Artist's drawing of what the house probably looked like. The house was near a ferry
crossing, from which the property derived its name - Ferry Farm.

Quote:

---

The George Washington Foundation (GWF) announced, on July 2, 2008, that archaeologists working at the site of George Washington’s childhood home have located and excavated the remains of the long-sought house where Washington was raised. The site was the setting of some of the best-known stories related to his youth, including tales of the cherry tree and throwing a stone across the Rappahannock River.

The archaeologists say that evidence unearthed over seven seasons of excavation has positively confirmed the foundation and cellars that remain from the clapboard-covered wood structure that once housed George, his parents and siblings.

Far from being the rustic cottage of common perception, the Washington house was a much larger one-and-a-half-story residence, perched on a bluff overlooking the Rappahannock. The evidence also shows that a fire that struck the home on Christmas Eve of 1740 apparently was small and localized. Historians had long believed the fire had driven the family to live in out-buildings while waiting out repairs.

Most of the wood and other elements of the original Washington structure are long gone — many of them “recycled” by builders of houses later built on the property or destroyed by Civil War troops who once camped there — and part of the house foundation has eroded away. But as they dug through layers of soil, the archaeologists came upon the remains of two chimney bases, two elegantly crafted stone-lined cellars and two root cellars, where perishables once were stored.

Excavation of the four cellars yielded thousands of artifacts — pieces of the house’s ceilings, painted walls and family hearth; fragments of 18th-century pottery and other ceramics; glass shards, wig curlers and toothbrush handles made of bone. The cellars constituted a time capsule of evidence that helped the archaeologists confirm that they had indeed found the long-lost residence.

---

Source and full article.

Quote:

---

The surviving architectural footprint of George Washington's childhood home was found at an excavation site seen above in an aerial view at Ferry Farm in Virginia, historians announced on July 2, 2008.

"Somebody took great care to make sure these stones lined up properly - a talented stonemason and crew," said the University of South Florida's Philip Levy, whose work on the dig was funded in part by the National Geographic Committee for Research and Exploration.

Crisscrossing the site are (left to right) a Civil War trench and (bottom to top) a 20th-century sewer line.

---

Post Extras: