Places where the first president lived and worked. This is just under an hour. Our member of the society here at mount vernon. In september 1751, George Washington ordered a ship for his Brother Lawrence traveling to barbados. Arriving on november 2. As he traveled to barbados, he kept a detailed diary, which survives in the library of congress. And partnership with the university of virginia press, a new addition will be released of this journal. Readers will find it an excellent example of insight into a lost world. The Mount Vernon Ladies Association has been a leading supporter of efforts to transcribe and annotate all the papers of George Washington. The opening of the library in 2013, support for more scholarship was increased around the life and legacy of George Washington. This included support for the washington family papers, an effort to transcribe and annotate the papers of Martha Washington as well as George Washingtons parents, his relations, and the inheritor of mount vernon. This complete picture of the barbados dary represents the first publication in the washington family papers project. I would like to introduce our next speaker, dr. Karl watson. He is deputy chairman on the board of directors for the George WashingtonHouse Restoration Committee in barbados. Dr. Watson is the author of barbados, the civilized island. He is editor of the journal of the Barbados Museum and an honorary secretary for the Barbados National trust. His lecture this afternoon is titled hospitality and the genteel behavior shown to every gentleman stranger. Please join me in welcoming dr. Karl watson. [applause] dr. Watson good afternoon, everyone. I want to begin by saying what an honor and a pleasure it is for me to be invited by mr. Sivan Macleod Stephen macleod to speak this afternoon. I want to single out mr. Anthony king, who has been most gracious and helpful to me. Ive been to mount vernon. Its been a wonderful learning experience. Having experienced all these wonderful presentations and meeting so many of you all over yesterday and today. You have all been gracious and very welcoming to me. I am really honored to be here. What i will attempt to do is, using his journal that he kept while he was on the island, i will attempt to recreate what he saw on the island, what he commented on, and perhaps to some degree, what he did not comment on. Sometimes, what we choose not to comment on can be just as revealing as what we actually comment on. So on with my trusty pointer. [laughter] which hopefully, will work. Yes, it does. He was a young man. From todays perspective, young people, we dont suspect great things of them. But in the 18th century, a man just short of his 20th birthday was a man. And as you heard from previous presentations, he was in many respects quite experienced. At 16, he went off into the wilderness surveying. He was no neophyte. Four months shy of his 20th birthday, he accompanied his ailing Brother Lawrence to barbados where lawrence would be cured of his tuberculosis. As i mentioned, he kept a journal during this first and only ever overseas visit. The journal has survived. It is in the library of congress. You can download it and read it. It is in bad condition and some of the pages are missing, unfortunately. But it does provide wonderful insights into the mind of this young man, revealing him to be a selfconfident, observant individual with an inquiring, analytical mind. Why barbados . Why did they choose our island . Well, perhaps insignificant as it may seem today, barbados from the 17th to the middle of the 18th century was really one of the, if not the prize possession in the British Empire. Sugar and rum had made barbados very wealthy. It had a wealthy infrastructure on the island. Skilled doctors on the island held out hope for lawrences recovery. Dr. Hillary, who had achieved some eminence in england, had him transferred his practice to barbados. And lawrence was one of his him patients. They washingtons furthermore had friends and relatives on the island, which granted them some degree of support. It is incredible when one thinks of the actual relationships, when people move to and fro. Some families may have a cousin well placed in a british north american colonies or vice versa. So distant relatives of the washingtons were in barbados. Interestingly enough, i found in there was a George Washington who lived in cheapside. Lawrences wife was a fairfax. Of williamwife fairfax, who himself had serve for some time in barbados, was deborah clarke, who was sister to ginny clarke of barbados. The washingtons were well set up i went forward too much to be accommodated on the island. The mantra of real estate is location, location, location. And barbados is very well located. It is in the crossroads of the north atlantic economic system. So south america, africa, north america, europe, united kingdom. Barbados in the 17th century was one of the hubs of the British Empires trading system. Boston in north america, london in the home country, and bridgetown in barbados. So again, very important in terms of the logistical, navigational, and trading aspects. On importance for belying the size of the island an importance far belying the size of the island. A little aside to illustrate the importance of these islands, it seems incredible today, but at the end of the seven years war, france is prepared to give up half of the continent of north america in order to retain the islands of martinique and guadeloupe. The french probably argued that sugar and rum were far more important than beaver pelts. [laughter] so they gave up canada, in order to keep martinique and guadeloupe. This is from the 1770s map of barbados. It shows barbados as a mature sugar colony. Already one of the worlds most