George Washington's Mount Vernon
Archaeologists discovered two intact bottles of cherries during an archaeological dig at George Washington's Mount Vernon that seem to date to the mid-1700s.
The dark green glass bottles were found upright and sealed — and seemed to contain cherries, including stems and pits, were preserved in a liquid, according to George Washington's Mount Vernon. The bottle shapes are characteristic of styles from the 1740s to 1750s and were found in a pit, where they may have been forgotten and eventually buried beneath a brick floor laid in the 1770s.
The discovery was made during work on a privately funded $40 million Mansion Revitalization Project.
"This incredible discovery at Mount Vernon is a significant archaeological find. Not only did we recover intact, sealed bottles, but they contained organic material that can provide us with valuable insight and perspective into 18th-century lives at Mount Vernon. These bottles have the potential to enrich the historic narrative, and we're excited to have the contents analyzed so we can share this discovery with fellow researchers and the visiting public," according to Mount Vernon Principal Archaeologist Jason Boroughs.
In May, the bottles will be sent for conservation and their contents will be shipped to a laboratory for scientific analysis and testing by specialists in a controlled environment.
