Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that his neighbor’s place is in the news. From just a little ways away from the Villainschloss we have this piece. Washington’s boyhood home found, but no hatchet. From the article:

The archaeologists were delighted to at last find the remains of George Washington’s boyhood home but got stumped when they looked for evidence of the cherry tree and rusty hatchet.

“This was the setting for many important events in Washington’s life,” David Muraca, director of archaeology for The George Washington Foundation, announced Wednesday.

Most biographies offer little detail of the first president’s youth, so the discovery may provide insight into Washington’s childhood, he said. The site is located at Ferry Farm, just across the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg, Va., about 50 miles south of Washington.

Philip Levy, associate professor of history at the University of South Florida, found evidence that the house was a one-and-a-half-story residence perched on a bluff overlooking the river.

“If George Washington did indeed chop down a cherry tree, as generations of Americans have believed, this is where it happened,” said Levy. The researchers said the artifacts they have recovered did not include a hatchet.

“There is little actual documentary evidence of Washington’s formative years. What we see at this site is the best available window into the setting that nurtured the father of our country,” Levy said.

Three likely locations were excavated over seven years. The site where the foundations of Washington’s home were discovered was built during the first part of the 18th century — Washington was born in 1732 — fit the type of house in which Washington would have lived and also yielded artifacts likely linked to his family.

“Now that we have identified the home, we can begin understanding Washington’s childhood,” Muraca said, as well as dispel some of the folklore surrounding the president’s life. For instance, the tale of Washington’s chopping down the cherry tree with a hatchet and confessing to his father has never actually been proven.

“We see a county-level gentry home,” he said. Washington’s father “was wealthy within the county … not on the colonial level but locally important, and we see a home befitting that status.” The house measured about 53-feet by 37-feet, with a central hallway and two rooms on each side of the hallway.

The eventual goal, Muraca said, is to rebuild the home as it was in the 1740s.

Your Maximum Leader learned a little about this discovery a week ago when he was actually visiting Ferry Farm with his daughter, Villainette #1. (She was in a local “history” camp for a week and visited Ferry Farm - among other local historial landmarks.) We spoke with a student archeologist (who helped with the recent digs) and she told us all about what they had found. Alas, some of the artifacts that the full article mentions are not yet on display. They said it might be 6 months to a year before they start to display the most recent batch of artifacts…

Reason to come back apparently…

Your Maximum Leader should also note that he’s been hit up by the good people at the George Washington Foundation to donate to the reconstruction of the Washington House… He’ll likely donate when he can see some plans…

Carry on.