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Enjoy fresh-baked bread and watch the 18th-century baking process with Resident Baker Justin Cherry of Half Crown Bakehouse.

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Located At

12-Acre Field

Menu

Loaf of Wheaten Bread with Rye$14
Loaf of Bread & Cheese$25
Virginia Provisions Pack$50
Salt Pork Butter$6

Quantities are limited.

A Loaf of Wheaten Bread with Rye

A bread mixed with wheat and rye is often referred to as maslin bread. It is likely these two were mixed into bread at Mount Vernon for hired workers and the enslaved.

A Loaf of Bread and Cheese

Included is a loaf of bread and a proper portion of clothbound cheese, which is in the truckle style of English cheddars of old but made in an American creamery.

Virginia Provisions Pack

Included in the Provision Pack is:

  • a loaf of potato bread
  • a proper portion of clothbound cheese
  • a ration of smokehouse ham
  • salt pork butter

All grains used are authentic to the time period, and when possible, ground at George Washington's Gristmill. A percentage of the profits goes directly back to the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. 

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.

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Tour the Gristmill

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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.

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Shop Gristmill Products

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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.

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