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Home » Travel » Ferry Farm – Visiting George Washington’s Boyhood Home

Ferry Farm – Visiting George Washington’s Boyhood Home

By: Liz  /  Published: September 3, 2019  /  Updated: December 24, 2020  /   Leave a comment

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I cannot tell a lie. One of the highlights of my hosted trip to Fredericksburg, VA was a visit to Ferry Farm – George Washington’s boyhood home from age six to age twenty-two.

We’ve all heard the tale of George chopping down a cherry tree and if it were true, it would have happened at Ferry Farm. It’s also where he threw a stone across the Rappahannock River and copied down the Rules of Civility. A lot happened at Ferry Farm!

The framework of the family home was discovered in 2008 after an exhaustive archaeological search spanning decades. Now the Washington farmhouse has been reproduced as a living history museum for all ages to explore. 

FERRY FARM – GEORGE WASHINGTON’S BOYHOOD HOME

A sign in a field

When you arrive at Ferry Farm, enter the visitor center where you’ll purchase tickets and receive an iPad with a guide to the property. The GPS-driven app provides historical tidbits, maps and details based on where you choose to wander on the grounds, but there are 11 official stops.

Be sure to peek in the archaeology lab to see what they’re working on. The exhibit panels explain the current project. 

Once outdoors, you can follow the app trail stops, explore the demonstration gardens, stroll the old ferry road, enjoy one of the many hiking trails or do some bird watching. 

A group of bushes in a garden

archaeological dig site at Ferry Farm

When you’re ready to see the Washington house, a tour guide will escort you, but you’re free to touch, pick up or sit on anything in the house. It’s fully interactive so have fun (and bring the kids!)

A family standing in front of a fence

Photo: Fredericksburg Regional Tourism

As was the custom at the time, the home’s front entrance faced the river. Since it was built on an escarpment, it was visually stunning and most impressive to anyone who viewed it from the other side of the river.

Tip: Go to City Dock to snap a photo of the house!

The home was built in the 1720s but the Washingtons moved in in 1743, adding a wing and repairing the roof. It was probably the most expensive house in the county.

A tree in the middle of a lush green field

The view from the porch towards Fredericksburg.

INSIDE THE FERRY FARM HOUSE

The first room I visited was the master bedchamber where they would have entertained guests. It was considered private space but the Washingtons didn’t use it that way.

There was a tea table with a tea set and a very showy bed covered in stylish, expensive textiles imported from Europe. 

Hop on the bed and close the curtains around you! It’s encouraged!

A bedroom with a bed and a chair in a room

The bed had a sacking bottom with lacing that needed to be tightened with a bed key each night. The sacking was covered with a straw-filled tick, a feather tick, a couple of sheets and then linen was wrapped around the whole thing.

On top were a coverlet, feather pillows, and a big bolster pillow since they often slept sitting up in that time period.

mattress

bed tightener

Bed keys would twist and tighten the ropes giving rise to the saying “Sleep tight.”

Take a look at the wooden door lock in the master bedchamber and notice how it differs from other locks in the home.

A wooden door

Moving into the public space, you’ll see more formality in the architecture and furnishings. The oak was specially cut to appear more exotic looking and wood trim ran the length of the entire room. 

The dining room was the largest room of the house and served as a gathering place for meals and a place to bed down guests. Because of Ferry Farm’s location on the river and near King’s Highway, travelers passed by constantly, so they always had guests.

A room filled with furniture and a wood floor

Sit on the chairs, open the drawers for fun historical tidbits, and pick up anything you want!

wooden chairs

Chairs are stuffed with horse hair and are embellished with brass tacks.

A person standing in a room

Cannonsburg Pottery – Dot Diaper Basket pattern

Three-fourths of a million artifacts have been found on the property and all of the glassware and serving dishes are based on fragments found in the midden (garbage pit).

More on the midden later…

Also, George’s father had written out nearly all the contents of the home so it was a huge help in the re-creation process.

A pair of glasses sitting on top of a wooden table

These knife bone handles were found in the dig.

The parlor had a corner cupboard built into the house and on display, you’ll see a number of ceramics with glue holding broken pieces together. Can you believe the original artifacts with glue survived all those years? 

Also of interest in the parlor was a hinged gaming table with hooved legs.

