farm and yes visitors will have a chance
to see if they too can hurl a rock
across the Rappahannock as Washington
supposedly did sponsored by National
Geographic mission programs taking
science and exploration into the new
millennium
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