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| Loaf of Wheat Bread | $14 |
| Loaf of Bread & Cheese | $25 |
| Salt Pork Butter | $6 |
Quantities are limited.
A Loaf of Wheat Bread
A loaf made from White Lammas wheat and Fife wheat. The first wheat mentioned was grown by George Washington in the late 1780s. Fife wheat was first noted as being grown in the foothills of North Carolina in the mid-18th century.
A Loaf of Bread and Cheese
Included is a loaf of bread and a proper portion of Cheshire cheese, which is imported from England—just as Washington did in September 1759 from Robert Cary and Company. The cheese is made by Singletons, who have been producing it since 1745.
Resident Baker, Justin Cherry
Culinarian historian Justin Cherry is Mount Vernon's Resident Baker and is the chef and owner of the Half Crown Bakehouse, which specializes in colonial foodways.
Cherry was a 2019 Fellow at the Washington Library. His research focused on the 18th-century foodways culture at Mount Vernon.
Heritage Grain, Ground by Water Power
Cherry uses grains ground in Mount Vernon's gristmill whenever possible.
The first white Lammas wheat ground at the Gristmill since Washington’s day was baked in Cherry’s mobile 18th-century clay oven and sold at Revolutionary War Weekend in May 2019.
Cherry continues to facilitate collaboration between heirloom grain specialists and Mount Vernon’s Historic Trades Team.
18th Century Clay Oven
In March 2020, Cherry and the Historic Trades Team installed a bake oven in Washington’s Farm. Bake ovens, also known as beehive, masonry, brick, pizza, or bread ovens, were a staple in early America.
These thick clay domes were built into kitchens next to the hearth, like the original oven in the Mansion’s Kitchen, or built outdoors. The design of Mount Vernon’s reproduction oven resembles those used throughout the Chesapeake region.
Evidence of ovens like this has not been found at Mount Vernon, but similar ovens may have existed around the estate.
George Washington's Gristmill
George Washington constructed a gristmill at his Dogue Run Farm in 1770-1771. In 1791, Washington upgraded his operation, installing a new automated method—the Evans system—that replaced manual labor with mechanical means through all the steps in the milling process.
Learn MoreTour the Gristmill
Tour the fully-functioning reconstructions of George Washington's Distillery® and Gristmill, located 2.7 miles from the estate’s main entrance.
Tours are offered seasonally on Saturdays & Sundays, April – October.
Shop Gristmill Products
Enjoy stone-ground grits, pancake flour, and yellow cornmeal that have been produced by water power at George Washington’s Gristmill at Mount Vernon.
Shop online or in-person at the Shops at Mount Vernon.