A Stolen Christian Heritage

If George Washington would come back today, he’d be furious to see what the custodians of our country have done to our Christian heritage. Restore the spirit of the American Revolution! It’s time to take it back.

George Washington embodied the virtue of “duty” and he recognized that “it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors.” He also instructed the Delaware Indian chiefs, “You do well to wish to learn our arts and our ways of life and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ.” Our Christian heritage is under siege today.  It is being stolen from our children and grandchildren in our public schools and communities. It is time to go on the offensive and take it back!

Help us dust off our Christian heritage. Restore the passion of our forefathers who risked life and property for their faith. George Washington Society embodies the mission of George Washington Inn and Estate, an inn built as a replica of George Washington’s beloved Mount Vernon. It is our ambition to to find ways to carry passionately the torch of our founding fathers’ faith that drove George Washington to sacrifice “for God and (our) Country”. This Christian heritage is the birthright of every American.

Strategic venues such as a Revolutionary War art gallery at the Inn are being developed to accomplish this mission. The society seeks to promote the appreciation and understanding of quality fine art which tells the American experience of faith and duty that marked our nation’s founding and early history. Through the promotion of historical art from this era, we find tangible ways to pass our Christian heritage to the next generation.

Your support is needed. Sponsor a painting. Become a member and you can help support the development of the only known Revolutionary War art gallery on the west coast. We seek to acquire fine art that depicts God’s providential hand in the development of our nation. Conferences and seminars with guest speakers who put a spotlight on the faith of our founding fathers are held at the inn. More information can be found on the society’s website: GeorgeWashingtonSociety.org.

Smelling good!

Washington liked to smell good. One of his favorite fragrances was Number Six Cologne, a blend of rosemary, bergamot, orange blossoms and 28 other aromatics that is still made in its original formula by Caswell-Massey, America’s Oldest Chemists and Perfumers.

Washington so loved the scent that he gave two cases of it to France’s Marquis de Lafayette in 1780 as thanks for helping the United States win the Revolutionary War. The marquis, in turn, liked the cologne so much that he bought another case of it 40 years later when he visited the Caswell-Massey store in Newport, R.I.

Caswell-Massey is celebrating its 260th anniversary this year. Some historians say it’s the fourth-oldest surviving company in the United States. The original owner, Dr. William Hunter, started the business in 1752 as an apothecary in Newport, R.I. In 1833, businessmen John Rose Caswell of Newport and William Massey of New York City bought the company; they changed its name to Caswell-Massey in 1876.

In 2002, to celebrate their company’s 250th anniversary, Caswell-Massey repackaged popular items such as No.6 Soap in a Tin (a favorite of George Washington) and English lavender perfume, which included a history of the scent.

Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/lifestyle/20020512caswell0512fnp4.asp

Want some? http://www.caswellmassey.com/number-six-cologne-spray-for-men.aspx

High Tea at the Inn

High Tea at the Inn

George Washington Inn is hosting a special High Tea on George Washington’s 280th birthday this year! Guests will be delighted to find “America’s greatest hero” actually in attendance and will be entertained by a short monologue given by His Excellency. Many who attended last summer’s inaugural High Tea asked for a repeat of the event in this gorgeous oceanfront setting. The inn chose this worthy day as an appropriate celebration of our first president’s birthday.

The Oceanfront Piazza

Details: February, 22, 2012 - Limited to 3 sittings (11 am, 1:15 pm, 3:30 pm). Call 360-452-5207 to make your reservation.

O God, Our Help In Ages Past

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

Under the shadow of Thy throne
Still may we dwell secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.

Thy Word commands our flesh to dust,

Return, ye sons of men:

All nations rose from earth at first,

And turn to earth again.

A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.

The busy tribes of flesh and blood,

With all their lives and cares,

Are carried downwards by the flood,

And lost in following years.

Time, like an ever rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.

Like flowery fields the nations stand

Pleased with the morning light;

The flowers beneath the mower’s hand

Lie withering ere ‘tis night.

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our God while life shall last,
And our eternal home.