densely populated places, every name you see on that map represents a sugar plantation. The island itself, quite remarkable, there were over 700 functioning sugar plantations in addition to over 2000 overhaul places, which were 7, 8, and 10acre lots. A large plantation on the island rarely exceeded 200 acres. If you were really wealthy, you own 300 acres. Land was frightfully expensive in barbados. With 200 acres, you are guaranteed a pretty good livelihood. This is a page from john young washingtons journal. You can see it has been eaten away. Some pages, you only have a section available now. I am really looking forward, as was mentioned, to the republication of George Washingtons journal. I was fortunate to have acquired this copy done by toner. It was given as a Christmas Gift in 1892. It was acquired for me. Theres Nothing Better than going to a young mans original thoughts and reading them. So he kept a log after they set sail on what we think not absolutely certain but we think is success, which sailed from the chesapeake, leaving what would be the United States of america on the 19th of september and arriving in barbados the second of november, 1751. He mentions here the dolphin. He said we caught a dolphin. A dolphin we catch at noon. Dolphin, of course i play George Washington in the theatrical dinner with george in barbados. When i tell people we will have dolphin, they cringe and say, no, we are going to eat flipper. [laughter] i remind them that dolphin is a species of fish, as opposed to the mammal we all know and love. Another fish that young george would have eaten large quantities of in barbados which is a staple of barbados, which continues to be a staple in barbados today. It was caught in great quantities in the 18th century. It was the barbados pigeon. It is actually a fish that glides to escape predators. If you ever go to barbados, you should indulge in what is part of our national dish. So this is their first view of bridgetown. Unfortunately, the page in his journal would have commentary and would have established his initial impressions and what he saw. Sadly, that pages missing. Someone has torn it out and given it to somebody. Mice may have eaten it. We have absolutely no idea what happened to it. But this is a view of bridgetown. It is a lithograph printed in the 1750 griffith use addition Griffith Hughes edition. It is pretty much what george would have seen. A new england organist new england artist. This shows the nature of bridgetown. More importantly, on the scoring, it is a hub. A large amount of shipping and carlisle bay. In carlisle bay. This shows governor robinson on his way to church somewhere around 1740. Again, a huge amount of shipping in the bay. All angels cathedral where george and lawrence stayed in barbados. An episcopalian church. This is what he saw, carlisle bay today. [laughter] you can imagine this first of all you can imagine first of all, tropical light is a very different light. The artists who paint in temperate countries find it very difficult to trust tropical light. He would have seen this. Of course this is where initially they would have stayed. Up here is the house they eventually rented. You can imagine, as a young man, he swam early in the morning. Doing my little bit for tourism and barbados. You see . [laughter] so again, from his journal, he pitched from the house of captain crofton. The footprints of this house authenticated by Rigorous Research the footprint of the house is what the washingtons would have rented. In 1790, it was acquired by the british military. They raised the roof line. So the house that the washingtons would have rented would have been an elaborate entrance and archaeology has shown that the original roof was either a tiled roof or a slate roof. This property was scheduled for demolition and it was the visit of president and mrs. Clinton to barbados that saved this property, because it was owned by company and they were on the point of demolishing it to put up a modern office block. So think it is for president clinton who visited at an appropriate time. There was a bit of earlier confusion. Just downhill, there is another house which was built 10 years after the washingtons visited barbados. Somebody toward the end of the 19th century decided he would get americans to come off the ships and visit by advertising this house and erroneously as the George Washington house. I was asked by your government and the government of by davis of barbados to escort mrs. Clinton. I met her at the entrance and we waited and chatted. 10 minutes went by and i said, my gosh, i am keeping the first lady of the United States waiting, that is very impolite of me. I said, mrs. Clinton, shall we start . She said, no, lets wait for the Foreign Press to come. I want good coverage for barbados. Eventually, the bus turned up with everyone on board. They had been taken to the wrong house. [laughter] thank goodness, as i said, mrs. Clinton was very gracious and waited. So georges diary, he compacted commented on the hospitality. He had a social a busy socialism barbados. For the six weeks george was there, he only ate in that house on three occasions. Barbadans fell fond over the washingtons he could have eaten at. 10 different houses every single day over the washingtons. He could have eaten at 10 different houses every single day. More importantly, he met leaders of the island, including military officers, merchants, and visiting british officials. That for a young man from kenya meeting important individuals in the British Empire made a great impression at the age of 19. Through family connections, the washingtons were invited to a local dining club called the beefsteak club. George noted in his journal, whenever they went, they received