George Washington Birthplace Site - Pope's Creek

George Washington's birthplace site is located on Pope's Creek Road at the George Washington Birthplace National Monument in Colonial Beach, Virginia.  He was born to Augustine Washington and his wife, Mary Ball Washington, in a farmhouse which once stood on this site, on February 22, 1732.  When young George was three Augustine moved the family upstream 60 miles to an area called Little Hunting Creek, which would eventually evolve into Mount Vernon.  After Augustine died in 1743 he willed the farm to his son, Austin.  Growing up, George would spend much time here at his birthplace, helping his brother manage the farm.  George's nephew, William, was the owner of the farmhouse,  now known as Wakefield, in 1779 when fire burned it to the ground on Christmas Day.  The house was never rebuilt and in the ensuing years the farm began a steady decline and by 1815 was in ruins.  That same year Washington's adopted grandson, George Washington Park Custis, placed a small stone marker on the ruins of what he believed to be the original farmhouse location, with plans to memorialize it.  However, it wouldn't be until 1896 before the site was memorialized with a granite obelisk placed by the Army Corps of Engineers at what they assumed to be the birth site location.  In 1930 the birthplace became a national monument and a Colonial Revival style house, known as the Memorial House,  was built on the birthsite.  The obelisk was moved to its present day location at the entrance to the park.  During archeological digs in 1936 the original foundation of the birthplace farm was uncovered, and the Memorial House was found to have been built on the wrong spot.  Today the outline of the birthplace home is marked on the ground with oyster shells, nearby to the Memorial House.  Today the birthplace site, along with the Memorial House and other structures within the grounds of the old tobacco plantation are managed by the National Park Service.  The Birthplace Monument was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966 and the Virginia Landmarks Register in 1983.

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