The giant fireplace makes a great selfie spot!

a wooden game table

The railing leading to the upper floor was made out of a single piece of wood. It’s exquisite!

A wooden staircase
Upstairs were sleeping chambers, not kids’ bedrooms like you might expect. Kids usually didn’t have bedrooms or even beds; they slept where there was space and when guests were there, that was usually the floor. 

There were three beds and two or three people slept in each one. Social hierarchy would determine whether you got a bed or the floor.

Although it seems uncomfortable, both of the rooms had fireplaces giving off heat so it was probably a pretty pleasant place to sleep.

Remember the wooden door lock in the master chamber? Here you’ll find ropes and wooden latches instead. 

a wood door

A wooden door

At bedtime, place the latch and pull the string inside the door.

A sugar box would hold big loaves of sugar. It was an expensive commodity bought in big loaves and kept under lock and key. They’d chip off what they needed and lock it back up.

A wooden box

You may notice there wasn’t a lot of storage in the house. They really didn’t have a lot of possessions – just clothes, but they did have a blanket chest to store bedding and candles.

It was painted with a coat of red primer and a top coat of blue to give it the highly valued look of indigo.

a blue wooden chest

FERRY FARM FOUNDATION

For the reconstruction, they made the foundation border the same way it was done in the 18th century. Large boulders were broken apart for the blocks and oyster shells were burned for days to make lime for the mortar. 

Exterior of Ferry Farm

Cellar at Ferry Farm

The house is built directly over the archaeological remains of the original house. You can look down into it from above through a protective glass barrier. 

The floor and the stone on the bottom are original. The area where the mortar turns white is where the rebuild began.

There’s a huge box of unexcavated dirt remaining in the cellar for future generations to learn from. Perhaps advanced techniques will yield something current approaches can’t.

A view into cellar

FERRY FARM MIDDEN

In the 18th century, they opened windows or doors to throw their garbage out so a wealth of artifacts was found in the midden. 

Plans are underway to fill the midden with “trash” again for a better visual understanding of what it would have looked like. Most of the gentry had given up eating wild animals by then, but the remains of raccoons, squirrel, fish and possums were found in the midden. 

Since the family went through a huge financial struggle, hunger probably led to all the varmint eating. That, and the fact they had four boys who were trapping, shooting and fishing all the time.

Ferry Farm midden

If you’re wondering about their water source, you’ll be able to get a look at the spring from the ravine – one of the 11 stops on the iPad tour.

Ferry Farm - George Washington boyhood home

Photo: Fredericksburg Regional Tourism

As new discoveries are made with the archaeological dig, more details will be added to the home, so it’s likely you’ll find something new with every visit you make to Ferry Farm. 

This hidden gem is often overshadowed by nearby historic Kenmore, but it’s every bit as fascinating, possibly more so. Don’t miss it!

Ferry Farm – George Washington Boyhood Home
Website
268 Kings Hwy Fredericksburg, VA
Ferry Farm Admission Prices: $9 adults, $4.50 students, under age 6, free
Allow 1 1/2 -2 hours for both the house tour and self-guided property exploration
Tours: Hourly Monday – Thursday and every thirty minutes Friday – Sunday.

Connect with Fredericksburg Regional Tourism for area visitor information and keep an eye out for more from me on Fredericksburg!

Related topics
Maryland TravelFerry Farm Fredericksburg George Washington historic travel Mid-Atlantic Virginia

About Liz

Liz is a midwestern mom gone southern (accent in transition). She lives in North Carolina and loves cooking, baking, traveling, movies, crafts, hot and cold tea, wine, pizza and the occasional nap. She also revels in the fact she's a crazy cat lady.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Alissa A Apel says

    September 13, 2019 at 12:18 pm

    This place does look like somewhere I’d like to visit. It reminds me of a place we went this summer called Homestead.

    Reply
  2. Jennifer says

    September 13, 2019 at 8:29 am

    I have seen Abraham Lincoln’s home — seeing George Washington’s home would be awesome as well. This is so cool!

    Reply
  3. Jennifer Soltys says

    September 9, 2019 at 1:42 pm

    What a fun place to visit! I love that it’s all interactive. I’d love to go there to learn about this history.

