44 pp. Includes black-and-white illustrations. "The George Washington Birthplace National Monument is a national monument in Westmoreland County, Virginia, United States. This site was developed in the mid-17th century as a colonial tobacco plantation by Englishman John Washington. A member of the assembly, he was a great-grandfather of George Washington, general and the first United States president. George Washington was born in this house on February 22, 1732. He lived here until age three, returning later to live here as a teenager. Before the 20th century, the original house was lost, but the foundation outlines of Washington's house are marked. The public park was established in 1930 and in 1931 a memorial house was built in historical style to mark the site and to represent an 18th-century tobacco plantation. The historic park opened in 1932, during the Great Depression. At the entrance to the grounds, now maintained and operated by the National Park Service, is a Memorial Shaft obelisk of Vermont marble; it is a one-tenth scale replica of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. The monument (referring to the house, property and memorial complex) and its preceding plantation, which eventually became called Wakefield, are located at the confluence of Popes Creek and the larger Potomac River, and is representative of 18th-century Virginia tobacco plantations. The area has been restored, planted and maintained with farm buildings, groves of trees, livestock, gardens, and crops of tobacco and wheat, to represent the environment Washington knew here as a boy.[5]"
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