Historic Preservation at Mount Vernon

Jamestown Rediscovery had some exciting visitors recently!

You probably heard about the recent discovery of two 18th-century glass bottles filled with still-plump cherries recently excavated from the Mansion’s cellar here at Mount Vernon. Our Principle Archaeologist, Jason Boroughs, and Curator of Preservation Collections, Lily Carhart, called in the assistance of Jamestown Rediscovery’s conservation team to help stabilize the fragile glass bottles that had been buried for more than 200 years.

Glass is hygroscopic, meaning it absorbs moisture from the soil when it’s buried in the ground. That moisture alters the chemical makeup of the glass, leading to flaking and cracking. Glass conservation can be complex, so JRF Senior Conservator Dr. Chris Wilkins will spend the next few weeks stabilizing and conserving these two bottles.

Follow along as Chris begins the conservation process at Jamestown and follow us on Facebook and Instagram as we continue our preservation work at Mount Vernon.

Learn more about the cherry bottles on Mount Vernon’s website: https://bit.ly/4d8eXtt

This iron screw padlock with a brass plate was excavated during the 1998 North Grove excavations. The plate is inscribed with the name Abraham Thompson and a design registration mark. Abraham Thompson established his business around 1831, and his locks were sold domestically and exported.

The design registration mark, kitemark, or diamond mark that can be seen on the brass plate was issued by the UK Patent Office from 1842 to 1883 and serves a very specific purpose. These marks encode the object’s material and when the original design for the object was registered. This particular mark corresponds with registered design number 7214 in the Ornamental Designs Register (UK National Archives), which was issued on 20 May 1843 to Abraham Thompson, of Willenhall, Staffordshire, for a metal screwlock.

More exciting news from the archaeology team! You may have heard that our archaeologists found at least three bottles buried in pits in the cellar of the Mansion, but as of the start of this week we have found over a dozen! We expect to find more over the next few weeks so stay tuned for updates.

You can hear more about these discoveries in the most recent episode of the “Inventing the Presidency” podcast. Our principal archaeologist, Dr. Jason Boroughs, and our curator of preservation collections, Lily Carhart, sat down with host Anne Fertig about their recent research on the bottles: https://bit.ly/3QAeF5k

Visitors don’t typically get to see the flooring of the colonnades because it is covered by a protective walkway. The Preservation team recently had the opportunity to expose the North Colonnade’s pavers and perform a condition assessment. The stone pavers you see date to the early 20th century, and they were repurposed from the Piazza in 1967. The basis for the stone pavers in the colonnades was confirmed during an archaeological excavation in the 1960s, as there are several surviving Washington-era pavers under the ground.

After the two bottles were transported to the lab, the archaeology team set to remove the liquid in the bottles to aid in stabilizing the glass. The team used an unconventional tool, a manual aquarium siphon, to remove the contents without spillage. Everyone was astonished when the first dark red clump that resembled a cherry entered the siphon! It wasn’t just one, but upwards of 10+ cherries and possibly other fruits in each bottle! The team was even more amazed to see that the cork of one bottle, several stems, and pits survived as well! Some even claimed the liquid smelled like cherry blossoms!

Archaeology Lab Analysts Angela Bailey and Alice Keith were aided by Lily Carhart (Archaeology Curator), Jason Boroughs (Research Archaeologist), and Tom Reinhart (Director of Preservation) to remove the contents of the bottles carefully into sanitized containers. The Archaeology field crew, Nick Beard, Grace Gordon, Tess Ostoyich, Grace Shultz, and Kyle Vanhoy, anxiously awaited the result of their excavation.

The cherries and other possible contents survived due to the anaerobic environment in which they were excavated. This find is likely representative of an 18th-century food preservation technique in which fruits were placed in reused bottles and buried to prevent spoilage. Next steps include working with archaeological conservators to preserve the bottles and sending out the liquid and contents for testing.

Mount Vernon archaeologists made a thrilling discovery in George Washington’s cellar.

While excavating a small pit that had been filled between 1758-1770s, Project Archaeologist Nick Beard exposed the top of a European-manufactured glass bottle, not too out of the ordinary, except that he could clearly see through the dark green glass that the bottle was not only completely intact, but holding liquid!

Archaeologist Grace Gordon discovered a second intact bottle in the same pit, also containing liquid.

After careful excavation, the team recovered two complete bottles manufactured in the 1740s-1750s. Cherries, including stems and pits, were sealed within the bottles some 250 years ago and remain well preserved in the liquid contents.

Learn more about these exciting finds: https://bit.ly/4d8eXtt

Also, get an in-depth look at the process of finding these bottles in the article featured in The Washington Post by Michael E. Ruane: https://wapo.st/3Jsoez6

Did you know that the Goodyear name is not only affiliated with tires and blimps but with rubber buttons popular in the mid to late 19th century? This example of a ‘Goodyear Button’ was excavated from the North Grove archaeology site here at Mount Vernon.

Rubber, a resource extracted from the sap of trees and plants endemic to the Americas, has been utilized by indigenous groups for thousands of years for its resilient yet elastic characteristics. The process of creating vulcanized rubber was patented by Charles Goodyear in 1851. It allowed for the increased commercial use of rubber in Western industries as it allowed products to withstand hot temperatures. This involved heating rubber with sulfur and allowing it to cool, resulting in a rigid and extremely durable material. So durable, in fact, that these buttons remain very well conserved despite having been in the ground for over a hundred and fifty years.

The inscription on the back reads “Goodyears Patent May 1851 NRCO”. Companies were required to include the patent on the back of the button. The “NRCO” stands for Novelty Rubber Company, an early manufacturer of vulcanized rubber buttons in the mid to late 19th century. These buttons were often utilized for low-cost utilitarian clothing and for work and military uniforms. Once patented, vulcanized rubber was utilized in mass-marketed products like combs, tires, shoes, umbrellas, erasers, and even Doc Martens.

Earlier this week, Mount Vernon experienced its 25th solar eclipse.

We are all familiar with the term “coin,” and we find those both archaeologically and in our own wallets. While it sounds the same, the term “quoin” means something much different. Quoins are decorative details found at the corner or end of an exterior wall, often in a material contrasting with the rest of the wall surface (often brick, stone, or wood). At Mount Vernon, we have quoins on the corners of the outbuildings facing the Mansion circle.

The paint colors you see at Mount Vernon are carefully matched to surviving original paint. Some of our paint colors are mixed by the paint manufacturers and some are mixed in-house. Pictured are Preservation Technicians Abigail Breckner and Tara Owens, in the architecture workroom, mixing the pigmented paints necessary to create the final paint color for the Gristmill woodwork.