This is funny, but not for children!!!

Home

Mark & I drove all day, and we just arrived home. I'm glad to be back! But I had such a good time in Fredericksburg....I'll definitely miss it.

A nice article about the field school students, and the interns

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/072008/07042008/392591

Some videos and pictures from the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

http://fredericksburg.com/News/Web/2008/062008/ferryfarm

USF news article...

http://usfweb3.usf.edu/absolutenm/templates/?a=722&z=31

TAMPA, Fla. (July 2, 2008) – Philip Levy, associate professor of history at the University of South Florida working with The George Washington Foundation (GWF) has located and excavated the remains of Washington's boyhood home, Ferry Farm, near Fredericksburg, Va. This is the setting of some of Washington's best-known stories including tales familiar to American schoolchildren about chopping down the cherry tree and throwing a stone across the Rappahannock River. Fredericksburg is located about 50 miles south of Washington, D.C., and Ferry Farm is just across the Rappahannock in Stafford County, Va.

"If George Washington did indeed chop down a cherry tree, as generations of Americans have believed, this is where it happened,"said Levy, whose research is partly funded by National Geographic, The Dominion Foundation and USF. "There is little actual documentary evidence of Washington's formative years. What we see at this site is the best available window into the setting that nurtured the father of our country."

Levy and his associates have been digging at the Ferry Farm site near Fredericksburg, Va., since 2002 for what amounts to seven seasons. During those years over 50 USF graduate and undergraduate students have accompanied Levy to Virginia.

"The project afforded these students a unique opportunity to learn the skills of historical archeology along with Washington's history and the world which nurtured him," Levy said.

Together they confirmed positively having unearthed the foundation and cellars. These findings constitute the remains of the clapboard-covered wood structure that was once home to George, his parents and siblings.

One notable find from one of the cellars was a broken-off bowl of a pipe clearly bearing a Masonic crest and blackened inside from heavy use. Washington was a member of the Fredericksburg Lodge of the Masons dating back to 1753. The pipe was typical of the mid-18th century, the time when George would have lived in the house.

Levy and his team have so far located the family's kitchen and slave quarters. They expect to find a dairy, a smokehouse and perhaps warehouses.

"This is it - this is the site of the house where George Washington grew up," said David Muraca, director of archaeology for The George Washington Foundation (GWF), which owns the property. "But it's more than buildings. It is places where people worked, socialized and even played, and it is orchards and gardens. We hope to recover all of that."

A National Geographic Channel film, "The Real George Washington," which follows the discoveries at Ferry Farm, will premiere this November. Information on air dates is at www.natgeotv.com.

The discovery of George Washington's childhood house was made possible in part by a generous grant from the Dominion Foundation.

The George Washington Foundation owns and operates two National Historic Landmarks: George Washington's Boyhood Home at Ferry Farm and Kenmore, the 18th-century home of George Washington's sister Betty and her husband Fielding Lewis. Ferry Farm is located in Stafford County, Va. Kenmore is located in the city of Fredericksburg, Va. Both are open to the public. For more information, visit www.ferryfarm.org.

The National Geographic Society is one of the world's largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to "increase and diffuse geographic knowledge,” the Society works to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 300 million people worldwide each month through its official journal, National Geographic, and other magazines; National Geographic Channel; television documentaries; music; radio; films; books; DVDs; maps; school publishing programs; interactive media; and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 9,000 scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an education program combating geographic illiteracy. For more information, visit www.nationalgeographic.com.

The Dominion Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Dominion. Headquartered in Richmond, Va., Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers of energy. For more information, visit http://www.dom.com/about/community/foundation/.

The University of South Florida is among the nation's top 63 public research universities and one of 39 community engaged public universities as designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. It is one of Florida's top three research universities. USF was awarded more than $300 million in research contracts and grants last year. The university offers 219 degree programs at the undergraduate, graduate, specialist and doctoral levels, including the doctor of medicine. The university has a $1.8 billion annual budget, an annual economic impact of $3.2 billion, and serves more than 45,000 students on campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota-Manatee and Lakeland. USF is a member of the Big East Athletic Conference.

