George Washington's 250-Year Old Cherries Found At Mount Vernon

Just like George Washington, these archaeologists cannot tell a lie. 

The scientists preparing Washington’s Mount Vernon estate in Virginia for a revitalization project have made a “thrilling” discovery - two 250-year old bottles with cherries - stems and pits included - inside.  

“We've really run out of words to describe how extraordinary this discovery is,” Jason Boroughs, Mount Vernon Principal Archaeologist, told Southern Living.

Boroughs said his team was excavating in the mansion’s cellar when they found the bottles in a space known as a “storage pit” created for preservation purposes. The dark green glass bottles, European-manufactured and characteristic of styles from the 1740s-1750s, were likely forgotten and buried beneath a brick floor in the 1770s.  

At first, all the archaeologists could see was the top of the mouths of the bottles, but they could tell they were holding liquid, a sign that the bottles were complete and not cracked.  

Using special tools and a lot of patience, the anxious team took a little less than a day to remove the bottles, a “testament to their skill and dedication.” 

“We were mostly worried about getting the bottles out of the pit in one piece,” Boroughs said. “They could have shattered, or if they'd had even a micro crack, they could have just broken in half with the content spilled out everywhere.”

Once they safely removed the bottles, they extracted the contents and found cherries picked in the 18th century and bottled to eat at a later time. 

"Not just cherries,” Boroughs said, “Entirely recognizable cherries.”  

“Even the scent of cherries and cherry blossoms was still there.” 

As for their edibleness? Boroughs has his doubts.

“They might be edible, but the fact that they've been in the bottle for 250 years and probably marinating in groundwater for a good portion of that time, it's probably not the best idea.” 

The discovery of intact fruit from the 18th century was the first in 40 years and only the third of its kind - the first happened in 1966 in Williamsburg and the second at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in 1981.   

Boroughs said he’s been “humbled” by the entire experience that he says “connects us with those people from the past.”  

“These objects are attached to real people that had real lives,” Boroughs said, 

“We’re the first person or collective group to lay eyes on these things and place hands on them since the last person that touched them,” he said, and in this case, “It was probably an enslaved person.”

Since this initial discovery of the two bottles containing cherries, Boroughs says they’ve found a third bottle in an adjacent storage pit that also contains liquid. Its contents are still unknown as the bottle hasn’t yet been excavated and removed from the cellar; only the top is exposed.  

The Mount Vernon Revitalization Project is a three-year endeavor that is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2026. Improvements to Washington’s estate include updating the framing and masonry, a new HVAC system and improving drainage in and around the mansion.