George Washington's Boyhood Home Discovered

The house of a young George Washington is seen in an illustration as it may have looked in 1738, when the Washingtons first moved in.

Archaeologists have identified the foundations and cellars of the first American president's boyhood home at Ferry Farm in Virginia, as well as about half a million artifacts from the setting of the famous cherry tree story.

The house—"a fairly common English building with some regional variations"—was one and a half stories, the "half" being a furnished attic with dormer windows, said Philip Levy, a University of South Florida historian who helped oversee the excavation.

The team plans in coming years to replicate the house and landscape surrounding the Washington residence.The surviving architectural footprint of George Washington's childhood home was found at an excavation siteseen above in an aerial viewat Ferry Farm in Virginia, historians announced on July 2, 2008.

"Somebody took great care to make sure these stones lined up properlya talented stonemason and crew," said the University of South Florida's Philip Levy, whose work on the dig was funded in part by the National Geographic Committee for Research and Exploration.

Crisscrossing the site are (left to right) a Civil War trench and (bottom to top) a 20th-century sewer line.Sixty-three 18th-century wig curlers of various sizes were among a half million artifacts found at the site of George Washington's childhood home, archaeologists announced in July 2008.

Such curlers were used by wealthy colonists—both men and women—to curl hair, wigs, and even to style the manes of their horses, historians say.Fragments of expensive, hand-painted pottery—part of a British-made creamware tea set—were among the half million artifacts found at the site of George Washington's childhood home at Ferry Farm in Virginia, experts announced on June 2, 2008.

"We are able to set the table for the Washigntons," said David Muraca, director of archaeology at the George Washington Foundation.Archaeology technician Erin Goslin washes artifacts at the site of George Washington's childhood house at Ferry Farm in Stafford County, Virginia.

Archaeologists, students, and volunteers worked since 2001 before positively identifying the foundations and cellars of the house. Virginia Governor Tim Kaine announced the finding on July 2, 2008.