Written by Isaac Watts

A Christmas Train

 

A temporary narrow gauge railroad was set up on the grounds of George Washington Inn and Estate between Sequim and Port Angeles, Washington on December 17, 2011.

Happy Thanksgiving!

“It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors.”
George Washington, Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1789

Freedom From Want by Norman Rockwell

 Enjoy the bounty of the harvest and give thanks for all that you have received from the “Giver of every good and perfect gift.”

Compliments of George Washington Inn and Washington Lavender

The Olympics Continue From Here

Ocean views from George Washington Inn

The Olympic National Park is a Northwest treasure trove overflowing with the bounty of God’s creation. A million acres of snow-capped mountains, alpine meadows in abundant color, ancient rain-forests, and crashing ocean waves on shorelines dotted with rugged sea stacks – all give unique experiences for the beholder’s senses to explore. Come and discover it all! George Washington Inn is a great place to launch your day trips into the Olympics. We’ll help you get started.

Click here for a short video clip of the Olympic Peninsula.

Kate Middleton, America Connects

The United States enjoys a closer relationship to Great Britain than probably any nation that has fought off its colonial master. The ancestors of many Americans left their British homeland to pursue freedom, fame and fortune, not afforded them in the land of their birth. As a result, individualism defined America from its beginning and caused her to flourish. In Great Britain, being born into the “right family” had more to do with one’s success than personal achievement which, on the other hand, was paramount in this new land of the individual.

Kate Middleton, the bride-to-be of Prince William, was not born into the privileged gentry but through the enterprising efforts of her parents was afforded an opportunity to attend the same school as the future monarch. Their eight year romance culminates with their wedding on April 29, 2011. This rags-to-riches story is virtually unprecedented in their country. No doubt, this adds to the anticipation of that day when every young girl’s dream is realized in a commoner’s long walk down the aisle of Westminster Abbey to become a real princess. Speculation is that Queen Elizabeth will bestow the title of “Princess Catherine” on her grandson’s bride after they marry.

Genealogy reveals many secrets. Kate Middleton is actually related to George Washington, so is Prince William. In fact, a host of American presidents are related to the British monarchy. Check out this list:

• George Washington (descendant of Edward III of England)
• Thomas Jefferson (descendant of Edward III of England)
• James Madison (descendant of Edward I of England)
• James Monroe (descendant of Edward III of England)
• John Quincy Adams (descendant of Edward III of England)
• William Henry Harrison and his grandson, Benjamin Harrison (descendants of Edward I of England)
• Zachary Taylor (descendant of Edward I of England)
• Franklin Pierce (descendant of Henry I of England)
• Rutherford Hayes (descendant of William I of Scotland and William the Conqueror)
• Grover Cleveland (descendant of Edward I of England)
• Theodore Roosevelt (descendant of James I of Scotland and Edward III of England)
• William Taft (descendant of Edward III of England)
• Warren Harding (descendant of Henry II of England)
• Calvin Coolidge (descendant of Edward I of England)
• Herbert Hoover (descendant of Edward III of England)
• Franklin Roosevelt (descendant of James II of Scotland)
• Harry S. Truman (descendant of Robert III of Scotland)
• Richard Nixon (descendant of Henry II of England)
• Gerald Ford (descendant of Edward I of England)
• Jimmy Carter (descendant of Henry II of England)
• George H. W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush (descendants of Edward I of England and Robert II of Scotland)
• Barack Obama (descendant of Edward I of England and William the Lion of Scotland)

“A people…who are possessed of the spirit of commerce, who see and

who will pursue their advantages may achieve almost anything.”

George Washington

Who Was George Washington?

The author of a #1 national bestseller, Dr. Peter Lillback, spoke to a full house at George Washington Inn on March 24, 2011. Decades of diligent research gave his book, George Washington’s Sacred Fire, the credibility that caused it to rise to the top of Amazon’s bestsellers for an entire week last summer, where it remained in the top one hundred for months on end.

