'Blockbuster discovery' at George Washington's Mount Vernon estate

Archaeologists have found dozens of glass bottles containing fruit preserves that are well over 200 years old in the cellar of George Washington's Mount Vernon mansion.

The 29 intact bottles, which had 'perfectly preserved' cherries, along with gooseberries or currants, 'likely haven't seen the light of day since before the American Revolution,' said Mount Vernon President and CEO Doug Bradburn. 

The bottles were extracted from five underground storage pits beneath the mansion and relocated to the Mount Vernon archaeology lab, after which they'll be sent off-site for preservation. The contents of each bottle are also set to be scientifically examined. 

'Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine this spectacular archaeological discovery,' Bradburn said in a statement. 

'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.' 

The 29 intact bottles, which had 'perfectly preserved' cherries, along with gooseberries or currants, 'likely haven't seen the light of day since before the American Revolution'

This comes just two months after an archaeological dig yielded the first two bottles to be discovered at Mount Vernon, which were manufactured in Europe and contained cherries and pits.

George Washington was an American founding father and served as the first US president 

'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,' Bradburn said. 

So far, 54 cherry pits and 23 stems have been identified, meaning that the bottles were likely full of cherries at one time. 

All of these astounding revelations were made possible thanks to a $40 million Mount Vernon revitalization project that's expected to be completed by 2026, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

A major part of this project to preserve Washington's 18th-century home is maintaining the foundation by restoring the cellar, exactly where these bottles were found.

Back in April, archaeologist Nick Beard, the person who found the first two bottles, spoke to FOX 5 DC to explain the true significance of finding food remains hundreds of years after it was abandoned.

'Just the fact that there was liquid at all. That, right there, sets off alarm bells,' Beard said. 'If there's water, or liquid, pooling in there like that means it's very intact, it's in very good shape.' 

'It's one of those once-in-a-lifetime sort of thing,' he added. 

The discovery of the bottles containing fruit preserves from the pre-Revolutionary war era were made possible thanks to a $40 million Mount Vernon revitalization project that's expected to be completed by 2026

Nick Beard, pictured, made the discovery of the first two bottles in April, calling it a 'once-in-a-lifetime' thing

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Jason Boroughs, the Principal Archeologist at Mount Vernon, gave some more insight into why and how these bottles were placed in the cellar.

'One of the best ways to store these types of fruits and vegetables was underground, so sometime after 1758 but before 1776, someone dug a pit sort of a rectangular about a foot deep hole through one of the floors in the cellar, these bottles were set in, and then it was filled with a dense clay,' he told FOX.

Given this timeline, Bradburn thinks the bottles were possibly forgotten during the chaotic time when Washington left his home to go lead the Continental Army against the British in the Revolutionary War.

There were hundreds of slaves living at Mount Vernon during Washington's lifetime and historians say they were the ones who managed food preparation and preservation.

Bradburn thinks the bottles were possibly forgotten during the chaotic time when Washington left his home to go lead the Continental Army against the British in the Revolutionary War

'The bottles and contents are a testament to the knowledge and skill of the enslaved people who managed the food preparations from tree to table, including Doll, the cook brought to Mount Vernon by Martha Washington in 1759 and charged with oversight of the estate's kitchen,' Boroughs told FOX.

Washington, who moved to the northern Virginia home after his marriage in 1759, was the only Founding Father who had it written in his will to free all of his slaves upon his wife Martha's death.

She ended up freeing them on January 1, 1801, a little over a year before her death.

Washington served as the first US president from 1789 to 1797. He died in 1799 and was buried at Mount Vernon.