This past weekend was Shakespeare by Candlelight at Historic Kenmore! William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew was presented in eighteenth-century style on the Lawn at Kenmore on Friday and Saturday nights and, because of a thunderstorm, indoors on Sunday night. Enjoy this collection of photographs from the Saturday and Sunday performances. Learn more about The … Continue reading Photos: “The Taming of the Shrew” at Kenmore’s Shakespeare by Candlelight
Show Horse: How Colonial Horse and Rider Looked Their Best
Editor's Note: This is the first of two posts inspired by this year's Summer Olympics. This week, it's an equestrian-inspired post from Archaeologist Laura Galke, who briefly looks at some of the ornaments found on 18th century horse tack. What an impressive sight the Washingtons made as they rode their horses with bridles and straps embellished … Continue reading Show Horse: How Colonial Horse and Rider Looked Their Best
Video – Building George’s House: Making the Foundation Stones
In this video, we learn how Stonemasons Ray Cannetti, Kevin Neito, and Robert Hall split and dressed Aquia sandstone into foundation stones for the Washington House interpretive replica at Ferry Farm. Learn about the special concrete cradle the foundation stones will rest on in this video and read more about the Washington House project here.
Bartmann Bottle: The Coolest Thing We’ve Ever Found
We excavate hundreds of artifacts every day during the field season at George Washington's Ferry Farm and occasionally one or two really stand out. For me, the most interesting artifacts uncovered during the past few years are fragments of a Bartmann Jug. The combination of an animated human face and fascinating symbolism makes this particular … Continue reading Bartmann Bottle: The Coolest Thing We’ve Ever Found
Shakespeare’s Comedies in Colonial America
When we look at the history of Shakespeare in America the preference for his classic tragedies is obvious. Romeo and Juliet and Richard III are two of the three most-performed plays of the 18th century (George Farquhar’s The Beaux Stratagem rounded out this top three). While this ranking is based on surviving records of theatrical … Continue reading Shakespeare’s Comedies in Colonial America
Video – Building George’s House: The Concrete Cradle
An interpretive replica of the house that young George Washington lived in with his family is being built at his boyhood home at Ferry Farm near Fredericksburg, Virginia. This replica is being constructed on the exact location of the original. Through the use of a specially-designed concrete cradle, the replica will not harm any of … Continue reading Video – Building George’s House: The Concrete Cradle
Our Ever Evolving Relationship with Plants
Plants have played a critical role in human survival through the ages. Although most people in the modern world do not rely on plants they gather themselves, we are surrounded by useful flora that Native Americans and later European colonists relied upon. Today, some are labeled as ‘weeds’ while the more attractive ones are propagated … Continue reading Our Ever Evolving Relationship with Plants
Video: Drawing Room Carpet
A carpet was recently installed in the Drawing Room at Historic Kenmore. In this video, Meghan Budinger, Aldrich Director of Curatorial Operations, tells us all about it. Follow The Rooms at Kenmore blog for more about the drawing room carpet and the final stages of Kenmore's refurnishing.
Photos: The Fourth of July at Ferry Farm 2016
Scenes from this past weekend’s Independence Day celebration at George Washington’s Ferry Farm!
Introducing the New George Washington’s Ferry Farm
In 1996, the Trustees, Regents, and staff of The George Washington Foundation, known then as the Kenmore Association, were part of a large and vocal group of concerned citizens that banded together to save the site of George Washington’s Boyhood Home from commercial development. While all the Washington-era structures, yards, and fences vanished almost 200 … Continue reading Introducing the New George Washington’s Ferry Farm
Lives & Legacies 