Dozens of people took the opportunity on Wednesday to tour the house that bears the name of the first president of United States.
The tour of centuries-old George Washington House, in Bush Hill, St Michael, was held as part of Tourism Week hosted by the Ministry of Tourism.
Locals and visitors were taken on a journey back in time, to about 1751, when George Washington and his half-brother Lawrence stayed at the house.
Their visit to the island was due to Lawrence’s ill-health and the reputation the island had, at that time, for being a medical site and because of the island’s climate.
The two rented the house for 18 pounds sterling a month.
“The main floor is exactly the way it was when George Washington stayed here in 1751. The house, the way it was renovated and restored, looks exactly the way it would have looked when George and Lawrence were here,” said Penelope Hynam, former executive director of the Barbados National Trust, current treasurer of the Barbados Historic Garrison Consortium Inc. and one of the tour guides on the day.
The eager visitors were shown the room in which Lawrence slept, with its original bed, as well as the room in which George stayed, with its replica.
Unvarnished pine floors, harking back to the time when, according to Hynam, the floors were scrubbed with fish skins; an original goat skin travelling trunk in the room in which George Washington slept; writing implements on a desk and even playing cards on a table were all pointed out and explained.
The kitchen with its two brick ovens and cooling rooms were also a source of interest to the visitors.
Hynam also revealed that in restoring the house, engineers realized the original beams were made of bullet wood, which have stood the passage of time due to the fact that the wood is resistant to termites and moisture.
The property, which is owned and operated by the Barbados National Trust, also boasts restored stables and a bath house, as well as a mill wall.