Becky as well as her Mother and Aunt and her daughter all belong to the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in The Commonwealth of Virginia.
The NSCDA actively promotes our national heritage through statewide historic preservation, patriotic service and educational projects especially at Wilton House Museum. Membership in the organization is by sponsorship only and members must be lineal descendants of an ancestor who rendered significant service to his country during the Colonial period before July 5, 1776
One of their recent projects in The Washington House at Ferry Farm. This is the site of Washington's childhood home. He lived there from age 6 until his early 20s. It is currently being rebuilt in the manner to which is was first constructed and they are having the furniture replicated in accordance with records they have of all the furnishings. Becky's club donated a corner cabinet to the home.
They were invited to come and hear a talk by a couple of the archeologists as well as the builder.
She invited us to go with her which was fun and interesting.
We started in the visitor center where there were some artifacts on display.
We started in the visitor center where there were some artifacts on display.
Then we went in for our greeting. Half the group stayed in for the lecture and the other half went out to visit the garden and the house.
The lecture was interesting, discussing how the site was found, some of the artifacts and some of the history of George and especially his mother who raised him and his 4 siblings as a widow. It was interesting that even back then there were strong opinions as to what she should have done after her husband died. Many felt she should have married again right away and started a new family and raised her children together with the new family. Other's felt she should have sent her children off to be raised by other family members and some thought she was doing the right thing by continuing with the farm and raising her children as a widowed mother. She never remarried.
After our lecture we moved out doors to visit the garden and house. This time of year the garden wasn't especially spectacular, but you could certainly see its potential.
The house is just being rebuilt but it was very interesting the way they are doing it just as it would have been done back then.
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This is the sleeping parlor of Washington's mother. It is slats which will be plastered over. Each of the bedrooms have a fireplace.
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| All the nail are done in the original way where they pound them in most of the way and then bend them over and pound the bent nail into the wood. They they are painted over. |
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| This is the main parlor room where the family would gather. It has the largest fireplace perhaps for cooking. The cabinet in the corner is the one donated by Becky's group. |
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| Note the latches and nails. Again, these are how they were originally done. |
This is a high pressure mist fire system. It uses 1/15th the amount of water a normal fire sprinkler system uses. It is used in Europe and in submarines. It is super effective and minimizes the water damage.
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| Windows |
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| View toward the front of the house where the Ferry was. |
Couple more bedrooms
Front of the house as it would be seen from the River
The Floor Plans
We said our good byes to Aunt Becky, as she was going on to lunch with her club and was getting a ride home with another friend. And then Rob and I headed back to A.P.Hill and to our home.
Yippee, it is still there! It hasn't frozen or burned down or anything.
We gathered our laundry and headed off to wash. We are repacking tonight because we are leaving early in the am to fly to LA.
We watched TV and went to bed early.
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