A Personal Look At Civil War Soldiers As Told Through Artifacts Ferry Farm is most well-known as the Boyhood home of George Washington. While our primary emphasis of interpretation and research has focused on young George and his family’s life on this farm, Ferry Farm has many other stories to tell. The American Civil War … Continue reading “We encampt here on the banks of the Rappahannock. Oh, it is beautiful country.”
Civil War
Kenmore Goes to Sea: Ship Naming in the US Navy
On July 22, 1942, Annie Fleming Smith wrote a letter. Smith was a prolific letter writer—her innumerable missives had helped raise the funds that saved Kenmore two decades earlier—so it is not surprising that she put pen to paper on that summer day. What is surprising is that the intended recipient of that letter was … Continue reading Kenmore Goes to Sea: Ship Naming in the US Navy
Archaeology Is Not For The Faint Of Heart – But We Love It Anyway
A lot of people have told me that they want or wanted to become archaeologists. I always find this flattering. Yours truly was only in my single digits when I declared the same to my family and anyone who would listen. After reading every National Geographic magazine I could get my hands on, ‘excavating’ abandoned … Continue reading Archaeology Is Not For The Faint Of Heart – But We Love It Anyway
That’s A Wrap! Ferry Farm’s Dig Season Recap
October just happens to be Virginia Archaeology Month, and what better way to celebrate than to recap this summer’s excavation at George Washington’s Boyhood Home at Ferry Farm. You might remember from our dig preview, that this year’s dig (FF-44) focused on the continued exploration of the 18th-century kitchen site located just northeast of the … Continue reading That’s A Wrap! Ferry Farm’s Dig Season Recap
Letters from the Battlefield
Such a tiny thing, a letter. What does it mean now? For many of us, a letter via 'snail mail' is a nuisance. Needless paper that litters our mailbox. Ads. Spam. Bills. Scams (most of which are electronic now and also a pain). Mail has been ruined for most of us with the sheer barrage … Continue reading Letters from the Battlefield
When a Toy Hatchet is so Much More: Trench Art at Ferry Farm
This is a Memorial Day story of a tiny hatchet excavated at George Washington’s Ferry Farm. For such a diminutive object it speaks quite loudly to our local history in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Initially, archaeologists at Ferry Farm assumed it was a pewter toy souvenir given out or sold in 1932, when our country and Fredericksburg … Continue reading When a Toy Hatchet is so Much More: Trench Art at Ferry Farm
Chock Full o’ Minie Balls: A Civil War Mystery
Old, crushed, and rusted food cans in and of themselves aren’t terribly interesting, at least not to me. But when the can contains 150-year-old bullets, it becomes very interesting indeed. Recently, while going through our artifact collection database, I came across an item excavated at George Washington’s Ferry Farm nearly 20 years ago and simply … Continue reading Chock Full o’ Minie Balls: A Civil War Mystery
A Thimble of My Love
Thimbles were once a popular token of affection given to ladies by family members, close acquaintances, or sanguine suitors. These essential tools formed an ideal gift for a beloved family member or an appropriate token of affection during those early, initial stages of a budding romance. They were considered a less intimate gift than perfume … Continue reading A Thimble of My Love
“They gave me grog…and put me to sleep with opium pills”: Kenmore as a Civil War Hospital
As the sesquicentennial of the Civil War draws to a close, we are remembering the war at Kenmore, and its aftermath. Although Kenmore is best known as a house of the colonial period, it had quite a history during the Civil War. Visitors to Kenmore have long heard that the house survived bombardment during the … Continue reading “They gave me grog…and put me to sleep with opium pills”: Kenmore as a Civil War Hospital
The Civil War at the ‘Old Washington Farm’
Editor's Note: Lives & Legacies continues to remember the Civil War as that conflict's 150th anniversary concludes this April and May. During the Civil War, the homes of George Washington and Fielding Lewis – both indispensable to securing American freedom in the Revolution -- served as campsite and hospital in a bloody struggle over the definition … Continue reading The Civil War at the ‘Old Washington Farm’
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