Archive for May, 2011

In his diary George Washington shares stories of several great catches that include a dolphin and shark in Barbados, a legendary catfish in the Ohio Country, and trout and perch during the recess of the Constitutional Convention in the summer of 1787.

It seems as though America’s first president was a commendable angler.

When Washington practiced fishing as a leisure activity or means of sustenance on the frontier (as opposed to the large-scale, commercial fishing practice he established at Mount Vernon on the banks of the Potomac), a few trusty tools were always tucked inside his tackle box.

These included the hand-wrought hooks, horsehair and silk fishing lines, and wax that can be found in the Washington kit that is in Mount Vernon’s possession today. It’s unknown whether the “Fishing Case for the Pocket – properly furnished with Line &ca” that Washington ordered from London in 1762, is the same kit. Even if it is, it’s extremely unlikely that all of its content is original, as hooks were often lost and lines broken in pursuit of a catch. Washington would have replaced the components over time.

The tackle box and content from London is described in Washington’s invoices as “1 fishing Reel compleat,” which suggests that it came with several hooks already hung on lines. Hooks were typically purchased already attached, or snelled, to the line, and were described as “ready hung” in period advertisements. It’s unlikely that Washington would have known how, or taken the time to snell his own hooks. Once they came undone, they would no longer have been usable to the novice and would have been set aside.

These hooks were made of iron or steel and were protected from corrosion by bluing (a process that creates a thin, blue-colored finish on the surface of the metal) or japanning (a process in which the metal is coated with varnish and paint). The tackle box and lid were made from tinned sheet iron that had been japanned as well, and the black fishing line was made of horsehair, the green one of silk.

The materials that constituted Washington’s fishing gear may be different from those used today, but the ultimate outcome of their use — a productive or relaxing fishing trip — has remained the same throughout centuries.

On June 12, 1790, the Pennsylvania Packet newspaper reported on the president’s fishing expedition near Sandy Hook, New Jersey “where he had been for the benefit of the sea air and to amuse himself in the delightful recreation of fishing. We are told he has had excellent sport, having himself caught a great number of sea-bass and black fish.”

Washington’s fishing tackle box and accompanying hooks and line can be viewed in the Elizabeth and Stanley DeForest Scott Gallery in Mount Vernon’s Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center.

Object Spotlight is a regular feature on George Washington Wired that highlights some of the household belongings that Washington came into contact with. Curatorial research associate Amanda Isaac contributed to this report. Check out Mount Vernon’s eMuseum to find more of Washington’s belongings.

Tackle box and tackle: Gift of Camille E. Bryan, 1958; W-2201/A-Y.

Mount Vernon isn’t the only Washington, D.C.-area establishment to display George Washington’s correspondences. At the National Archives “Public Vaults,” where visitors can see a sampling of some of the Archives’ documents, a Washington letter is always on display.

Due to the fragile nature of Washington’s more than 200-year-old missives, the documents can’t stay on exhibit indefinitely and are generally switched out every six months. Hear from Archives curator Will Sandoval about the newest letter, which was rolled out in May.

Clockwise from top left to right: pecan tree, American holly, persimmon, English boxwood.

George Washington may have spent his military career thwarting the British throne and serving King George III with contempt, but more than two centuries later, it’s much more appropriate for a U.S. president to serve the British royal family with gifts of shrubbery and fruit trees.

That’s what President Barack Obama did Tuesday when he took Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, an assortment of plants, seeds and seedlings that included rooted cuttings from Mount Vernon’s American holly and English boxwoods, as well as pecan and persimmon seedlings from the estate.

Other gifted greenery came from the White House South Lawn and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello estate; these were bestowed in a box made from a magnolia tree that fell at the White House during Washington, D.C.’s epic February 2009 snowstorm. Honey from the White House beehive was also given.

“When thinking about our two countries I believe there is nothing that ties us together, in a more special and positive way than the exchange of landscape design principles and the exchange of plants,” said Mount Vernon’s director of horticulture Dean Norton, who chose the foliage that the estate handed over to the president.

The English boxwood, which Washington is known to have used in his landscaping in 1785 and to have planted in his garden in 1798, is of European origin, but the American holly, persimmon and pecan are all native to the United States.

The English naturalistic design movement, which included serpentines, shrubberies, wilderness areas, groves and bowling greens, was in vogue for gardens during Washington’s time and can be detected across Mount Vernon. American plants were encompassed in the movement and were exported to England, helping lay the foundation for the classic, English garden.

The leafy gifts are not only historically appropriate, but dovetail nicely with the modern era in light of Charles’ advocacy for sustainable and organic farming and Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” campaign to fight childhood obesity and encourage healthy, garden-fresh eating.

You know you’ve made it big when pieces of your coffin are sold for thousands of dollars, but then there’s really never been a debate as to whether George Washington made it big.

A number of Washington’s coffin fragments, surveyor instruments and documents such as letters, deeds and wills are coming up for auction in Dallas, reports The Associated Press.

Where does such a random assortment of Washington belongings come from? Many have been passed down through the descendants of Washington’s brother John Augustine Washington, until reaching Tom Washington, 62, who is a career counselor in Kirkland, Washington.

It was specified in the will of Tom Washington’s father, Nat Washington, that the belongings should be sold. He died in 2007 after serving as a longtime state senator in Washington.

Why might there be so many pieces of Washington coffin fragments?

According to the AP: “Mary Thompson, research specialist for Mount Vernon Estate & Gardens, Washington’s estate located just south of Washington, D.C., said when Washington died in 1799 at the age of 67, he was put into a family vault at Mount Vernon that had been built on the side of a hill with underground springs. Washington wanted a new vault built and upon its completion in 1831, he and other family members were moved to Mount Vernon. During that move, it was discovered that his coffin was falling apart and was replaced.”