invitations from every gentleman there. He was lucky. I think, for the first time in his life, he attended the celebrations. Got fox guy fox is celebrated with fireworks, etc. They invited lawrence and george to bring their guns with them. They traveled with guns from virginia to barbados. He also made his first recorded visit at the theater to see the play the tragedy of George Barnwell. Several said it was well performed. It was music adapted and conducted, and that is where there is a flaw in the original journal. So we have no idea who conducted this group. There was a london troop, a hit on the london stage at the time. After they exhausted themselves in london, they came out to barbados and presented to this play, a sort of drama. Young George Barnwell is an apprentice and falls in love with the daughter of the merchant he is an apprentice to, and then he is seduced by an older woman who leads him down the path of death and murder and mayhem. So he is on his way to the gallows. The young merchants daughter comes up to him and confesses her love. Just before he is hanged, he goes into this long dont do what i have done. Stay on the straight and narrow. [laughter] these are some of the individuals he met on the island. The maynards. This is their surviving sugar plantation on the island. He would ride out early in the morning because lawrence would complain about the hot, tropical sun. Lawrence was very ill with the tb that he had. They were also invited frequently to the warrens residence. Its now offices for an offshore company. So they were royally treated on the island. He enthused about the beauty of barbados. He said scarcely any parts is deprived of a beautiful prospect, both of sea and land. What is contrary to the observation is that each rise is better than the one below. Lawrence agreed the same. This island is the greatest in the west indies. Barbados was a coral island. You have these series of coral cliffs. As the tectonic plates came together and the island rose from the sea, you have cliffs of the same tags. So these are the risings that young George Washington referred to. If you go inland, you get these ancient sea cliffs that are quite picturesque. He was always looking out for our cultural prospects. He made this comment. The earth, for the most part, is extremely rich and is as black as the richest mark mold. He didnt write over the entire island. There is some notification of that in his diary. But he did extensively write about the southern part of the island. He was on the island at the right time to see the sugarcane maturing. It is harvested in the right season. This is a modern photograph of barbados. The thing about the island that he meant, the sugar revolution in the 17th century had completely clearcut the island. The planters deliberately set out to create a huge garden over the entire island. This is what George Washington saw, given the worldview at the time. The planters had created full of hyperbole. You see their letters and statements, etc. , barbados had he come this demieden, the fairest of the western isles, the paradise on earth. George went along with this. He also commented on the population and the nature of society that he met with. He said of the white population, there are few that may be called middling people. They are either very rich or very poor. This lady, i knew her, she passed through last year. She is the great aunt of rihanna. Rihannas father came from indentured servants. Over 10,000 irish descended on barbados. Judge jeffries exiled a lot of west country persons to barbados. If you go to somerset, devon, they also pronounce their vows very body. Their vowels very baudy. A lot of the genetic flaw that can be traced to the area of somerset that these exiled people were exiled to barbados. The society that washington met, barbados, when the washingtons arrived, had a population of about 80,000 people, 16,000 wide and 64,000 of african descent. But by the middle of the 18th century, the barbados population was already relatively old. They had been on the island for several generations. The barbadans would have been six generation born. My family went to barbados in 1627. So we have been on the island from us 400 years. What im saying about the age of the population, barbados was an experimentation by the english in slavery. Early on, just as many women were brought as men. As the sugar frontier expanded, men tend to be brought in in larger quantities, so there was a gender imbalance in the population. Barbados was different. The gender balance was known from a very early period. By the time the washingtons arrived, when the agitation to and the slave trade in 1805 began, the Barbados Assembly instructed their agent in london not to do anything to prevent the passage of the act abolishing the slave trade because it was in their economic interest. They did not do it for moral reasons. They did it for economic reasons and for the selfinterest of barbados. The planters were terrified that their island would be swamped by this new version land and move production elsewhere. This is a painting that shows the three tiers of slave society. It was a sliding scale between white and black, dependent on the old words were used. Mulatto, etc. Lawrence was a keen observer of west indian society. And slave life, again, washington doesnt talk much or hardly at all about the slave seen. Slave scene. I suppose because he, himself, was born into a system of slavery in virginia. He was very aware of the system that operated. This is late 18th century collage showing amusements, music, dwelling quarters, and the work done by the slave gangs working in the slave fields, in the cane fields. Late 19th century photograph showing exactly what washington would have seen women operating sugar mills. 