The Archaeological Hunt for the Northern Ha-Ha Wall

The 1896 ha-ha wall ends at the 19th-century icehouse.

From May - July 2007 archaeologists worked in the vicinity of the Blacksmiths’ Shop. The purpose of this phase of the excavations was to determine the original location of the brick ha-ha wall that can be seen bounding the North Grove today. A ha-ha wall was used to naturalistically separate space on an 18th-century landscape by building a masonry wall into the side of a hill. This kept livestock away from more formal grounds without interrupting the Washington's view from the Mansion. If you are standing upslope looking down the hill, the wall is not visible. Click here for a cartoon depicting the idea of a ha-ha wall.

Mount Vernon’s northern brick ha-ha wall was constructed in 1896 and veers more southerly than its 18th-century predecessor, as it links into the northeast corner of John Augustine Washington’s mid 19th-century icehouse. Before the existing ha-ha wall and the icehouse were built, the wall ran to the north, connecting to the northeast corner of the post-in-ground Blacksmiths’ Shop.

The path of the original ha-ha wall.

One of our first tasks was to find an intact section of wall identified in previous excavations. Using maps made by Morley Williams and Walter Macomber in the 1930s and 1960s, we dug three small units in order to identify where the original wall would have been.  We excavated sections of what we believe to be a trench created by the dismantling of the ha-ha wall, probably sometime in the 19th century. We have not uncovered anymore intact foundation.  

The Future

The 19th-century Icehouse will be taken down when the Blacksmiths' Shop is reconstructed.

In 2008 masons will take down the late 19th-century wall and rebuild it in the earlier location as determined by archaeology. Before the Blacksmiths’ Shop can be constructed, the icehouse will have to be dismantled as it sits on the same spot where the Shop used to be. Then, the building will be reconstructed in the exact location were it was found in the 1980s. Throughout the project, care will be taken to avoid disturbing any archaeological deposits or features that have not yet been excavated.