George Washington stayed in this Barbados home in 1751, as his half-brother battled tuberculosis. It was a formative time for Washington, and helped him build an immunity to smallpox that would help him in war. View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

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history visit barbados, by george Washington slept in the tropics, too

George Washington slept in Barbados, too

Date published: 8/4/2007

By JENNIFER STROBEL

One night on the Atlantic.

That's all it took to bring on the seasickness--in one of the world's largest cruise ships, the Carnival Destiny, at that. Twelve stories balanced by stabilizers, I had been told, prevented that sort of thing.

Walls moved, floors moved, and my stomach moved--everything moved, all in different directions.

"Get a grip," I told myself, "This is a big boat. What about all our forebears, the ones who endured weeks in really little ships on the Atlantic? They knew about rough seas and lots more besides."

Surely I could endure these "moderate waves." That's what ship's television called them.

Of course I made it through the night. By morning, dosed with free Meclizine from the ship infirmary, my feet hit terra firma in Barbados to retrace the steps taken by one of those hardy forebears, a 19-year-old Virginian named George Washington.

Yes, George Washington slept in Barbados, too, in a rented house known as Bush Hill.

That was in 1751. In January of this year, the house opened to the public as a national historic site after a $3.5 million renovation project involving extensive historic and archaeological research with organi-zations including the Barbados National Trust, Bush Hill Tourism Trust, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation of Virginia and University of Florida's "Preservation Institute: Caribbean."

Its opening is so recent that it hasn't made it into the cruise ship excursions catalog, but when I read about it in the newspaper in February, I promised myself a visit during an upcoming cruise with my husband, Brian.

He's an announcer with WFLS Radio. We were booked to cruise with 22 listeners. Once in Barbados, most had their own agendas--snorkeling, shopping, diving, tanning.

After my unsettled night, the temptation was great to drowse away the morning, but how would I forgive myself for being so close and not seeing the place I'd read about? (I couldn't.) When would I be back in Barbados? (Not soon.)

Besides. Living in Fredericksburg--where historic renovation is up there with cleanliness and godliness--I have been unavoidably steeped in all things George: Just to the east, there's the George Washington Birthplace National Monument where I volunteered many times to dress like a Colonial lady to play Colonial music on the spinet.

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Date published: 8/4/2007