Ferry Farm (44ST174)
Site History
Ferry Farm, also known as George Washington's Boyhood Home, is located on a high bank overlooking the Rappahannock River opposite Fredericksburg. The site gets its name as it was historically the location of a ferry crossing over the river. Colonial occupation at the site began with Maurice (or Morris) Clark who had acquired the property in 1710. Clark erected two structures there but died only 6 months later. His estate was left to Peter Waterson and was later acquired by Thomas and Margaret Harwood. In 1727 Harwood sold the property to William Strother, who would go on to build the house later lived in by the Washingtons. When Strother died his property was described a containing a "very handsome dwelling house, 3 store houses, several other convenient outhouses and a ferry belonging to it."
The Washington family became associated with the Ferry Farm property in 1738, when Augustine Washington, the father of George Washington, purchased it and relocated his family there. When the Washingtons moved to Ferry Farm, they occupied the dwelling built by Strother, which partially caught fire two years later in 1740 and was later repaired. Augustine passed away in 1743, leaving the property to his wife Mary Ball Washington. Mary never remarried and continued to live in the home until 1772, when she moved to Fredericksburg to a house purchased by her son and future first President, George. By the 1830s, the house was in a ruinous shape and suffered additional neglect and damage during the Civil War.
Archaeological Investigations
Archaeological investigations of the Ferry Farm began in 1989 through the use of remote sensing to identify potential anomalies and archaeologically sensitive areas. The remote sensing survey made use of ground-penetrating radar, soil conductivity, and magnetometer. This work was done on behalf of Stafford County, Virginia by Bruce Bevan prior to their acquisition of the property that same year.
Between 1990 and 1992 shovel testing and test units were dug to ground-truth areas identified in the remote sensing, which was conducted by a team from Epsey, Huston & Associates, Inc. A total of 40 test units were excavated, which identified a surveyor's shed, ice house, a human burial, and a colonial-era stone lined cellar. The stone lined cellar was identified as part of an 18th-century kitchen structure underneath a 19th/20th-century farmhouse. The cellar contained burned materials, which suggested that the building associated with it had burned.
The small human burial was excavated by anthropologists from the Smithsonian Institution in 1993. It was speculated at the time that the burial could have been the grave of Mildred Washington, the youngest child of Augustine and Mary Ball Washington, who died at only 18 months old in 1740. However, the remains were too young and it is instead thought to have been a grave of a stillborn infant.
In 1996, the Ferry Farm site was acquired by the George Washington Foundation, who began seasonal excavations at the site as a public archaeology program led by archaeologist Paul Schuster. Schuster and his archaeological volunteers excavated a block of units northwest of the icehouse identified by Epsey, Huston & Associates, which exposed a 10 × 25 foot stone foundation and filled in cellar feature. Later work identified this as part of the Washington family home.
Beginning in 2001 the earlier work conducted by Epsey, Huston & Associates and Paul Schuster was re-examined by David Muraca, Paul Nasca, and Phil Levy to better understand the site spatially. Since that time, archaeologists at Ferry Farm continued seasonal excavations in large blocks of excavation units. The earlier occupation of the site by Maurice Clark was identified and excavated in 2002/2003 and 2006/2007, revealing a 20 × 30 foot post-in-ground structure with a cellar, stone-lined hearth, and two subfloor pits. The building appeared to be short-lived, with artifacts terminating around 1720. The house measured approximately 52 × 30 feet with a 12.5 × 13 foot addition on the east wall.
In 2007/2008 archaeologists continued excavation of the main dwelling lived in by the Washingtons. These excavations revealed two chimney bases, foundation walls, two stone-lined cellars, and two subfloor pits. One of the stone-lined cellars contained a bulkhead entrance that exited on the west side of the house facing the Rappahannock River. Subsequent work focused on the work yard area east of the house, which contained an ice house, kitchen, and slave quarters.
A reconstruction of the Washington home was erected in 2018 on top of where the house once stood. Since that time, seasonal excavations have focused additional work yard areas and related structures.
References
2001 Report on the Excavations of the Washington Farm: The 2002 and 2003 Field Seasons. The George Washington Foundation.
n.d. 44ST174 Ferry Farm Site Survey Form. Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