Another video

http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=8612628

CNN Video, featuring me.

Click on this link to see a video on CNN featuring me. Sorry, I can't figure out how to embedde the video.

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/living/2008/07/03/sot.george.washington.boyhood.home.cnn

It's finally over.

Field school is over. Mark is flying up on Friday and we're driving back to Florida on Saturday. Here are some highlights of my experience.


The local newspaper cover, with me right up front.


Detail of the photograph.


Artists rendering of the farm & house.


Me & my digging partner, Madeline


That's me working back there.

Hot off the wire....

We have found George Washington's boyhood home. This is kind of a big deal. See it on the television news, look for me on CNN, and I might even be in National Geographic.

Washington's boyhood home found, but no hatchet

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
AP Science Writer

The archaeologists were delighted to at last find the remains of George Washington's boyhood home but got stumped when they looked for evidence of the cherry tree and rusty hatchet.

"This was the setting for many important events in Washington's life," David Muraca, director of archaeology for The George Washington Foundation, announced Wednesday.

Most biographies offer little detail of the first president's youth, so the discovery may provide insight into Washington's childhood, he said. The site is located at Ferry Farm, just across the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg, Va., about 50 miles south of Washington.

Philip Levy, associate professor of history at the University of South Florida, found evidence that the house was a one-and-a-half-story residence perched on a bluff overlooking the river.

"If George Washington did indeed chop down a cherry tree, as generations of Americans have believed, this is where it happened," said Levy. The researchers said the artifacts they have recovered did not include a hatchet.

"There is little actual documentary evidence of Washington's formative years. What we see at this site is the best available window into the setting that nurtured the father of our country," Levy said.

Three likely locations were excavated over seven years. The site where the foundations of Washington's home were discovered was built during the first part of the 18th century — Washington was born in 1732 — fit the type of house in which Washington would have lived and also yielded artifacts likely linked to his family.

"Now that we have identified the home, we can begin understanding Washington's childhood," Muraca said, as well as dispel some of the folklore surrounding the president's life. For instance, the tale of Washington's chopping down the cherry tree with a hatchet and confessing to his father has never been proven.

"We see a county-level gentry home," he said. Washington's father "was wealthy within the county ... not on the colonial level but locally important, and we see a home befitting that status." The house measured about 53-feet by 37-feet, with a central hallway and two rooms on each side of the hallway.

The eventual goal, Muraca said, is to rebuild the home as it was in the 1740s.

Levy and Muraca spoke at a teleconference organized by the National Geographic Society, which helped fund the work. Research at the location has continued for seven seasons.

The 113-acre Ferry Farm — itself a National Historic Landmark — was known as the former home of the Washington family, but previous attempts to locate the house itself had been unsuccessful.

Most of the wood from the home was reused by builders on other structures or was damaged in the Civil War, and part of the foundation eroded away, the researchers said.

But after digging through layers of dirt the archaeologists found two chimney bases and stone-lined cellars and root cellars.

The cellars held a large number of artifacts including pieces of the house's ceilings and painted walls, fragments of 18th century pottery and other ceramics, glass shards, wig curlers and toothbrush handles made of bone.

Muraca said they also recovered larger objects such as pieces of a tea set that probably belonged to George's mother, Mary Ball Washington; wine bottles, knives, forks and 10 pieces of a group of small figurines that might have stood on a mantel.

They also discovered a well-used pipe bowl, blackened from smoking, that was marked with a Masonic crest. Washington joined the Fredericksburg Lodge of the Masons in 1753.

"While we can't say that this was George Washington's pipe, we can wonder about it," Levy said.

And there were burned remains of a fire at the farm on Christmas Eve, 1740, which Washington mentioned in letters. During the Civil War the farm served as a staging site for Union soldiers attacking Fredericksburg.

Washington was known to swim in the Rappahannock and to take the ferry to Fredericksburg and grew to adulthood at the farm. But he spent less time there as he got older.

