by gwffoundation | Feb 4, 2021 | Lives & Legacies
Editor’s Note: Looking back in time, people’s personal hygiene, fashion choices, medical treatments, and more sometimes look, at the very least, bizarre, if not outright disgusting. When confronted with these weird or gross practices, our first reaction can...
by gwffoundation | Jan 22, 2021 | Archaeology, Lives & Legacies
The end of the 2020 dig season at George Washington’s Boyhood Home at Ferry Farm last October required we tidy up of all our tools used during the excavation. We cleaned and stored away the multiple shovels, trowels, and wheel barrels used at the site and hauled...
by gwffoundation | Jan 4, 2021 | George Washington, Lives & Legacies
Christmas in the 18th century was celebrated quite differently than it is today. Unlike today, one of the most important (and wildest) celebrations of the season took place on January 6th, or Epiphany. Also known as Twelfth Night, this holiday is more comparable to...
by gwffoundation | Dec 23, 2020 | Holiday History, Lives & Legacies
Eggnog is a staple drink during the holiday season. Historians debate the exact ancestry of eggnog but most agree that it originated from early medieval “posset”, a hot, milky, ale-like drink. Eventually, expensive and rare ingredients like eggs, sherry, brandy...
by gwffoundation | Dec 20, 2020 | Historic Kenmore, History of Slavery, Kenmore Enslaved Community Project, Lives & Legacies
“My Dear Brother, I wish you to give Howell some advice how to Proseed in regard to two Negroes that Runaway from me a few days before Christmas…” With those words in the early spring of 1794, Betty Lewis informed her brother, George Washington, of a difficult...
by gwffoundation | Dec 17, 2020 | Archaeology, George Washington's Ferry Farm, Lives & Legacies, Washington family
The story of Mary Ball Washington is one of overcoming a lifetime of adversity. Often overshadowed by her larger than life son George, Mary’s place in history fluctuated from saint to shrew with many historians ignoring the obstacles she faced and...
