Bottles of 18th Century Berries Found at Washington’s Home

(Dreamstime)

Archaeologists with the $40 million Mansion Revitalization Project have unearthed 35 18th-century bottles containing cherries and berries hidden under the dirt of five storage pits in the cellar of President George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate.

“Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine this spectacular archaeological discovery,” Mount Vernon President and CEO Doug Bradburn said in a press release. “To our knowledge, this is an unprecedented find and nothing of this scale and significance has ever been excavated in North America.

“We now possess a bounty of artifacts and matter to analyze that may provide a powerful glimpse into the origins of our nation, and we are crossing our fingers that the cherry pits discovered will be viable for future germination. It’s so appropriate that these bottles have been unearthed shortly before the 250th anniversary of the United States.”

According to Bradburn, the bottles have been concealed in darkness since before the American Revolution and may have been forgotten when Washington left his home to command the Continental Army.

Researchers are analyzing the contents of the 35 bottles, of which 29 remain intact. Scientists discovered 54 cherry pits and 23 stems. Bradburn hopes the seeds will be viable for germination — that a new window into the past may now be opened.

Footage of the bottles’ discovery has been made available by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.