George Washington House inBarbados is a historic house where the future firstU.S. PresidentGeorge Washington is alleged to have stayed in 1751.
He was 19 years old at the time and traveling with his half-brother,Lawrence Washington, who was suffering fromtuberculosis.[1] George Washington contractedsmallpox during his stay, and was nursed back to health at the house.[1] Barbados apparently was the only country outside the present United States that George Washington ever visited.[2]
According to researchers atFounders Online, part of theU.S. National Archives, it is unlikely that this house was the one George Washington and his brother visited, as "it bears no resemblance to the architecture of the mid–1700s. Even if it had been standing in George Washington’s time, it could not have survived the devastating hurricanes of1780 and1831, which nearly destroyedBridgetown and brought havoc to the entire island. Some credence was given the legend when an official historic sites committee in 1910 referred to the building as Crofton’s House and associated it with Washington. Tourist literature still designates the place 'the Washington House,' but the question of its authenticity has been disposed of by local historians."[3] The researchers cite an article byNeville Connell, 'Historic Sites Re-Visited: Crofton’s House', in Vol. 12, pages 208–11 ofThe Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society (1945) as a reference.[4]
In 1997, during an official visit to Barbados with her husband, PresidentBill Clinton, First LadyHillary Clinton unveiled a plaque outside the house that reads:
On the occasion of his visit to Barbados this plaque was presented by President William Jefferson Clinton to The Right HonourableOwen S. Arthur, Prime Minister, and to the People of Barbados in a spirit of friendship and goodwill which binds our two countries and in recognition that George Washington, the first President of theUnited States of America, lived in this house during his visit to this fair country in 1751.[5]
In 2011, the property was designated as aUNESCO protected property within theWorld Heritage Site ofHistoric Bridgetown and itsGarrison area. The house is owned and maintained by theBarbados National Trust.[6]
13°04′55″N59°36′24″W / 13.08194°N 59.60667°W /13.08194; -59.60667