500 of these sugar mills in operation in barbados. It was quite remarkable, the use of wind power, to grind sugarcane. The sugarcane would be reaped, and the juice passed to the boiling house. Then to the process of making sugar and molasses. And ultimately, rum. There were members of the three colored population free colored population. They were free, yet their civil rights were enormously constrained. A free colored individual could not give evidence in a court of law against a white individual, and other aspects of life that were constrained. When the washingtons rented the house, they said we pay this extravagant amount of 15 pounds a month and it doesnt even include washing. They would have had to have hired a slave. If you had the misfortune of being a job and slave being a slave, being a jobin slave was the best of the worst. Because you were semiindependent you had a , certain amount of independence. You didnt live under their control. At the end of a week, you paid your owner whatever sum of money. Once everything was agreed upon, yours is a private world. This is a watercolor done about 1790. The huge majority of slave population on the island, why are they largely absent from George Washingtons journal . There are only two references in his journal. He says hi ladies generally are very agreeable, but bio custom of fact the needle style the knee grow style but by illcustom affect the negro style. Dress, etc. He said the whites of barbados have gone native. [laughter] he must have been confronted with such [indiscernible] among ourselves, we move from standard english or an approximation of the queens english to what we call a creel form of english. George could very well have been in a situation where the ladies he met could have been talking to him quite nicely. Then one might turn her head and switch. [speaking dialect] you can imagine georges mouth probably dropped open. [laughter] is this a Foreign Language . I suspect because in this passage, he is being critical. He is not supportive. He thinks, in a way, the barbados whites are leading down the side. He was so observant and so keyed into the aspect of our culture that he saw everything and he wrote it all down in this journal. He noticed that guinea corn, which is a sort of millet, greatly supports the knee grows. That is supports the negroes. That is a typical food. He wrote it all down in his journal. Fact, today, mcadoos call , which uses guinea corn as one of its major components. Generations of young whites had been brought up by black nannies, who acted then as both transmitters and receivers of culture. Culture is not biological and is a twoway street. I discuss that with my friends who said, to some degree, a similar thing happened in virginia, but far more muted than the process underway in barbados and the other islands of the caribbean. One of my favorite cartoons in the late 18th century. The cartoon the cartoon says, there is a white woman upstairs looking out through the window. In reality, she is calling down to the slave. Im tired. Come and take in my head. It was an eccentric caricature that essentially was saying that they retained infantile aspects by being mollycoddle in a slave society. Slavery was an institution that warped and changed and enslaved and also warped the mind of the enslaver. I think young George Washington was keen enough to pick it up. He was also a very keen observer of the military fortifications in barbados. [indiscernible] for an imminent for an enemy to land. Properly to be said to be one entire fortification. He also noted, the militia is and appointeded to several stations. Every man is at his post in less than two hours. And remember, the caribbean is a theater of war and the contest of war supremacy between britain and france in 18 century. The key logistical point in the caribbean is barbados, because it had never been invaded. Mother nature, as George Washington pointed out, protected the island. This is a french spy under the guise of ages would priest. He did a crude map of the island, pointing out all of the fortifications on the island. Here is the fort George Washington knew very well, where he dined on many an occasion. He dined with captain petri on many an occasion. On one occasion, he seemed to be developing an eye for the ladies at an early age. He went to a dinner party here with ladies in attendance. In a society where women outnumbered men, i think the women of barbados were falling over themselves to see if they could capture this great prize from virginia. That didnt happen. He did not marry and stay in barbados. He came back to virginia and married martha. Of course, he was correct in his assessment that nature greatly assisted in protecting barbados. The entire east coast of barbados is protected by this coral reef. An invader could never approach from this side. , hadted, strongly attacked George Washington died in barbados, it is fair to argue that the subsequent history of the United States could well have changed his course. There might not have been a revolution or it might not have been successful. [indiscernible] mind you, my interpretation of George Washington is that he was the glue that held the revolution together. George washington, with his consummate diplomacy, overcame all of that. So george didnt die. More importantly, he acquired immunity. During the revolutionary war, when smallpox broke out among the troops, he was protected from this illness. A medically debated consequence is that this smallpox had a very high fever and may have caused infertility. Martha was for tile, but george desperately wanted to have children of his own but did not hit every consultative did not. Every consultation with doctors at the time said nothing