Peter Lillback speaks at George Washington Inn

History buffs were not disappointed and soaked in every vignette and disclosure drawn from the author’s pursuits to unearth the faith of George Washington. His exhaustive research puts to rest many of the revisionist efforts and controversies that have risen over the past century.

Dr. Peter A. Lillback

Dr. Peter A. Lillback is the president of The Providence Forum, the non-profit scholarly organization committed to preserve, defend, and advance the faith and values of America’s founding.  He is also the president of Westminster Theological Seminary, one of the world’s leading institutes of higher theological education.  He has also been Professor of Church History at Reformed Episcopal Seminary in Philadelphia. Dr. Lillback holds degrees from Cedarville University (B.A.), Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M.), and Westminster Theological Seminary (Ph.D.). He is the author of numerous books, has published many articles, and is a contributor to the History News Network, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Bulletin.

Beyond his historical interests, Dr. Lillback is a very popular speaker and writer on many world-view issues, and has participated in numerous highly popular debates with Christians, atheists, government, and secular leaders and personalities.  He is a leading expert on the foundational history of the United States, the intersection of faith, politics, government, and the public square, and on the separation of church and state, and is a frequent guest and spokesperson on television, radio, and in the mass media. Dr. Lillback’s recent speaking schedule has included Italy, Scotland, China, Indonesia, South Korea, South Africa, and Australia. His unparalleled scholarship, warm disposition, and unique style have made him a much sought-after speaker at secular, religious, historical, and academic events and venues around the world.

Book Reviews for “George Washington’s Sacred Fire”

“What sets “George Washington’s Sacred Fire” apart from all previous works on this man for the ages, is the exhaustive fifteen years of Dr. Peter Lillback’s research, revealing a unique icon driven by the highest of ideals. Not only do George Washington’s own writings, journals, letters, manuscripts, and those of his closest family and confidants reveal the truth of this awe-inspiring role model for all generations. Dr. Lillback paints a picture of a man, who, faced with unprecedented challenges and circumstances, ultimately drew upon his persistent qualities of character – honesty, justice, equity, perseverance, piety, forgiveness, humility, and servant leadership, to become one of the most revered figures in world history. George Washington set the cornerstone for what would become one of the most prosperous, free nations in the history of civilization. Through this book, Dr. Lillback, assisted by Jerry Newcombe, will reveal to the reader a newly inspirational image of General and President George Washington.” –Amazon

“An enlightening, engaging, and long overdue correction of the falsehood that Washington lacked faith.“  –Rodney Stark, Baylor University

“Dr. Lillback buries the myth that Washington was an unbeliever – at most a “deist” – under an avalanche of facts.” –Robert P. George, Princeton University

“Secular historians ignore George Washington’s ward Nelly Custis, who wrote that doubting his Christian faith was as absurd as doubting his patriotism. But they cannot ignore this mountain of evidence suggesting Washington’s religion was not Deism, but just the sort of low-church Anglicanism one would expect in an 18th century Virginia gentleman. His “sacred fire” lit America’s path toward civil and religious liberty.” –Walter A. McDougall, Pulitzer Prize Winning Author

A Hero For The Ages

George Washington was the first child of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball Washington. He birth took place in a modest home on a farm along Pope’s Creek in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Washington had numerous siblings, with several of them failing to reach adulthood.

Losing his father at the young age of eleven, George Washington faced life with the hardship of a shortened formative education, not uncommon at that time. He was self-taught from that point but always respected his strong-willed mother, who forbade him from joining the Royal Navy. He became a surveyor instead, developing an appreciation for his country and its westward expansion.

Tall of stature and being an over-achiever, Washington excelled in his role and won the confidence of his peers. His steady rise in rank and esteem placed him in leadership roles that were sharpened over the years. His stalwart character and faith in God’s providence took him through danger after danger. When the fledgling country looked for a leader, he was the obvious choice and garnished the only unanimous electoral college election when he became president of his country. King George III later called George Washington “the greatest man in the world” when Washington voluntarily walked away from power for the sake of principle. How many men have ever had their enemies heap such lavish praise on their foe?

