Archive for July, 2011

It’s well-known that George Washington is the father of our country, but lesser known that he’s also the father of a breed of dogs – the American Foxhound.

The Washingtons owned a variety of dogs over the years from herding dogs to lap dogs, but hounds, especially those for hunting, were particularly prevalent among Washington’s writing. The General, an avid fox hunter, hoped to create a superb breed of four-legged companions for the chase and began breeding his English, French and local hounds for desirable traits. The dog that he created eventually became known as the American Foxhound.

Names bestowed on Washington’s personal four-legged friends are of a telling nature as to his love for them. These included Countess, Doxey, Droner, Dublin, Dutchess, Forrester, Hearkwell, Jupiter, Lady, Mopsey, Music, Pluto, Ragman, Ringwood, Rober, Rockwood, Rover, Searcher, Shingas, Singer, Sweetlips, Truelove, Venus and Vulcan.

A particularly popular story with the Washington family, recounted below by George Washington Park Custis (Martha Washington’s grandson), concerned Vulcan, one of the French hounds.

“It happened that upon a large company sitting down to dinner at Mount Vernon one day, the lady of the mansion (my grandmother) discovered that the ham, the pride of every Virginia housewife’s table, was missing from its accustomed post of honor. Upon questioning Frank, the butler, this portly, and at the same time the most polite and accomplished of all butlers, observed that a ham, yes, a very fine ham, had been prepared, agreeably to the Madam’s orders, but lo and behold! who should come into the kitchen, while the savory ham was smoking in its dish, but old Vulcan, the hound, and without more ado fastened his fangs into it; and although they of the kitchen had stood to such arms as they could get, and had fought the old spoiler desperately, yet Vulcan had finally triumphed, and bore off the prize, ay, ‘cleanly, under the keeper’s nose.’ The lady by no means relished the loss of a dish which formed the pride of her table, and uttered some remarks by no means favorable to old Vulcan, or indeed to dogs in general, while the chief [Washington], having heard the story, communicated it to his guests, and, with them, laughed heartily at the exploit of the stag-hound.”

Washington’s hounds, even presumably Vulcan, were housed in a kennel located approximately 100 yards from the family tomb, in a penned-in area with a creek running through it. Washington purportedly inspected the kennel each morning and evening, visiting with his beloved animals.

*The above image was made in part courtesy of the American Kennel Club, which provided a photo of the American Foxhound.

Every year Mount Vernon sifts through a large pile of applications and chooses one D.C.-area educator to be the Mount Vernon teacher of the year. This year’s talented winner is Amy Trenkle, a history teacher at Stuart-Hobson Museum Magnet School in Washington, D.C.

In her essay, Trenkle shared a story about a collaborative project she designed between her 8th graders and a 3rd-grade class at Watkins Elementary School. The 8th graders wrote plays based on George Washington artifacts and the 3rd graders acted them out. Students blogged about their experience and in the end, gave a performance at Tudor Place, home to Martha Washington’s granddaughter Martha Custis Peter and her husband, Thomas Peter.

Trenkle is the first middle school teacher to win the award. For the past 11 years, she has coordinated and sponsored Stuart-Hobson Museum Magnet School’s National History Day Competition. Trenkle has also participated as an education advisor for a number of organizations such as DC Geographic Alliance, DC National History Day, Smithsonian Teacher Partner Programs, Smithsonian Institution Exhibit and Curriculum and the Teacher Advisory Board for the National Park Service.

“Ms. Trenkle teaches American History not because students need to know a collection of old facts, but because history helps them understand how the world works and how human beings behave,” said Stuart-Hobson Museum Magnet School’s former principal Brandon Eatman. “Knowledge of the past is required for the understanding of their present realities.”

Trenkle was awarded $5,000 and an all-expenses-paid field trip to Mount Vernon for her students.

It’s the sort of day in Northern Virginia that makes a person huddle next to their full-blast air conditioner and thank their lucky stars they weren’t born an 18th-century blacksmith. The heatwave that’s been baking half the country has produced temperatures as high as 100 degrees at Mount Vernon, which makes us ponder whether Washington would have been sweating so profusely this time of year?

It turns out that at least in his last year of life — 1799 — he was passing an extremely “serene” July 22. In his diary, which is often rather weather-centric, he records what sounds like, at least from a temperature perspective, an extremely pleasant day:

22. Morning clear–Wind still at No. Et. & Mer. at 68. Serene all day. Mer. 74 at Night. Mr. Law returned this afternoon.*

Had Mr. Law returned on a day like today, he probably would have turned around and gone back to where he came from.

*Mer. = mercury

The newest member of the Mount Vernon family, a single piglet that was born Tuesday around 3 p.m., is a quick study — she’s already following her mother into the pigpen mud pit to beat the high-nineties Virginia heat.

The piglet’s mother, Genesis, is one of three Ossabaw Island sows at Mount Vernon. The piglet is the first and only to be born this summer and a rarity without any siblings. More piglets are expected this fall.