Ferry Farm

About Ferry Farm

Ferry Farm, also known as George Washington Boyhood Home Site or Ferry Farm Site, is the name of the farm and home at which George Washington spent much of his childhood. In July 2008, archeologists announced that they had found remains of the boyhood home, which had burnt in a fire, including artifacts such as pieces of a tea set probably belonging to George's mother, Mary Ball Washington.

The site is located in Stafford County, Virginia along the northern bank of the Rappahannock River, across from the city of Fredericksburg. The farm was named after the Washington family had left the property. Its namesake was a free ferry that crossed the Rappahannock River on Washington land -- the family did not own or operate it. It is unclear what the farm was called during the Washington occupancy. Sometime in the late 19th century the farm became known as Pine Grove, as well as The Ferry Farm. The farm rose to national prominence during the Washington Birth Bicentennial of 1932--during the years surrounding this celebration some authors cited both the names Ferry Farm and Pine Grove.

Ferry Farm is the setting for some of the best known stories about George Washington, most particularly those brought to the American public by Mason Locke Weems, best known as Parson Weems, in the early 19th century. These include the anecdote, appearing first in the 1806 edition of Weems's Life of Washington, in which a 6-year-old George barked one of his father Augustine's favorite English cherry trees with a new hatchet. Upon being confronted by his father, the boy exclaimed "I can't tell a lie, Pa; you know I can't tell a lie, I did cut it with my hatchet."