Show resto am mir bulb 9 W ra ha d ifa am avow am to allam alb ty irth a A a e t rn 05 N avi I 1 ak 4 R A N oo 00 0 y V N ow P 2 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON 8 AMERICANS prepare to celebrate AV a 9 h in g j 0 ns birthday again it should be welcome news for then them that just a century and a hill bialt after the christmas christinas day fire which tn in 1780 destroyed the old colonial homestead in which the IP father ather of his country was born the foundations had been laid for a new wakefield to rise upon the original site and by the time of the great washington bicentennial celebration next year the ailon of tills this tits borle home will have been completed credit for tile restoration of wakefield Is duo due principally to the bakri field national association which originated in the summer of residents of westmorland westmoreland county va a who felt that it ft was a matter of national concern that birthplace was as still comparatively unknot vil to most americans and that flint pictures of houses falsely represented its as the birthplace were mere being behig published their cause was taken up tip by leaders lit in various patriotic organizations and high government and since that time plans for the lie restoration aaion have gone forward steadily at tile start the association faced a serious dIlli culty for no one could say with certainty in what sort of house washington was born there were a wide variety of opinions some asserting that tit the wakefield house wits was only a mere cabin others that flint it was a real colonial mansion and still others claiming that washington was not horn born at wakefield at nil all students of history however under tile the auspices of tile the association began vIls which led them to whitt what they consider the truth of the matter no stone was left unturned and tills this familiar saying is literally true in this case in in tile the quest ant and no document however remote in its bearing was left unexamined when all the evidence had been collected sifted and used in ili a final decision the actual plan was formulated then lit an architect wits was entrusted with will the task of reproducing the house and the plans which lie he drew up have been approved proved lip by the national fine arts arti commission the next task was to acquire the land upon which the restored home was to stand stan all and tills this Wasl was made lade possible ly by john D 1 Roc rockefeller rockiefel kefel ler jr who purchased ayes ages of tle I 1 wakefield estate and organized n corporation to hold the tract in trust for the wake held field organization the actual site of tile house where a monument liew was Is erected with funds provided by a congressional appropriation lias has been un der the alie jurisdiction of the war tit department part ment but eary curly last your yeal tile the vair department turned it over to tile the na dional park service of the interior department part ment which tins has officially designated desler it ns as the george washington birthplace national monument the national park service Is operating cooperating co with the association and tile the united states Cominis commission slon for the observance of tile the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of george washington in ili tho the plans for rebuilding the washington family first settled on a part of the present I 1 wakefield d estate in march agori 1665 a full cantu century y before the revolution lie 6 01 ol 1 john washington the great grandfather of george washington lind had come to westmorland va in 1630 lie he died and was burled there in ili maj lawrence washington and mal maj join washington his sons succeeded lili in tho the ownership of after their marriages the family alved on oil separate parts of the wake estate until the house in which george washington waa born was burned in ID after that tile the s continued in other houses bouses hi the atud ih and descendants still live in part of the same wakefield neld estate t ji I 1 I 1 a continuous possession in fit whole or fit part for aw years eara eight genera 1 lions it atas alis at Wake Held the that george washington iva casborn was born on oil fet auary 22 2 2 accord according ing to tile in modern oct calendar between three and four years liter later the family moved to their estate or of 2500 acres which embraced tile the present mount vernon there Nas washington hington passed about four more years of his boyhood then lie ho moved again with etli his parents tills this time to mm king georgo county va to an estate with will a 1 mansion house which had previously belonged to william strother located approximately two miles distant eastward froin fredericksburg tills this property his father fat lier augustine augustin washington purchased on november 2 1738 till and there augustine washing ton died in 1743 G e 0 rg e washington lived there steadily until tits ills fathers death afterward alternating tits stays stas there with tits ills sojourns sojourne sojo urns with its his blot brother lier augustine washington jr at wakefield and with tits his mother on her estate lit at little falls on the stapp I 1 hannock when lie he was sixteen lie he returned to blount vernon after passing some time in several places essential to tits his social interests lit in the counties of fairfax stafford king george arid and fred ericksburg cricks burg including a visit of three lu in the west hid indies les and to tits ills professional duties its as official elal surveyor for the alie county of culpeper Cul poper and tit nt large for lord fairfax ant and other in ili the upper northern noi thern neek neck of virginia is as the historian expresses it lie went vent back to mount blount vernon again having inherited it ili 1752 and other oilier members bember I 1 of the family lived on oil at wakefield until the iro fire on oil christmas day in 1780 probably owing to its comparative inaccessibility in the past lias has been neglected ted dining tit ing most of the years unit that it lias has been known as ing tons when the project for the bicentennial wits was formula formulated td it was at once pointed out that the event should take anko into consideration the birthplace of the nun man whom birth Is to lie be celebrated great importance lus has attached att riched to the place where lie he died mount vernon but it is hla his birth that Is to be commemorated in 1032 1932 until the began its ita work seven years ears ago this historic estate hud had been sadly neglected As a part of its plan pan for the restoration the association secured peral sion froni from the war department to make excavations on tile the site of the finouse house and these excavations cst established ib the fact that the house was of brick not as had hit ben erroneously reported of wood the exterior view of the house was decided upon only after research had find established the details A frontage about double the depth was indicated by the extant foundations these walls extend down only a few feet belew the surface ei and the thel fact that tho the surface at the present time averages ave ruges at least a foot above aboe the level it hall hail when oung boung georgo washington ran neross it owing to grading done for the monument clearly defines the tha basement story indicated by the small linof the room in which george ghorim washington was born was tit nt tile the left bad back corner of the house that ts Is to say sd the right light front room from the other ode felde for the house was double faced in fix tile the custom of the period with one front toward tile lie highway and tile the other toward the water two front doors connected by t a liall hall running neross across the house the iho kitchen outside will be rebuilt on tile the site of the foundation of the great chimney whose foundation Is still there outside the roain main foundation walls indicating that it was large enough to roast least oil an ox in the caretaker will lle live there A round lound table saved saied from wakefield vake at the time of the ire fire and which tradition lit in the washington family says was brou glit from england in 1000 his has been presented by mrs 11 14 rust kust president pi evident of the wakefield for placing in tile house when it Is restored the broken washington platter tn in the salt glaze in vogue in 1735 has been restored by potters and duplicates ri will be soon aval available lable other pieces of furniture and other belongings from the original house are doubtless extant in various parts of tile tha count y and the association hopes by or by gift to acquire them for fol tile the memorial these will be entered 1 in the golden cook book of wakefield it us a record of the donor among the ures that will bo be p placed laced on tile he walls are it a replica of gilbert stuarts portrait of washington as president anil and rembrandt peales lafayette painted in parts paris which have already been presented by mrs airs 1 I K R or graves aves ail and mrs airs 11 II 11 woodruff another project apart bioni the alie rebuilding and re furnishing of the house which the wakefield association has undertaken Is the rebuilding ding of the ancient In clent to log house it will stand on tile the site of a to log house that used to be on the estate s furthermore the association has purchased by formal deed dd of convey conveyance rince executed by the resent present washington heirs title to tins he family burial ground in the ancient arched vault ton ten members of tile the washington family including the father of george are arc burled buried the wakefield Waked eld memorial association has allied the united states government to dredge and improve the liar bor to adroit admit visitation by boat from tile poto in a c river to build an adequate wharf and to landscape the grounds after the present granite shaft has been removed from the site of the birthplace it is expected that thai such operation cooperation co will be giver so that everything will be ready fo for r the corn commemoration me of the two hundredth anniversary niver sary of birth in 1 az 2 ta Q by western unload |