George Washington shot a straight arrow for subsequent American presidents to follow. Abraham Lincoln had this to say about his predecessor, “Washington is the mightiest name of earth — long since mightiest in the cause of civil liberty; still mightiest in moral reformation. On that name, an eulogy is expected. It cannot be. To add brightness to the sun, or glory to the name of Washington, is alike impossible. Let none attempt it. In solemn awe pronounce the name, and in its naked deathless splendor, leave it shining on.” He was indeed a hero for the ages!

Here at George Washington Inn we are flying the flag, in honor of Washington’s birthday.

Apples of Gold

Our wonderful guests appreciate what goes into running a B&B inn on the scale of George Washington Inn. An encouraging word goes a long way and become “apples of gold in pictures of silver.” This morning I woke up and discovered a delightful new comment on our BedandBreakfast.com review page. My day’s been made already! I’ll share it with you.

“This beautiful place was truly an escape from the noise, traffic, and stress we live with daily. The view, water, room, breakfast, even the clean air, made our stay perfect. We wished we could have bought the place – we can’t wait to return. This is what ‘living’ truly is.“

Making That Perfect Cup of Coffee

(Photo Courtesy of Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Ever wonder how much effort over the years has gone into making that perfect cup of coffee?

Perfect Cup of Coffee Research (from the MIT150 Exhibition website)

With funding from food industry groups, Samuel Cate Prescott, MIT Professor & Coffee Researcher in the 1930s, established the MIT Coffee Research Laboratory to engineer the perfect cup of coffee. The results were touted in advertisements nationwide, in particular by George Washington Coffee (formerly known as the G Washington Coffee Refining Company). His important work is featured during this year’s Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s 150th anniversary celebration in their MIT150 Exhibition Entrepreneurial display.

“MIT” is internationally recognized shorthand for technological and academic excellence. When filmmakers want to establish a character as a brilliant scientist or engineer, they throw in a line about her MIT education or cut to his class ring. So when advertisements in the 1930s showed a serious white-coated MIT scientist holding aloft a flask with “the perfect cup of coffee,” the American public listened. In 1920, the National Coffee Roasters Association gave Professor Samuel Cate Prescott $40,000 to establish a new laboratory devoted to perfecting coffee. The resulting guidelines—one tablespoon of coffee per eight ounces of water, just short of boiling, in glass or ceramic containers, never boiled, reheated, or reused—were the result of three years of study. More important than the recipe, however, was the refutation of coffee opponents who claimed coffee was a “slow poison.” Wrote Prescott, “Coffee was the servant rather than the destroyer of civilization.” MIT researchers also were active in serious food technologies, working on techniques for preserving taste, nutrition, and texture in canned goods as well as developing nutritional guidelines for preventing nutritional deficiencies.

MIT150 Display Credit: George Washington coffee can on loan from George Washington Coffee, Port Angeles, WA.

George Washington Coffee is a registered trademark of George Washington Inn, a Port Angeles Bed and Breakfast Inn in Washington.

Merry Christmas, Martha!

Enjoy this short video clip where the spirit of George Washington is captured in cartoon format.  Washington’s dedication to his country and his tender love for his beloved wife, Martha, rings true as he arrives home to Mount Vernon for Christmas.

Here at George Washington Inn, Christmas 2010 brought delightful guests, friends and family together. We are grateful for each one and thank God for his goodness over the past year. We look forward to 2011 with hope and anticipation for new opportunities to serve all who come our way.

Coffee and MIT

The MIT Museum in Cambridge, MA is opening an exhibition in a few weeks to celebrate MIT’s 150th anniversary (MIT150). The exhibition plans to feature 150 evocative objects that capture the history and culture of MIT, including a small display about the work of biologist Samuel Prescott. In the 1930s various coffee manufacturers and associations hired Dr. Prescott to study the beverage. He was also featured in an advertising campaign for G. Washington Coffee.

