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National monument aims for historical accuracy in interpreting life on 18th-century farm
By ROB HEDELT
DICK LAHEY had a killer toothache, but the little bun- dles of energy scampering around his feet in the enclosed pen were so cute he couldn't help but smile. "It would be nice to have that much energy," he said as the passel of red, black and white Ossabaw Island piglets chased their mother about the swine yard at George Washington Birthplace National Monument. "They're already getting bigger." Lahey, farm manager at Washington Birthplace in Westmoreland County, isn't excited about the piglets just because they will generate interest for visitors to the historic attraction. He knows they're just part of a program to reintroduce a range of heirloom and historic breeds to the birthplace. With the help of partners as varied as Mount Vernon and a group of energetic 4-H students from the Northern Neck, the park will get piglets, turkeys, chickens, cows and other animals typical of the farm animals during Washington's era. "It's impossible to know what sort of breeds would have been here during that time," said Lahey, noting that clear delineation of animal breeds didn't start until well after Washington's day. But Lahey, who this year and next will take delivery of several Narragansett turkeys, said he and others on the staff have worked hard with all available sources to bring in animals as much like those of Washington's era as possible. Take the turkeys, a cross of wild, American birds and turkeys brought to this country by English and European settlers. Lahey and Washington Birthplace wanted to increase their poultry flock on the farm. But they don't have the manpower or the facilities to raise either turkeys or chickens from a young age. That's where the partnership between the Birthplace and 4-H students in Northumberland and Lancaster County came into play. The Virginia Tech Extension agent there, Wendy Herdman, said members of the local 4-H Bills and Beaks Poultry Club worked hard raising dozens of Dorking and Red Cap chickens and a handful of the Narragansetts over the past two years. A select group of those were promised to the Birthplace to help establish the old-breed animals there.
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