Archaeologists have found two 250-year-old glass bottles stuffed with cherries at Mount Vernon—the historic landmark and first US president George Washington’s former plantation residence in Alexandria, Virginia (simply south of Washington, DC).
The bottles had been discovered underneath a brick ground from the 1770s throughout an ongoing, $40m renovation of the mansion. Manufactured in Europe and made from dark-green glass in shapes common within the 1740s and 50s, they had been standing upright and sealed—maybe forgotten in a below-ground cupboard space when the ground was constructed over them. The bottles had been opened at Mount Vernon’s archaeology lab as a way to “assist stabilise the glass”, based on a press launch, and the cherries, suspended in liquid inside and full with stems and pits, “nonetheless bore the attribute scent of cherry blossoms”.
In a press release, Mount Vernon’s principal archaeologist, Jason Boroughs, known as this a “important archaeological discover. Not solely did we get better intact, sealed bottles, however they contained natural materials that may present us with beneficial perception and perspective into 18th-century lives at Mount Vernon. These bottles have the potential to complement the historic narrative, and we’re excited to have the contents analysed so we are able to share this discovery with fellow researchers and the visiting public.”
Initially, archaeologists thought the bottles would possibly comprise Cherry Bounce, a colonial-era drink made with brandy, cherries, sugar and spices that the Washingtons loved, based on The Washington Publish’s Michael E. Ruane. However researchers later determined these had been possible simply cherries saved in bottles for later use—the liquid may have been floor water that seeped in after the corks broke down.
“There are 18th-century accounts that speak about correct methods of preserving vegetables and fruit,” Boroughs instructed the Publish. “One of the vital widespread, particularly for berries, is to dry them as a lot as attainable … put them in a dry bottle, cork it … after which bury them.” He added that the cherries had been possible harvested, bottled and saved (for consumption in the primary home) by not less than one of many lots of of enslaved individuals who toiled on the plantation.
The bottles shall be conserved beginning subsequent month, and their contents shipped to a lab for evaluation. They are going to go on show at Mount Vernon thereafter, as excavation continues—with a possible for extra such bottles of fruit to be discovered. The renovation challenge is scheduled for completion in 2026, the 250th anniversary of the creation of the USA.
