Archaeologists George Washington’s Scientists at Mount Vernon have discovered dozens of glass jars filled with fruit in the basement of the historic North Carolina building. Virginia The house “probably hasn’t seen the light of day since before the American Revolution.”
The home and museum of the first U.S. president revealed in a press release on Friday that 29 of the 35 bottles are intact and all contain either cherries, gooseberries or currants.
“We never imagined this spectacular archaeological discovery would be made,” Mount Vernon President and CEO Doug Bradburn said in a statement. “Last month we were thrilled to discover two fully intact 18th-century bottles containing organic material. Now we know those bottles were just the beginning of this blockbuster discovery.”
Bradburn called the discovery an “unprecedented” find and said, “Nothing of this scale and significance has ever been excavated before in North America. We now have a wealth of artifacts and materials to analyze that could provide a powerful glimpse into our country’s origins, and we’re hoping that the cherry seeds discovered will be viable for germination in the future. It’s very fitting that these bottles were excavated shortly before the 250th anniversary of the United States,” which will be in 2026.
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35 glass bottles filled with preserved food were found in the basement of George Washington’s Mount Vernon. (Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association)
This discovery was made after two months. There were two bottles It was found to contain cherries and seeds along with a “mysterious” liquid.
Experts believe these bottles were originally filled with cherries. The glass bottles were placed in the ground to cool food between 1758 and 1776.
“For whatever reason, they were left here, and they were in immaculate condition, and that’s why it’s an extraordinary find, because you don’t find them very easily.” 18th century “The food remains virtually intact, except for things like animal bones, which are very durable,” said Jason Borrows, Mount Vernon’s chief archaeologist. Fox 5 DC those days.
The newly-discovered bottles have been removed from five storage pits where they were found in the home’s basement, and the preserved contents have been placed under refrigeration in the home’s archaeology laboratory, where the artifacts will soon be scientifically analyzed in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service.
So far 54 cherry seeds and 23 stems have been identified, meaning the bottles were probably filled with cherries at the time of bottling.
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The preserved material was removed from the bottles for analysis. (Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association)
When the bottles are dry, they will be shipped off-site for conservation.
The archaeological discovery comes as the home is undergoing a privately funded $40 million mansion restoration project at George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
Bardburn said these bottles “probably had not seen the light of day since before the American Revolution” and were likely forgotten when Washington left his home to lead the Continental Army. During the Revolution.
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All glass bottles will be preserved by Mount Vernon archaeologists. (Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association)
He added, “This means the bottles are extremely fragile and require extreme care. The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association was America’s first historic preservation organization, so it’s only fitting that such a remarkable discovery was made at Mount Vernon. We are fortunate to have top archaeologists and historic preservation experts who know how to effectively manage, analyze and care for this extraordinary discovery.”
In the 18th century, keeping preserved foods underground was the best way to protect them from the Virginia heat.
“The best way to store these types of fruits and vegetables was underground,” Boro said after the first discovery. “So sometime after 1758, but before 1776, someone dug a rectangular, about a foot deep pit in one of the floors in the cellar, placed these bottles in it, and then filled it with dense soil.”
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After the second discovery, he said, “These extraordinary discoveries continue to surprise us. These perfectly preserved fruits, picked and prepared more than 250 years ago, provide an incredibly rare opportunity to contribute to our knowledge of 18th-century environments, plantation food, and the origins of American cuisine. The bottles and their contents are a testament to the knowledge and skill of the enslaved people who managed the preparation of food from tree to table, including Dall, a cook brought to Mount Vernon by Martha Washington in 1759 and tasked with overseeing the estate’s kitchen.”
Washington moved to the house along the Potomac River after his marriage in 1759, and died there in 1799 of a throat disease at the age of 67.
He was president from 1789 to 1797 and is buried in this house.
