Centuries-old bottles of cherries unearthed at George Washington’s home

The two, rare intact bottles, about 250 years old, were discovered by archaeologists working in the Mount Vernon basement.

By Michael E. Ruane
April 22, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. EDT

Archaeologist Tess Ostoyich carefully exposes two intact mid-18th century bottles in the Mansion cellar at George Washington’s Mount Vernon. (The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association.)

Archaeologist Nick Beard was gently pushing aside the hardened dirt in the basement of George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon, Va., last fall when he spotted the mouth of a glass bottle.

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Boroughs noted two other finds in Virginia of historic intact bottles containing cherries, and other fruits: one in 1966 in Williamsburg, and the other in 1981 at Thomas Jefferson’s estate, Monticello, outside Charlottesville.

“We don’t find complete objects or artifacts often ever in archaeology,” said Lily Carhart, Mount Vernon’s curator of preservation collections. “Usually we’re dealing with very tiny fragments. Where we find even the beginning of something that looks like it might be complete, that is a truly exceptional day for us.”

The cherries were probably picked at Mount Vernon in the 1770s, perhaps before the Revolutionary War, and stored for the future. The bottles, imported from England, dated to the mid-1700s and were likely buried between 1758 and 1776, Boroughs said.

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