LEROYPENNYSAVER&NEWS - JULY 19, 2015
Washington - First InTheHeartsOfHisCountrymen
byLynneBelluscio
“I’ve lived in LeRoy all my
life and I have no idea where
theWashingtonBlock is!” Well
if that’s your story, you’dbetter
joinus for awalkofMainStreet
this weekend. The group will
meet at the Woodward Library
at 11 am on Sunday, July 19
and later that afternoon at 3pm.
We’re asking for a$10donation
to the Strengthen the Arm of
Liberty Fund. And I promise
youwill discover two buildings
withaconnection toWashington
- - oneon the south sideofMain
Street andoneon thenorth side.
It seems like I’vebeen spend-
ingquiteof bit ofmy time lately
with GeorgeWashington. After
the second grade walking tours
onMainStreetacoupleofweeks
ago, I headed to Colonial Wil-
liamsburg foramuseummeeting
and one of the coordinators of
theeventwasRonCarnigie,who
portrays General GeorgeWash-
ington on the Duke of Glouster
Street. Ron has been portraying
George for quite awhile.When
the Historical Society bus trip
tookus toWilliamsburgacouple
ofyearsago,wehad theopportu-
nity tohearRon/Georgeperform.
The Historical Society also
visited Mt. Vernon on one of
our trips, on a very rainy day.
Althoughwehad theopportunity
tovisit themillandWashington’s
distillery, Iwasdisappointed that
the weather prevented us from
seeing George Washington’s
16-sided barn.
But twoweeks ago, Imetmy
son andhisboys inWashington,
DC andwe headed down toMt.
Vernon and although it was ter-
riblyhot,wedid take the shuttle
down to see the16-sided thresh-
ing barn. It’s quite a structure.
It was built so that horses could
walk in a circle on grain stalks
so the grainwould separate and
fall throughcracks in thefloor to
the level belowwhere it would
becollected,winnowedandsent
to themill. Itwasquite ingenious
and an architectural marvel for
the time. The barn has been
reconstructed fromphotographs
andwritten descriptions.
We left the farm for some
lunch at the visitor center and
as anyonewhoknowsme, Iwas
looking foraLeRoyconnection,
and there in theselfservesection
of thedessertswereplastic cups
of red Jell-O. I couldn’t help
but take a photo and post it on
Facebook, alongwith a copy of
the Jell-ORecipe bookwith the
portrait of George Washington
hanging over a sideboard of red
Jell-O. Obviously, George’s
favorite flavor - - if Jell-O had
been available when George
was alive - - would have been
cherry. (LOL)
So after our visit toWashing-
ton’s home at Mount Vernon,
we headed into Washington,
DC tomeet Amy Burton at the
Senate. She took us through
theBrumidi corridors
to see the portrait of
Henry Clay (that was
donated to the Senate
by theHistoricalSoci-
ety). She also took us
into the basement to
see the Italianmarble
bathtubs.
It seems that in
the 1850s, most of
the Senators would
come to Washington
and take a room at a
boardinghouse,where
there were no facili-
ties for bathing. So
one of the “perks” of
being a Senator was
the availability of six
huge carved marble
bathtubs. (This is no
Jell-O recipebookwith theportrait ofGeorgeWashington.
Jell-O in theSenate cafeteria.
MenuatMtVernonnoticekidsmeal
withJello.
Bathtubs inbasement of Senate.
April1story! I saw thebathtubs
andmy twograndsons jumped in
one for a photograph,) After all
the excitement of the bathtubs
and Henry Clay - - I wonder if
he ever used the bathtubs? - - -
we headed up to the gift shop
and then to the cafeteria. And
what did we see on the refrig-
erated shelves? You guessed
it - - Jell-O.
So ifGeorgeWashingtonwas
“first in theheartsofhiscountry-
men” maybe it couldbe said the
same about Jell-O.
