Sign - George Washington's Birthplace

On this ground before you stood the plantation home of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball Washington. Here, on February 23, 1782, George Washington - farmer, general of the Continental Army, and first president of the United States - was born.

George Washington lived here only three years, but returned often during his youth and came to know Popes Creek Plantation well. The house remained in the Washington family until 1779, when it burned in a Christmas Day fire. Its exact location remained hidden under deepening soil and thickening underbrush for the next 150 years.

The white oyster shell fragments on the ground in front of you mark the foundations of the birth house.