Chew on this: Despite legend, George Washington’s dentures weren’t made of wood. Should you like to verify this fact in-person, his three extant pairs are scattered along the eastern seaboard, readily viewable to the museum-going public.
Washington’s only full set (both top and bottom dentures) belongs to Mount Vernon and is currently on tour with our “Discover the Real George Washington” exhibit, which will arrive at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh, North Carolina, on September 10.
This set (shown above) has a lead base, with human teeth, cow teeth and elephant ivory serving as the actual chompers. Washington’s other two sets, which consist only of the bottom denture, are a bit more exotic, with bases made of hippopotamus ivory!
One of these is on loan to Mount Vernon from The New York Academy of Medicine and is featured in our Donald W. Reynolds Education Center. The other belongs to the National Museum of Dentistry in Baltimore, Maryland, and has had a storied history, apart from having been in Washington’s mouth. Originally part of a full denture set, it was stolen in 1981 while on loan to the Smithsonian, and only the top was ever recovered!
George Washington’s ever-fascinating, working gristmill and distillery help visitors at Mount Vernon understand the first president’s entrepreneurial spirit. The two structures are located a brief, three-mile trip down the road from the estate. Both close annualy at the end of October, so if you want to catch them in 2010, the time is now.
Teachers interested in exposing their class to the gristmill are encouraged to participate in Mount Vernon’s Seed to Table program, which brings students to the farm and gives them plenty of hands-on science and history experience that fosters great class discussion.
On August 27, 1776 British and American troops fought the Battle of Long Island, which marked the beginning of the British campaign to take New York and thereby isolate New England from the rest of the colonies.
On August 22 the British had landed on Long Island under British general Lord Howe and during the night on August 26, Howe set in motion to attack. Battle ensued and George Washington crossed to Brooklyn with reinforcements on the 27th, but it was too late.
The defeat at Long Island killed 312 Americans, wounded 1,407 and resulted in the capture of 1,186. On the British side, 312 troops were killed or wounded. After several more battles, the British would hold New York for the duration of the war.
Above: A portrait of George Washington, which Charles Willson Peale worked on during the summer of 1776
Mount Vernon’s George Washington Portrait Project has brought Rembrandt Peale’s “Patriae Pater” porthole portraitof Washington into 4,783 schools since the program’s inception in winter 2007-2008, and your school could be next.
It’s August 22 and that can only mean one thing: Six more months until George Washington’s REAL birthday. In the meantime, allow these birthday facts, courtesy of the University of Virginia’s The Papers of George Washington website, to hold you over until that joyous day in February.
“The first public celebration [of Washington’s birthday], of which there is record, was at Valley Forge, February 22, 1778, when Proctor’s Continental Artillery band serenaded Washington. The first public celebration as a holiday was by order of Comte Rochambeau, February 12, 1781, when the French Army in Rhode Island was granted a holiday on that day, Monday. February 11th, 1781, Washington’s birthday by the Julian Calendar, happened to fall on Sunday.”
Mount Vernon recently invited K-12 schools nationwide to request framed portraits of George Washington to display in a respectful, prominent place.
The response was overwhelming: thousands of schools submitted letters! Along with the portrait, schools received curriculum materials to help explore our first president’s contributions.
