Archaeologists Unearth 35 Glass Bottles from the 18th Century at George Washington’s Mount Vernon During Mansion Revitalization, Most Containing Perfectly Preserved Cherries and Berries

www.mountvernon.org ^ | June 13, 2024 | Staff

[Red Badger]

Excavation Represents an Unprecedented Discovery of Pre-Revolutionary War Artifacts and Biological Matter

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Archaeologists at George Washington’s Mount Vernon have unearthed an astounding 35 glass bottles from the 18th century in five storage pits in the Mansion cellar of the nation’s first president. Of the 35 bottles, 29 are intact and contain perfectly preserved cherries and berries, likely gooseberries or currants. The contents of each bottle have been carefully extracted, are under refrigeration at Mount Vernon, and will undergo scientific analysis. The bottles are slowly drying in the Mount Vernon archaeology lab and will be sent off-site for conservation.

This discovery follows a recent find in the cellar of two intact European-manufactured 18th-century glass bottles containing liquid, cherries, and pits. These archaeological finds are part of the landmark privately funded $40 million Mansion Revitalization Project at George Washington’s Mount Vernon.

Photographs and video footage of the bottles’ discovery at Mount Vernon are available here and should be attributed to the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association (MVLA).

“Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine this spectacular archaeological discovery,” said Mount Vernon President & CEO Doug Bradburn. “We were ecstatic last month to uncover two fully intact 18th-century bottles containing biological matter. Now we know those bottles were just the beginning of this blockbuster discovery. To our knowlege, this is an unprecedented find and nothing of this scale and significance has ever been excavated in North America. We now possess a bounty of artifacts and matter to analyze that may provide a powerful glimpse into the origins of our nation, and we are crossing our fingers that the cherry pits discovered will be viable for future germination. It’s so appropriate that these bottles have been unearthed shortly before the 250th anniversary of the United States,” Bradburn said.

“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. This means the bottles are extremely fragile and require the utmost care. The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association was America's first historic preservation organization, so it’s only fitting that such a remarkable discovery was made here at Mount Vernon. We are fortunate to have top archaeologists and historic preservation experts on staff who know how to effectively manage, analyze, and care for this extraordinary discovery.

“This historic discovery comes at the beginning of our transformational $40 million Mansion Revitalization Project to strengthen and restore the home of the nation’s first president so that it will be stronger than ever when we celebrate America’s 250th birthday in 2026. This historic preservation project is Mount Vernon’s birthday gift to America,” Bradburn added.

Mount Vernon Principal Archaeologist Jason Boroughs said, “These extraordinary discoveries continue to astonish us. These perfectly preserved fruits picked and prepared more than 250 years ago provide an incredibly rare opportunity to contribute to our knowledge of the 18th-century environment, plantation foodways, and the origins of American cuisine. 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.”

Mount Vernon has partnered with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to analyze the contents of these historic bottles, composed of materials and foodstuffs that are likely 250 years old. While only a small quantity of the samples have been analyzed to date, the findings are significant even at this early stage:

* 54 cherry pits and 23 stems have been identified thus far, suggesting that the bottles were likely full of cherries before bottling. Cherry pulp is also present.

* Microscopy suggests that the cherries may have been harvested by snipping from trees with shears. The stems were neatly cut and purposefully left attached to the fruit before bottling.

* The cherries likely are of a tart variety, which has a more acidic composition that may have aided in preservation.

* The cherries are likely candidates for DNA extraction, which could be compared against a database of heirloom varieties to determine the precise species.

* The pits are undergoing an examination to determine if any are viable for germination.

The Mansion Revitalization Project is underway because today's highly popular Mansion performs functions it was not designed for. Built as a private residence, it is now a public monument visited by thousands daily, translating to a much heavier traffic flow than the Washingtons could have imagined. That increased visitation causes wear, tear, and strain on the building fabric. Although repairs throughout the Mansion’s 290-year history have been accomplished using the best techniques available at the time, some of those repairs are now more than a century old. Significant advances in preservation technology afford exciting opportunities to improve structural and environmental conditions in the building, preparing it for another century of service.

Some of the earliest interventions completed in the Mansion were “localized” repairs intended to solve specific problems of immediate concern. Though successful, such repairs can have unintended consequences that affect the overall health of the Mansion. With this project, Mount Vernon’s preservation team is proceeding holistically, approaching the Mansion as a complex network of interlocking systems. The primary tasks of the Mansion Revitalization Project include:

* Repairing sections of the Mansion’s framing and masonry

* Installing a new heating/ventilation/air conditioning system

* Improving drainage in and around the Mansion’s cellar

* Conducting research in rarely accessible spaces

When the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association took possession of George Washington’s home in 1860, it faced a monumental restoration challenge. Since then, the MVLA has meticulously restored the Mansion and surrounding outbuildings, turning Mount Vernon into a shining example of historic preservation. After extensive investigation, assessment, research, planning, and design, Mount Vernon is taking proactive steps to ensure the health of the Mansion as it enters its fourth century. The Mansion Revitalization Project is being conducted in four phases and is scheduled for completion in 2026.

[mairdie]

When I was researching 5th great grandfather Henry Livingston, I spent several years touring research institutions and attempting to translate masses of documents from those periods. The professors I worked with were a blessing when I couldn’t figure something out. It became almost a guessing game to fill in the missing words. Many institutions let me scan the documents into our laptop but I had to deal with a lot of bad microfilm as well. Made translations doubly difficult.

