George Washington’s association with the cherry tree and honesty, is one of the most enduring yet simultaneously debunked pieces of historical trivia. “Father I cannot lie, I chopped down the cherry tree” or some similar version of this apocryphal story, has been told probably for centuries.
But history provides many surprises and researchers have now found a treasure trove buried in the cellar of George Washington’s Mount Vernon home: an enormous amount of preserved cherries. Archaeologists discovered 35 glass bottles with cherries, Mount Vernon officials announced on Thursday, just a few weeks after two bottles were found in April.
“Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine this spectacular archaeological discovery,” said Mount Vernon President Doug Bradburn.
Mount Vernon officials said the cherries, which included gooseberries and currants, were buried in five storage pits in the mansion’s cellar. They had been hidden for about 250 years before being unearthed during ongoing renovation projects at Mount Vernon. Of the 35 bottles, 29 were found intact.
The Virginia estate of Mount Vernon was the U.S first president’s home for most of his life. He took over management of the property in 1754, and slowly built and added to the home.
Giving credit to those who worked the land, Mount Vernon officials said in the statement, “The bottles and contents are a testament to the knowledge and skill of the enslaved people who managed the food preparations from tree to table, including Doll, the cook brought to Mount Vernon by Martha Washington in 1759 and charged with oversight of the estate’s kitchen.”
“These artifacts likely haven’t seen the light of day since before the American Revolution, perhaps forgotten when George Washington departed Mount Vernon to take command of the Continental Army,” Bradburn said.
After more than 250 years in storage the bottles of preserved fruit, albeit fragile, revealed intact fruit, pits and pulp, providing “an incredibly rare opportunity to contribute to our knowledge of the 18th-century environment, plantation foodways, and the origins of American cuisine,” said Jason Boroughs, principal archaeologist at Mount Vernon. Researchers said they believe the pits are ripe for DNA extraction and possible germination.
