1. George Washington
On February 22, 1732, George Washington was born at Popes Creek Plantation (present-day Westmoreland County) in Tidewater Virginia. He spent his childhood and youth at Popes Creek and the nearby family plantations of Mount Vernon and Ferry Farm. Washington was the first child of his father’s second wife Mary Ball Washington, and he had two older half-brothers, three brothers, and a sister survive to maturity. Washington’s daily life would have included training in the labor, routines, and management of tobacco farming and other facets of colonial agrarian life. He learned to hunt, fish, and ride, and was an uncommonly tall and strong boy. Washington attended a small school in nearby Fredericksburg and later received his surveyor’s license from the College of William and Mary.
--Andrew B. Leiter
The Washington site has a reconstructed home and a sprawling, working farm utilizing farming methods from the 1700s. Since the home and buildings are all reconstructions, I focused on the environment--specifically on scenes that appear today as they would have to young George exploring the wilds of tidal Virginia. I was especially taken by the osprey in flight -- the first of many birds in flight to come with this project. The obvious symbolism resonates with this series and adds a welcome bit of visual goodness to otherwise static images of houses and grounds. While the home pictured is a reconstruction, I did respond to the feeling of looking out the window to a view that would be very much like the one seen by Washington from this bedroom window. What thoughts and feelings swirled around his young mind as he watched the ships come and go, blissfully unaware of the responsibilities to come? The wine bottle on the table was one of only two items that have survived from the fire that consumed the original home.
-Matthew Albritton