could be done for him. This is a reconstructed bedchamber in the Washington House in barbados where george lay ill ailing. Let me thank mount vernon and many agencies, including american express, for helping the island create this museum in honor of your first president. We were hoping to have a larger financial amount imparted to us. Unfortunately, 9 11 intervened. Taxpayers footed a large amount of the bill to the tune of 7 and million for the restoration. There was some complaints by a few people who said why are we spending 7 million of taxpayer money to celebrate the life of a virginian slave owner when we could buy three new dialysis units for the hospital and build a new school for children . The vast majority of barbadans were supportive of the initiative. Sugar is a dying phenomenon on the island. We gain our livelihood largely from tourism and this was a very important feature. For those of you who are observant, you can see, however we try, we cannot mimic the paint of the 18th century. Because this building is made of coral stone, not break or any other type of material, but coral stone from the dead, fossilized coral reef, it absorbs water. Every year, we used to repaint, but we could not financially manage that. It just simply caused too much money. So now we paint every five years instead of every year. Anybody who visits us why is it so and we have to explain nature. On december 22, he took his leave of his brother, a bittersweet moment for him. He got out to carlisle bay about 12 noon. It was a learning experience. It exposed a Young Virginian of a level of society he had not previously encountered. 10 new forms of culture. [indiscernible] which i think was an added tatian ultimately brought to mount vernon with him. Judge warren argues forcefully that washingtons visit to barbados was a turning point in his life. This is the pride of barbados. I discovered recently, reading a book on the gardens of mount vernon, George Washington asked to the ships captain to bring back plants from barbados and he planted that in his greenhouse. I like to think, because, you know, a lot of us, as we grow older, we become introspective and we like to go back to the days of our youth. On a cold winters night, he must have thought of that Tropical Island that he experienced, the only place he visited outside of the continental usa. I think he must have looked back with a bit of nostalgia, a bittersweet moment because, despite the administrations, lawrence could not be cured and he died. I can imagine president washington sitting in his parlor on a cold night thinking back on his youth. And with a glass of good old barbados rum getting warm on that cold night. You know, my understanding is that, in his first inauguration as president , he said he wanted to be toasted in rum. Im assuming, of course, that was good old barbados rum. [laughter] [applause] ed thank you all very much. We have time for two quick questions. Hal is barbados affected by the American Revolution how was barbados affected by the American Revolution . Dr. Watson there was Political Division in the island because a great many people wanted to join the revolution with the british north american colonies and we would have become an offshore state and become a part of the United States of america. Its amazing the language they used. These are slaveowners. Yet their inflammatory language, they do not want to be enslaved by the british regime. In 1651, barbados declared itself independent of england. Sorry, 1650. 1650, a fleet was seized the island and the island surrendered. But in the charter of barbados, which has the articles of surrender, clause three established for the first time a colonial entity that expressed the view that there shall be no taxation without representation. And i like to think that there were discussions on this point. Young george would have met those who were antimonarchical, who were republicans. I dont think it is an accident that elements of the declaration of the american declaration of independence was of barbados origin. Though links and the connections are really [indiscernible] here in your state, the name lee, robert e lee, the lees live in england, went to barbados, and made their way to virginia. [indiscernible] a cartographer on barbados. One of my mothers came to alexandria and tried to set up a business. It didnt work. So he went down to barbados and history changed. And here i am [indiscernible] [laughter] barbados did not end up joining the United States. The power of the royal navy. Because we were an island that had already been subjugated and invaded, we knew that would have been our fate. What do philadelphians say that excoriated barbadans . That we were cowards. Ed we have to end at this point. Thank you. [applause] up next, textile historian Natalie Larson describes how various beds owned by George Washington at his mount vernon home or on the battlefield affected his social standing and wealth. Beds were a luxury item. Even the wealthiest americans had to contend with various discomforts, including bedbugs. The reason why barbados did not the power of the royal navy. Because it was an island and had already been subjugated and defeated, we knew that wouldve been our fate. Excoriated they barbados. Thank you. [applause] of next, Natalie Larson describes how various beds owned by George Washington at his mountvernon home or at vernon home reflected his social standing and wealth. Three, beds were luxury item. Even the wealthiest americans had to contend with various discomforts, including bedbugs. This was part of the mount symposium. E odeon it is 45 minutes. Good afternoon. I am associate curator here at George Washingtons mouth german George Washingtons mount vernon. Natalie larson ishe