One of my best treasure troves was at Rutgers when I was looking for documents of Henry’s brother, Rev John Henry Livingston, one of the early presidents of the college. I stumbled across the main archive of Edward Antill’s father-in-law, Governor Lewis Morris of NJ, my 7th. The main archivist was on vacation and the librarian nodded at the xerox machine and said feel free. I whispered to husband that our travel plans had just changed. We stayed there several days xeroxing every single piece of paper in every file of his. I still haven’t done anything with them but...someday...

[Liz]

Cherry Bounce / George Washington's favorite
Made from sour cherries, sugar, and brandy, rum, or whiskey. Martha’s recipe was found in her papers, although not in her handwriting, called for brandy. This drink was one of George’s favorites. He even took it along on journeys — on a trip west in 1784, in search of a commercial waterway from the Atlantic to the Mississippi Valley, he packed canteens of Madeira, port, and bounce.

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Martha Washington’s “Excellent Cherry Bounce”:

Extract the juice of 20 pounds well ripend Morrella cherrys. Add to this 10 quarts of old french brandy and sweeten it with White sugar to your taste. To 5 gallons of this mixture add one ounce of spice such as cinnamon, cloves and nutmegs of each an Equal quantity slightly bruis’d and a pint and half of cherry kirnels that have been gently broken in a mortar. After the liquor has fermented let it stand close-stoped for a month or six weeks then bottle it, remembering to put a lump of Loaf Sugar into each bottle.

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Modernized version developed by Nancy Carter Crump for the book "Dining with the Washingtons." You can use preserved Morello cherries at the grocery, and at Trader Joe’s. Calls for the cherries to be mashed and strained; the juice is then mixed with brandy and sugar. To try the old-fashioned method, leave cherries and broken pits in for several months, (the blog The Runaway Spoon has good instructions). It’s sweet but not excessively so, and the cherry flavor really comes through. The flavor improved after just a few weeks, maybe better after a month or two.

Cherry Bounce / Adapted from "Dining with the Washingtons."

Ing 7 pounds fresh sour cherries, preferably Morello, or two jars (25 ounces each) preserved Morello cherries 2⅔ cups brandy 2 cups sugar, plus more as needed 1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces 2 cloves 1 (¼-inch) piece fresh whole nutmeg (or ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg)

Steps Pit the cherries, cut them in half, and put them in a large bowl. (If you use jarred cherries, drain them first, setting that juice aside.) Mash the cherries with a potato or other masher to extract the juice. Then strain the juice through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing with a spoon to extract all the juice.

Sterilize a lidded three-quart glass jar. In the jar, combine the juice (including the reserved juice, if you used jarred cherries) with the brandy and sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar (my trusty assistant did this task as well as the mashing; and no, she wasn’t allowed to drink it). Cover the jar with the lid and put in the refrigerator for 24 hours, stirring or shaking it occasionally.

Remove 2 cups of juice from the jar. Place in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Taste the juice and add more sugar if desired. (If you use preserved cherries, you probably won’t need more sugar.) Add the cinnamon sticks, cloves, and nutmeg, then cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Set aside to cool to room temperature. Strain the liquid, discarding the cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, if you’re using whole nutmeg. Pour the spiced juice back into the big jar with the remaining juice and stir. Cover loosely with the lid, and set aside for two weeks, occasionally shaking the jar gently.

Serve at room temperature, garnished with whole pitted cherries, if you like. Store the remaining bounce in the refrigerator.

[Political Junkie Too]

And I bet the gift shop at Mt. Vernon is still selling cherries from the cherry tree that little George chopped down when he was a child.

-PJ

[NH Liberty]

I LOVE this story!

Thank you SO MUCH for posting it.

[Sirius Lee]

Just because he chopped down the cherry tree doesn’t mean he let it go to waste.

[Red Badger]

I would think they would all have turned to wine by now.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJnKdbHpGt8

[Charles Martel]

I’ve made a few batches of that over the past years; usually a variant of Martha’s recipe that reduces the sugar a bit and splits the liquor 50/50 between inexpensive brandy and un-aged (”white dog”) rye whiskey (George was also a distiller at some point). My grandfather used to make the stuff in New Orleans, too, using local wild cherries (and I suspect, moonshine). He used to age the stuff in an old brewer’s crock about the size of a 5-gallon paint bucket, tucked under the front porch of his house.

[Liz]

Thx for the realtime story.

[kiryandil]

LOL!

I was just idly wondering if anyone had brought up "cherry bounce".

Liz FTTW!!

[kiryandil]

LOL!

[rlmorel]

Ha ha ha… We used to have a dog many years ago in my family when I was a kid, and my mom taught the dog to react in a certain way to that phrase.

With her back to the dog, washing dishes or something, she would say in a low voice “Slowly I turn…“ And the dog would become hyper alert, get down on its front legs on the ground in a eager “here we go “pose with his butt in the air, and as my mom turned around, the dog would begin to growl, getting louder and louder until she and the dog, facing each other, would simultaneously rush at each other…

It was fun. Like most moms, she did the bulk of the dog duties and seemed to resent it sometimes, but that was fun to see!

[If You Want It Fixed - Fix It]

Those are mine. Sorry. Was running from the cops at the time. Long story.

[nesnah]

Mainy Jim Beam and George Dickle

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He was a discerning man.

[Tucker39]

If the method of preservation of those cherries was much like the canning of food which came into use 100 years later, with mason jars, etc; then part of the process was to bring the foodstuffs to 212°+ in a canning vessel of boiling water. I believe that high temperature would have killed the life germ in those cherry pits, and that when they are planted the won’t germinate or grow.

[Charles Martel]

It is tasty stuff (always a big hit, drizzled over vanilla ice cream) - though with all that added sugar, George’s false teeth are now easily explained. I wonder if he brought any of that cherry-flavored antifreeze with him to Valley Forge?

[Albion Wilde]

bump for later

[SunkenCiv]