    Reply
  4. Barbie says

    September 5, 2019 at 12:58 pm

    So cool. I appreciate seeing historic sites now. In my younger years, teachers made it so boring. I live in Va. so there is so much history here.

    Reply
  5. Dhemz says

    September 4, 2019 at 8:38 pm

    Bed keys? Wow, I never heard of that before. Thank you for sharing these awesome photos and information. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  6. Swathi says

    September 4, 2019 at 8:03 pm

    This is absolutely great! You did a great review. My son loves to learn American History and about founding father George Washington. We will make plans to visit sometime.

    Reply
  7. Latricia says

    September 4, 2019 at 12:13 pm

    Thank you so much for this informative review. I have never heard of bed keys before! This looks like such a interesting place to visit. Maybe I will be able to check it out one day.

    Reply
  8. Tabitha Blue says

    September 4, 2019 at 9:56 am

    It’s SO cool to see history this way!!! And also hear how phrases came about… like sleep tight 🙂

    Reply
  9. Cathy Mini says

    September 4, 2019 at 9:29 am

    This place is really interesting to visit! Looking forward to going there with my husband.

    Reply
  10. chubskulit rose says

    September 4, 2019 at 8:52 am

    This reminds me of our fun and educational time at George Washington Home at Washington DC. I love the garden part the most.

    Reply
  11. Ruth I says

    September 4, 2019 at 8:43 am

    This place looks fun to visit! I love that it has lots of interesting stuff.

    Reply
  12. Lynndee says

    September 4, 2019 at 8:27 am

    The house looks amazing! It’s always fun for us to visit historical places like that. I hope we get to explore that place one day.

    Reply
  13. Rosey says

    September 3, 2019 at 10:38 pm

    This is an awesome place to visit. I love that it’s interactive and you can actually touch things. Not sure the kids would like not having their own space and bed!

    Reply
  14. Brandy says

    September 3, 2019 at 9:15 pm

    This looks like such a fun experience. I am totally loving the idea of visiting here, Have to see if we can make the trip before snow flies. How cool to see anything historical like this, it’s my favorite way to spend time during a vacation or road trip!

    Reply
  15. Sue Reddel says

    September 3, 2019 at 7:17 pm

    Looks like a great place to visit for the entire family. I seriously want one of those hinged gaming tables. Can’t find furniture like that anymore.

    Reply
  16. Amber Myers says

    September 3, 2019 at 1:53 pm

    How cool! We love history, so we’d be all about exploring this area. I love going through old homes.

    Reply
  17. Tasheena says

    September 3, 2019 at 12:59 pm

    This looks like such a wonderful experience, and such a great place to visit. It’s so rich with history.

    Reply
  18. Melissa Chapman says

    September 3, 2019 at 11:34 am

    That house was so much fun to see and try and picture Washington’s family living there. I have to get there someday and take in the history.

    Reply
  19. cait says

    September 3, 2019 at 11:30 am

    oh wow this is so interesting and i never thought to visit somewhere like this- what great history!

    Reply
  20. Rebecca Miller says

    September 3, 2019 at 11:20 am

    This is super fun! I need to add Fredericksburg, VA and Ferry Farm onto my vacation wish list! It would be great to teach the kiddos some history while having fun!

    Reply
  21. Jeanette says

    September 3, 2019 at 10:07 am

    Well that looks like a fun place to explore! It’s kind of cool when you can touch everything. I would love to see where he grew up because I can imagine it is a beautiful area.

    Reply
  22. Alli Smith says

    September 3, 2019 at 9:41 am

    What an interesting place to visit! I would love to visit George Washington’s childhood home. I can’t remember ever going. I need to add it to my list of places I must visit. The grandkids would love it too.

    Reply
  23. GiGi says

    September 3, 2019 at 9:12 am

    I TOTALLY feel like I went here back in the day when I was a kid! A field trip perhaps! I lived in New England so we had close access to all the historical sights which now thinking back – is pretty cool! At the time I didn’t care cause I was little, haha!

    Reply

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I’m the founder of Eat Move Make and a North Carolina mom of two humans and six cats. I love to cook, bake, craft and travel. I’m also addicted to tea (but not sweet tea).

When I’m not creating something in my kitchen, and since my kids are now adults, I’m all about my bucket list of travel destinations and adventures.

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