He eventually moved to his half-brother's estate at Little Hunting Creek, south of Alexandria, Va., later renamed Mount Vernon.

In addition to National Geographic, the research is funded by the Commonwealth of Virginia, The Dominion Foundation, the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation and many individuals.

Dateline, Fredericksburg

Stay tuned to the news on Wednesday, particularly the ABC World News. There's some exciting news from Ferry Farm!

William Byrd, Colonial Williamsburg, Yorktown....

More to come later.

Saturday heading south.....

Saturday I went to Richmond, VA with my new-found-friend, Gary. He's a teacher at University of Mary Washington, who just moved here, who I met in a bar, and who is very nice. He hasn't chopped me up into little pieces yet, so keep your fingers crossed.

We visited the Virginia capitol, a building designed by Thomas Jefferson. It was home to many famous things, including the acceptance of Robert E Lee to lead the Confederate Army, and the treason trial of Aaron Burr. Then we visited the Virginia Historical Society, where I got to see a painting of William Byrd II, my favorite Virginian. After that we ate burritos and drove back to Fredericksburg. Below are some pictures. It's 6:45pm and the rest of my evening will be spent with laundry!



Here is an excerpt from St. Paul's Episcopal Church's website:

(http://www.stpauls-episcopal.org/index.php/who/history_architecture/)
With the selection of Richmond as the capitol of the Confederacy in 1861, St. Paul's would become forever identified with the Civil War. General Robert E. Lee and his wife were lent a pew and attended services at St. Paul's whenever possible throughout the war. In 1862, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was confirmed as a member of the parish. Many male parishioners gave their lives in battle. The church undercroft was used as a hospital for wounded soldiers. While attending service on Sunday, April 2, 1865, President Davis was delivered a message from General Lee stating that Lee had to withdraw from Petersburg, and thus could no longer defend Richmond. Davis quietly left the church, and evacuated the Confederate government and army from the city that afternoon. Fires broke out that evening, destroying the downtown and spreading dangerously close to St. Paul's. General Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox the following Sunday.



The house where Robert E Lee lived in Richmond

The Virginia Capitol, which also served as the Capitol of the Confederate States of America


William Byrd, my favorite Virginian


Statue of George Washington in the Capitol rotunda


St. Paul's Episcopal Church


Where Jefferson Davis was sitting when he received news of the fall of the Confederacy.

Friday in NoVa (that's Northern Virginia for those who don't know)

Friday was spent in Alexandria, VA. As much as I hate to do it, go here to read the Wikipedia entry on Alexandria's history. The George Washington Masonic Memorial was first on our stop. It was built by Free Masons in the early 1900's as a tribute to their numero uno Mason, George Washington. It's really a giant tool to show the public the merits of Free Masonry, and how the father of our country, George Washington, became the man he was because of Free Masonry. Here are some highlights:

This building is on top of a 200 foot hill, and it stands 300 feet tall.....so it stands about 500 feet in the air. A fitting tribute to GW!


The view from the top.


It might be difficult to read, but this is a 1904 commemorative coin from the "Braden Town" Masonic Lodge.

The rest of the afternoon, after a nice lunch at a fish & chips place in Alexandria, we visited the Weems-Botts Museum in Dumfries. Parson Weems was the man who wrote the Washington biography that started the cherry-tree and coin-across-the-Rappahannock myths. It was interesting because the town is kind of run down and forgotten, and it seemed like the house-museum was a major effort to bring the town back to importance.

Countdown.....

7 days till I'm officially done with field school
8 days till Mark flys up
9 days till we start driving home
10 days till I get back home!!!!!!!!

An Update, Finally

Update: Photos have been added, now that Blogger is cooperating.

It's been 10 days since an entry. Here's what's been happening:

Last week, we went to St. Mary's City. This was Maryland's first capital. After it was abandoned when the colonial government moved to Annapolis, the archaeological evidence sat buried until the 1970's. Based on excavations, many of the period buildings have been reconstructed.


A small house, probably owned by a tenant farmer.


Chickens.


