For Immediate Release
August, 10 2004

Mount Vernon, VA – The final season to visit Mount Vernon’s open archeology site at George Washington’s Distillery ends this year. After five years of archeological work, reconstruction of the distillery will start in spring 2005. Visitors wishing to explore the excavation of a building that’s size and volume of production rank it among the most important structures of its kind in eighteenth-century America have only a few more months to do so.

George Washington was the only founding father to commercially operate a distillery. His is the first eighteenth-century distillery in North America to be systematically excavated by archaeologists and will be the nation’s first operating recreation of an 18th-century distillery. Visitors will see the distillery in action and will learn about a little known aspect of the entrepreneurial president.

Excavation of the distillery began in May 1999, after the property was surveyed. The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) has provided the necessary financial support for the excavation, research, reconstruction, and interpretation of the distillery.

George Washington’s Gristmill is now fully operational on the same property as the archeological site. Inside the Gristmill, visitors see the water-powered mill in operation, discover how it works, and learn how this particular mill played an important role in George Washington’s vision for America’s future as “granary to the world.” Currently Mount Vernon’s retailers plan to sell the freshly ground cornmeal in its Gristmill Gift Shop, once the mill passes the necessary inspections.

According to James Rees, Executive Director of Mount Vernon, the addition of the Gristmill and the Distillery to Mount Vernon do more than teach visitors about early American flour production and beverage making. “Washington is considered America’s ‘first farmer’ because of his pioneering approach to the business of agriculture and his vision for the nation’s self-sufficiency. Even as he built a new nation and laid the foundation of the American presidency, he was determined to create a new economy in which farming would play a critical role at Mount Vernon and throughout America.” He noted that, “The Gristmill and the Distillery help us teach visitors the entrepreneurial spirit of Washington’s agricultural businesses.”

Mount Vernon offers gristmill and distillery archeology site educational programs, special exhibitions, and hands-on activities, along with lectures, published materials and Internet site. Weather depending, the archaeologists are on-site Tuesday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. The George Washington Gristmill complex, including the distillery site, is open to the public seven days a week from April through October, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. For questions, visitors may call Mount Vernon at 703-780-2000 or visit www.mountvernon.org.