George Washington's father owned a large plantation on the western shore
of the Potomac River. George's great-grandfather, John Washington, had
settled upon it nearly eighty years before, and there the family had
dwelt ever since.

This plantation was in Westmoreland county, not quite forty miles above
the place where the Potomac flows into Chesapeake Bay. By looking at
your map of Virginia, you will see that the river is very broad there.

On one side of the plantation, and flowing through it, there was a
creek, called Bridge's Creek; and for this reason the place was known as
the Bridge's Creek Plantation.

It was here, on the 22d of February, 1732, that George Washington was
born.

Although his father was a rich man, the house in which he lived was
neither very large nor very fine--at least it would not be thought so
now.

It was a square, wooden building, with four rooms on the ground floor
and an attic above.

The eaves were low, and the roof was long and sloping. At each end of
the house there was a huge chimney; and inside were big fireplaces, one
for the kitchen and one for the "great room" where visitors were
received.