A larger house owned by a small plantation owner.


A Jesuit church, home to the first major Catholic congregation in North America.


A barn.


The printer's house.

The Maryland Dove.

The weekend was nice. My mom & sister came to DC for a vacation and I stayed with them Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The only new touristy things I did since the last time I was in DC were the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History and Arlington Cemetery.

The tomb of the unknown soldier, the changing of the guard, and some graves. I have to say that I was impressed by the cemetery as a whole, but the tomb of the unknown was kind of a let-down.

This week we'll be going to the Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, VA and back to Mt. Vernon to visit the museums that we didn't get to see when the power was out the last time we were there.

This is my second to last week and I'm really anxious to come home. Mark is going to fly up on July 4th, and we're probably driving home July 5th & 6th.

Straw, day 2

We finished with the straw today. We pulled back the tarps, and uncovered some of the plywood structure that was built to protect the excavated cellars. They are in good shape, which was a relief to some who were concerned about their condition.

Now it's Friday, and I'm going to relax.

Straw

There's a large portion of the site that was previously excavated, over the past 3 or 4 years. It's the area where the 18th century stone foundations and cellars were found. This hasn't been confirmed as Washington's house, but it could be. So, this portion of the site has been covered with straw for 8 months, since the end of the last field season. This is to protect it from damage. We started taking it all off today. Pitching straw can be really difficult and dirty work!

"Field Trip" Day

On Wednesday we took a Civil War walking tour with John Hennessy, who is the Chief Historian at the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Battlefield Park. It was good. He is a very smart guy who knows so much about the area's history, civil war and otherwise. We got to talk about the way that the war affected the region, and how people are still affected by it today. Here is a picture of a house that sat right in the middle of Federal and Confederate sides. You can see the damage done. This wasn't very much worse than how the rest of Fredericcksburg fared during the Union siege.








Later in the afternoon, our group went to Mary Washington's house. Mary was the mother of George Washington. She is referred to as "Mary, Mother of Washington." It sounds almost like a Hail Mary. They're not sure, but they think this might be a portrait of her. I think she looks a lot like George!



But the highlight of the day was eating at Mr. D's, a tiny little fish and sandwich place. There was just one woman working, the Asian owner. I think she was Korean, but I wasn't 100% sure. It was an experience! I had a hamburger, but a lot of people had some type of fish sandwich. I might return.

The Site

Here's what the site looks like. This is just the part we've started working on this season. Each square is a 5'x5' square. Those aren't regular feet, but they're something called metric feet (I think, but I could be wrong). Basically, it's 10", so for example, a standard 12" is what we would call "1.2 feet."




And here is what my newly finished unit looks like. It was pretty uneventful. There were just two "features," probably post holes. and some big rocks. We reached the subsoil and didn't find anything of any significance, so we are moving on.

Heate wave.....

The temperature right now is 90 degrees, but the "feels like" is 100 degrees. And it's going to get to 100 degrees later today, which means that the feel like will probably be 110 degrees!!!!!

Today at the site.....

I didn't do any archeology today. Instead, I spent the whole 8 hours shoveling mulch. We mulched a 1/4 mile path 3 inches thick with steaming hot mulch. And the temperature was nearly 100 degrees. I was planning to take pictures to show you all what kind of work that I've been doing. Maybe Monday!

Mt. Vernon

Today we went on a "field trip" to Mt. Vernon. However, there were some bad storms last night and the power was out at the General's estate. So, we saw the house and the reconstructed grist mill and distillery, but not the museum. I guess the museum is important because it will help us as field school students understand the Mt. Vernon interpretation of George Washington. This is important because the archaeological work we are doing will contribute towards the Ferry Farm interpretation of George Washington.

But, all of that academic stuff aside, Mt. Vernon is a nice place. The views of the Potomac are amazing.





That's me at Mt. Vernon


This is the General and the Mrs., and her grand kids.


Fellow archaeologist Heidi, who used to work at Ferry Farm and now works at Mt. Vernon


That's me in front of half of Mt. Vernon

That's all of Mt. Vernon from the front, which is really the back


The General's grist mill (it's a reconstruction)

A note about photographs from the site.....

