FERRY FARM

FERRY FARM

(The third in a series of George Washington’s childhood homes)

In 1738, when George Washington was six years old, Augustus Washington moved his growing second family of five children about forty miles southwest of Mount Vernon to a 260 acre tract of land that would later be known as Ferry Farm. This property, on the north bank of the Rappahannock River, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, was situated directly across the river from Fredericksburg, which gave George his first experience of living near a city.

Young Washington received his six to eight years of formal education in Fredericksburg, and with a home tutor. He received additional education from his father and his half-brother, Lawrence. Throughout his life he would be sensitive about his lack of the more formal education his father and half brother’s received in England. Along with his many farm duties at Ferry Farm, George studied arithmetic, geometry, trigonometry, geography, climatology, astronomy, history, and surveying. He wrote extensively, and he copied The Rules of Civility, a guide to gentlemanly behavior in polite society, which played a meaningful role in developing his character.

In 1743, when George was eleven years old, his father “Gus” Washington died. Mary, a stern and demanding woman required much of George even into his adulthood. As the eldest son, he would inherit Ferry Farm when he turned twenty-one, though his mother would manage the farm until that time. Lawrence inherited the Hunting Creek property, which he renamed Mount Vernon, and married Anne Fairfax that same year. George maintained a close relationship with Lawrence and visited Mount Vernon often. By 1746 George was already six feet tall and eager to embark on a career. Lawrence offered to assist him in getting an appointment as a midshipman with the Royal Navy, but due to his mother objections, the plan fell through.

Ferry Farm Surveying House

George Washington developed an interest and skill in surveying by the time he was fifteen. In 1748, armed with his father’s surveying tools, sixteen year old Washington joined Lord Fairfax’s surveying expedition to northwest Virginia. By 1749 George was spending more time surveying and at Mount Vernon and less time at Ferry Farm. Mary Ball Washington and George’s younger siblings continued to farm and live at Ferry Farm.

In 1772 Mary moved to Fredericksburg to live closer her only living daughter, Betty. In 1774 Ferry Farm was sold to Dr. Hugh Mercer, whose plans to live there changed with the advent of the Revolutionary War which later took his life. After his death, Ferry Farm changed hands several times. The property was even used as a staging ground and winter camp for the Union Army during the Civil War. In the early twentieth century, plans were made to purchase a portion of the original property to preserve it as a memorial to our first President. Eventually it was designated a National Historical Landmark.

Ferry Farm is open to the public for a fee.  While the original home is no longer there, the site can be seen where the original Washington home was situated.   

Below is my rendition of a map with the locations of the three boyhood homes of George Washington.