The Fourth of July at Ferry Farm-Celebrate the Completion of the Washington House!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 26, 2018
Media Contacts
Jessica Burger, 540-373-3381 x24, burger@gwffoundation.org
David Muraca, 540-370-0732 x23, muraca@gwffoundation.org
The Fourth of July at Ferry Farm
Wednesday: July 4, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
STAFFORD COUNTY, VIRGINIA – The George Washington Foundation invites visitors to honor our great Nation and Independence Day at George Washington’s Ferry Farm, the boyhood home of our first President. Tour the recently completed Washington house interpretive replica—an interactive and hands-on experience for all ages, where visitors can learn about what life was like in the eighteenth century. It is critical to preserve this important place in American history, where beginning in 1738 young George and his family called home!
The construction of the Washington house above its archaeological footprint is part of the first phase of The George Washington Foundation’s multi-year venture to physically develop George Washington’s Ferry Farm into an outdoor living museum. The first phase of the project will also include reconstructing a pair of dependencies. Moreover, the Foundation is establishing a new entrance to the museum property, has erected a maintenance facility, and is completing necessary infrastructure.
Employing building methods of the period, artisan masons laid the foundation for the Washington house using hand-cut Aquia sandstone in an oyster-shell mortar. Next, timber framers joined massive wood beams to create the frame of the home. Carpenters covered the roof with traditional, hand-prepared wood shingles and installed skillfully-crafted exterior doors and window sashes, as well as beaded weatherboard siding painted a traditional, deep red “Spanish brown” color.
Masons completed the brickwork for the three chimneys, each set in an English bond interspersed with glazed headers, while the carpenters fitted paneled doors with hand-wrought iron hardware and fabricated interior features such as an elaborate staircase in the center passage. Accomplished plasterers installed a traditional lime plaster, strengthened with animal hair, on wood lath across the walls of the Washington house.
Constructing the Washington house and the first phase at Ferry Farm is a funding priority for the Foundation as part of The Future of Our Past Campaign. Learn more about the campaign and supporting the Foundation at kenmore.org/support-the-foundation.
Using information from the probate inventory and archaeological evidence, the Washington house is currently being furnished with furniture and ceramics that replicate what was originally in the home. This allows guests the opportunity to sit on the furniture and handle the objects. Noted cabinetmakers are crafting reproduction furniture using pieces from the time period of the Washington house as examples. Currently a corner cabinet, tea table, a set of cane seat chairs, two dining tables, a set of twelve leather upholstered chairs, a “scrutore” – or desk with bookcase, chest of drawers, low-post beds, and a gaming table are on view in the Washington house.
Throughout the day, at the Fourth of July at Ferry Farm event, guests will learn about the Washingtons’ life at Ferry Farm in addition to eighteenth-century architecture, archaeological research, and elements of the project to come. Additionally, guests may enjoy activities such as educational programs, archaeology presentations, dramatic performances, the Ferry Farm demonstration garden, The George Washington Foundation Oral History Project, visiting with “General George Washington”, Colonial and Civil War re-enactors, members of the Patawomeck Tribe, hands-on history projects like churning butter, a variety of children’s games, face painting, a hay bale maze, and in general, fun for the whole family.
A flag retirement and replacement ceremony – a July Fourth tradition at Ferry Farm – is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Participants include members of The American Legion Honor Guard, ROTC, Boy Scouts of America, American Heritage Girls, and Congressman Rob Wittman (1st – Virginia), with patriotic music by The Enduring Freedom Honor Team, who will also perform in concert beginning at Noon.
Information on volunteer positions at The George Washington Foundation – opportunities throughout the year to lead tours of the Washington house and Historic Kenmore or assist in the archaeology laboratory – will be available on the Fourth.
Media partner B101.5 will broadcast live from Ferry Farm from 10:00 a.m. to noon on the Fourth.
Admission: $1 per person; 2 and under free.
Free parking at the Fraternal Order of Eagles at 21 Cool Springs Road with shuttle service to Ferry Farm—ride a bus or trolley to/from Eagles Lodge or the July Fourth Heritage Festival in downtown Fredericksburg. Parking at Ferry Farm is available for handicapped visitors only.
A variety of food vendors will be on site. Please—no pets, coolers, or alcohol.
A special thank you to the Foundation’s sponsors for the Fourth of July at Ferry Farm: Lewis Insurance Associates, Hirshler Fleischer, Paragon Theatre and Splitsville, and Fredericksburg’s NewsTalk1230 WFVA and B101.5 WBQB.
The Foundation is pleased to provide high resolution images upon request.
The George Washington Foundation is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. The Foundation’s mission is to enhance the public understanding and appreciation of the lives, values, and legacies of George Washington, Fielding and Betty Washington Lewis, and their families.
Please visit ferryfarm.org and kenmore.org for more information.
Ferry Farm is located at 268 King’s Highway, Stafford County, Virginia
Kenmore is located at 1201 Washington Avenue, Fredericksburg, Virginia
Visitors to Ferry Farm view archaeologists at work, see the artifact conservation laboratory—over 750,000 artifacts have been excavated at Ferry Farm, tour the visitor center with the exhibit, The Science of History at Ferry Farm, and enjoy the self-guided iPad tour—Uncovering George Washington’s Youth, updated for Phase 1 construction.
Kenmore guests enjoy guided tours of the restored house with eighteenth-century furniture and accessories throughout its first floor, the Crowninshield Museum Building with exhibit, The Patriots’ Lewis: What Would You Give. Visitors may also explore extensive gardens, including a formal, foursquare garden edged in boxwood as well as a plot of herbs that supply newly enhanced hearth cooking programs for school children in the kitchen outbuilding.
George Washington’s Ferry Farm and Historic Kenmore are open most days, March – December—learn more at: kenmore.org.
Learn more from the Foundation’s archaeologists, curators, and educators on the
Lives & Legacies blog.
Find George Washington’s Ferry Farm and Historic Kenmore on Facebook.
Copyright © 2018 The George Washington Foundation, All rights reserved.