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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.
Jenny and Brian Strobel soak up history at The George Washington House with Fredericksburg newlyweds Tom France and Suzanne Eicher France. |
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.
Right here in Fredericksburg, on the Stafford County side of the Rappahannock River, there's Ferry Farm, where George lived as a boy. Just north is Mount Vernon, the plantation where he lived as an adult. I'd visited them too. Many times.
Turns out, one of our new cruise friends from the Fredericksburg contingency, Tom France, a painter, helped with the renovation of one of the Mount Vernon rooms.
So we had another taker to share cab fare. He and his wife, Suzanne Eicher France, took a few hours from their honeymoon to join us on our side trip to Bush Hill (now also known as The George Washington House).
No one was disappointed by our scenic, thought-provoking visit back in time.
We half expected George himself to make an appearance at the bright yellow plantation house with the harbor view. We could imagine him, the kid brother accompanying Lawrence Washington. Lawrence, his half-brother, had tuberculosis; family hoped the change in locale would help.
It took the pair about six weeks to get to Barbados from Mount Vernon--and they weren't enjoying the view from the balcony of a cruise ship with ready access to anti-nausea remedies.
Oct. 23, 1751, George wrote of their journey aboard the ship, "Success": "This morning arose with agreeably (sic) assurances of a certain and steady trade Wind which after near five weeks buffeting and being toss'd by a fickle and Merciless ocean was glad'ening news."
They finally arrived, and learned that the family in the house where they intended to stay had smallpox. They were obliged to rent rooms in another home, Bush Hill. George complained that the rent was "extravagant," but they had little choice.
Despite the precaution, George contracted smallpox.
Those weeks must have been agony, but he pulled through with an immunity that would protect him when the disease ravaged the Revolutionary troops he commanded years later.
The rest of his Barbados visit was marked by the hospitality of the islanders, dinner invitations, theatre events, fireworks displays and horseback rides.
The trip was his first and only outside his native country, and a turning point in the life of the future "Father of our Country."
Historian Jack Warren referred to the Barbados visit as a dividing line between Washington's "intensely provincial and ordinary youth and a young adulthood marked by extraordinary energy and ambition."
Vicariously, we could witness his transformation at the house he visited so long ago. The tour was first-rate in every detail, from the introductory movie to Winston, our gracious guide.
We soon understood that the brothers' visit was but one piece of the sweep of world trade in the cultural "melting pot" of Barbados.
A museum on site tells that story, including a moving account of slaves' lives and comparison of slaves' lives in the islands and the states.
Another topic included medical care, which ultimately failed George's brother, who died some months later after their return to Virginia.
One museum room, aptly named "Connections," encourages visitors to pull together bits of information they may have heard into a larger picture. I was struck by the bonds between this island nation and my home state, and the three centuries to now didn't seem so long.
George spent a couple of months in Barbados, then returned home. Of course the rest is history, but 21st-century visitors to his Barbados residence can say they knew him when.
