Archaeologists working at George Washington's Mount Vernon estate as part of work to renovate and preserve the main mansion have found a trove of perfectly-preserved cherries and berries, retrieved in glass jars from storage pits in the cellar.
The 29 intact bottles out of a find of 35, have been opened, the contents carefully extracted and are being kept refrigerated ahead of scientific analysis which may reveal new information about plant varieties growing at the time and the kitchen techniques of Washington's enslaved kitchen workers.
Doug Bradburn, CEO of Mount Vernon, said "We were ecstatic last month to uncover two fully intact 18th-century bottles containing biological matter. Now we know those bottles were just the beginning of this blockbuster discovery. To our knowledge, this is an unprecedented find and nothing of this scale and significance has ever been excavated in North America.
"We now possess a bounty of artifacts and matter to analyze that may provide a powerful glimpse into the origins of our nation, and we are crossing our fingers that the cherry pits discovered will be viable for future germination. It's so appropriate that these bottles have been unearthed shortly before the 250th anniversary of the United States,"
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