George Washington's birthplace

George Washington Birthplace National Monument, part of the National Park Service is located in northern Virginia, 38 miles east of Fredericksburg and every time we go back and forth to Richmond, as we did for Christmas, we see a small sign indicating the turn off. On our way home this time we decided to take the detour and see what it was all about. We discovered an interesting visitor center with exhibits and a bookstore, the Washington Family Burial Ground (while he was born here, George is not buried here -- and he was 3 years old when his family moved), a living Colonial Farm with heritage livestock and tobacco, a Memorial House that was built in the 1930s that was supposed to represent what the house might have been like for prosperous folks in colonial times - although it was later determined that his house would have been much more modest and the outline of it was unearthed years later. It was a very interesting visit and we learned some things we didn't know about George Washington's early years. The site is lovely with views of the Potomac River.

Here's the offical site if you are interested: www.nps.gov/gewa/

One of the windows inside the reconstructed Memorial House we toured


Old red barn on the property


The birthplace homesite, the brick Memorial House on the right and Colonial Kitchen on the left