I hope to post more pictures from the work site, but I haven't quite figured out what I'm allowed to take pictures of, or how to do it without neglecting the work (yes, they make us work!). I'll figure it out soon so you can all see what the work looks like.

San Francisco

I took a quick trip to San Francisco this past weekend. I met up with Mark, Jeff, and Darren in Atlanta and we flew out together. I was there Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and flew back late Monday night. I rode a cable car, went to Alcatraz, saw the row of houses featured on the opening to "Full House," went to Napa valley and visited a winery, and a variety of other touristy stuff. And I got to see Pankaj, Kim, and Crasynthia, and meet Tara (Mark's friend from college).

Here are some pictures:

First day of field school.....

Today was the first day of field school. We arrived early and spent the first 3 hours doing boring introductions, and a tour of the whole facility. Not only do the grounds contain the archeology sites, they also are the home to administrative offices, museum spaces, scenic walks, restored landscapes, and outdoor educational activity spaces. Then we went to lunch (when I saw we, I mean the 8 field school interns and our teacher Dr. Phillip Levy, and his son Felix who is 7 years old).

After lunch we went to the filed to work with Paul, the field supervisor. Paul is an archaeologist. He gave us all the information we needed to start using the tools and excavating our 5' squares. And, we learned how to use Munsell color charts to record the soil. Then we set out marking the grid for our squares. This ended up being more difficult than we thought it would be and it took us an hour and a half to mark 3 squares. We finally started digging, removing the grass first (this is as far as we got). I found an artifact! It was just a bent nail or piece of wire, but I was very proud of myself.

Now I'm ready for a nice warm shower, but the hot water isn't working in hte dorm building. Our TA Justin says he's contacted the school's maintenance about it, but it's been out for 2 days now. It's annoying.

A tiny bit of Fredericksburg Civil War history...

Fredericksburg was the setting of the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862.


Here's the confederate cemetery taken today on Memorial Day:






























And, here is the building on whose steps President Abraham Lincoln stood and gave a speech when he visited Fredericksburg after Union occupation:

Fredericksburg, VA and Washington, DC

I arrived safely Thursday afternoon in Fredericksburg. After getting a late start from Fayetteville, I arrived here around 4:00pm. The town is really nice. It reminds me of a southern Edgartown, MA. (For those of you who don't know, that is on Martha's Vineyard.) I had a chance to walk from University of Mary Washington campus (where we're staying) to downtown Fredericksburg. It's all of 15 minutes to walk from one end of town to the other. The dorms that we're staying in are what you might expect from a dorm. They were built in the 30's by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Thanks, New Deal!

Friday morning I traveled to Washington, DC (I drove to Springfield, the last Metro stop, parked my car, and took the train into DC). I did all of the monuments, saw the White House, and toured the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP). There are some assorted pictures below. But the most exciting thing was.......Chris Tucker was in the tour group at the BEP! He was very nice. And, he was with a woman who may or may not have been a former member of Destiny's Child. I'm waiting on Mark to confirm it.

I stayed the night in a hostel in DC. This was a first for me. It was OK but I'm not sure that I'd do it again. Hosteling people seemed to be either Europeans looking to get the most out of their cheap American Dollar, or crazy Americans who longed for a hippie commune lifestyle. Either way, I don't think it's for me.

Saturday I did some more DC gallivanting. The National Archives was very good. I enjoyed it tremendously. The rest of the day was kind of a bust....I walked by the Capitol building and the Jefferson building of the Library of Congress. By 1:00pm I was making my way back "home" to Virginia.

Two of my fellow archaeologist people arrived this afternoon, and I think we're going to get some dinner soon.





The white house. There were a lot of protesters in front of it.



Honest Abe.



The National Archives building.



This is an example of a you-too-can-be-in-the-National-Archives letter. I thought it was cute! (if you can't read it, just click on it, and it will get bigger)



Who knew Liberty could be so demanding!