Virginia

Ferry Farm

I spent June in Fredericksburg VA doing archeology and interpretation at George Washington’s Boyhood Home. Though my research is focused on the late 19^th/early 20^th U.S., taking part in the Ferry Farm field school allowed me to explore different museums, and develop a better understanding of historical archeology, and why not?

The Ferry Farm dig started about a decade ago. Their original goal was to find the foundations of Washington’s boyhood home. They found the foundations in the early 2000’s and today they focus on small finds, like the wig curler I am holding in the photo. Along with a few wig curler we found some broken ceramic sherds, various building materials from the 18^th-20^th centuries, 20th century toys, a rodent burial, and other fun items.

Ferry Farm is a unique Washington site because it focuses on the land opposed to buildings, or furnishings. Visitors learn the story of the landscape-who lived there, what it was used for, its significance in early Fredericksburg, and the interaction with the Washington family.  

Ferry Farm has an unique advantage-there are no 18th century buildings on the entire site! FF's missing buildings enable it to incorporate creative and educational additions to the landscape. There are a lot of exciting things on the horizon for Ferry Farm.

Kenmore

Kenmore is Ferry Farm’s sister site (literally). Originally Washington’s sister’s house, Kenmore showcases a traditional house museum in a new and rather innovative way.

When I visited Kenmore with the other students from Ferry Farm we tested their newest tour.  Each room in the house showcased various chairs, cloth swatches, and any number of cabinets and tables.  With the docent’s help guests pick the furniture they believe belonged best in the room. The tour engaged the guests to think critically about material culture and allow them to play curator in a house museum.

  House museums are like a department store's furniture section,( but most of us don’t get to buy the furniture we see in museums). For the most part when guests go to a house museum and admire the furniture they are simply admiring the furniture and judging it based on their own 21st century tastes. Kenmore understands their guests desire to pick furniture for themselves, and challenges them by asking their guests to pick out and understand 18th century furniture.

Instead of glorifying recognized historical objects, (or object that look like items from the past) the museum encourages guests to think about the furniture in terms of its cultural definitions throughout time. The tour allows the house museum to transcend the stale stereotype house museum are known for and become an interactive learning site.

Lastly- Something I thought was neat-Fun Fact

The recently restored walls in Kenmore were painted using period paint brushes in the 18^th century style. If you have ever painted a room (in the past 100 years or so) you would know we use a “W” pattern when painting the walls in order to blend the strokes. In the 18^th century painters painted in vertical strokes leaving behind lines in the paint. For the 21^st (and 20^th)century lines mean carelessness or a general disregard for the “W,” but 18^th century home owners recognized the difficulty of painting in vertical strokes, and paid a lot of have people do it.