Portraying the characters who lived at George Washington’s Mount Vernon can require a lot of studying and practice for human beings, but Aladdin the camel, who hails from a farm in Berryville, Va., seems to play the camel that Washington brought to Mount Vernon in 1787 with little effort.
Historians are aware of a historical camel’s existence based on one lone entry in Washington’s ledger:
“By the man who brot. a Camel from Alexa. for a show…. 0.18.0″
According to a report by Mount Vernon historian Mary Thompson, Washington had a fascination with animals.
“Over the years,” she writes, “George Washington and various members of his household were able to learn something about the world outside Virginia from the itinerant entertainers who traveled along the eastern seaboard and would have been drawn to large gatherings of people at events such as fairs. Many of these individuals seem to have worked with exotic or specially-trained animals. For example, in some of the earliest references to this sort of thing, Washington recorded paying 10 shillings to see a ‘Lyoness’ in June of 1766 and three years later spent 3 shillings and 1 1/2 pence to see a ‘Tyger,’ which may have been either the now-familiar striped Asian tiger or a North American cougar or puma, which the colonists referred to as ‘red tigers.’ At least twice in his life, he paid to see an elk and during the presidency, he forked out $1.75 ‘or to see Elephant’ and took the whole family several months later. The Washington family was also interested in animals exhibiting special qualities or training. During the presidency, they gave $3.00 to a ‘man who had a very sagacious Dog,’ so that they could see ‘his performance’ (presumably they meant a performance by the dog, not the man). This was very likely a dog brought from Europe by a man named Gabriel Salenka; the canine is said to have been able to ‘beat any person at playing at cards.’ Washington definitely saw a ‘Cugar’ in Philadelphia during his presidency, as well as a ‘Sea Leopard,’ a type of sea lion.“
No newspaper records of a camel in Alexandria during that time can be found, but it is known that in 1787 a pair of camels were imported to New York (from Arabia, via Africa and the West Indies) and were purchased by a businessman for $1,600. The furry couple traveled New England, and only the male seems to have survived.
Whatever the camel’s provenance, there would have been quite a crowd of relatives and neighbors at Mount Vernon that time of year to view the spectacle.
Today, a sizable crowd still gathers, visiting Aladdin at Mount Vernon’s 12-acre field, where he will remain available for viewing and petting throughout “Christmas at Mount Vernon,” which lasts until January 6.