The Curator of Science and Technology at MIT contacted George Washington Inn to acquire a vintage G. Washington coffee can. We are honored to loan one from our collection for their 150th anniversary exhibition.

George Washington Coffee and Samuel Prescott

The Baptism of George Washington

 

The Immersion of George Washington

General Washington one day went to Rev. John Gano, chaplain in the Continental Army, and exclaimed: “I have been investigating the Scripture, and I believe immersion to be baptism taught in the Word of God, and I demand it at your hands. I do not wish any parade made or the army called out, but simply a quiet demonstration of the ordinance.” In the presence of 42 witnesses George Washington was immersed in the Potomac; but he did not give “personal testimony” which would have made him a member of the Baptist Church. In 1908 Rev. E. T. Sanford of Manhattan’s North Church commissioned a painting of Washington and Chaplain Gano waist-deep in the Potomac. The painting was taken to the Baptist Church at Asbury Park, N. J. where it hung until 1926. It was then presented by Chaplain Gano’s great-granddaughter to William Jewell College (Baptist) in Liberty, Mo. for the dedication of a John Gano Memorial Chapel. (Taken from “Time” Magazine – September 5, 1932)

Read more from this article: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,744297,00.html#ixzz17VsTFde2

Additional research on the baptism of George Washington:

http://www.therestorationmovement.com/gano,john.htm

http://www.sluiceboxadventures.com/learn_history/JohnGano_01.htm

Victoria, BC – A City to Explore

Hop on the Coho or the Victoria Express ferry and within an hour you can be in another world, literally. Just don’t forget your passport. Find out why Victoria is known to Canadians as “the city for the newly wed or nearly dead.” Over the past century it has grown to become a honeymoon destination and a retirement mecca for those who want to enjoy the sunset of life. It is a romantic getaway “par excellence.”

A scenic Inner Harbour is the center of it all. The majestic British Columbia Parliament and the sprawling Empress Hotel rise from the water and beckon the traveler to enter their grand halls. Nearby shops with quaint wares and native craft spill out in the streets. Red double-decker buses come and go all day. Most of these British buses are taking people to the Butchart Gardens, a renown world-class garden paradise located a short distance out into the rolling countryside.

Take the return ferry back to our Port Angeles bed and breakfast inn and spend your evening relaxing on the George Washington Inn‘s spacious veranda, soaking in Victoria’s shimmering lights from the other side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

 

Enjoy Victoria's lights from the veranda

George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation

George Washington by Rossin

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to “recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

---

The Man Who Wouldn’t Be King

A series of videos on the life of George Washington as portrayed by David Sutherland on “The American Experience.” An introduction is given by American author, David McCullough. See the growth of a man who has become America’s greatest hero.

 

George Washington Inn is a Port Angeles Bed and Breakfast, dedicated to the faith of George Washington.

Summer Memories

With the onset of fall and with winter around the corner, the beauty of summer is captured and memorialized for another year.

“God gave us memories that we might have roses in December.” ~J.M. Barrie, Courage, 1922

Wild sweet peas at George Washington Inn

A field of lavender and Blue Mountain

A bee in the lavender flowers

A mother deer and fawn

Young lavender plants line the driveway

USS New York

Sunrise at the inn

A Whiff of Lavender

“Something sweet and sacred there is in these treasured family collections, and, as they are opened for us, we catch a whiff of lavender and rose leaves from Mrs. Washington’s dainty linen closets.” - from “Martha Washington” by Anne Hollingsworth Wharton

Martha Washington

Washington Lavender, home of fine “Martha’s Own” and “By George” lavender products, is a lavender farm found on ten acres of oceanfront farmland overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca near Sequim, Washington. Located in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, the rich soil and the ideal microclimate of this Olympic Peninsula locale makes a perfect environment for lavender farming. Here you can enhance your senses in fields of lavender, surrounded by a panorama of unparalled views.

As a vital part of the George Washington Inn & Estate, our farm seeks to produce the finest essential oil and lavender products that have made this “Lavender Capital of North America” famous. Agriculture was a passion of George Washington at Mount Vernon, and we seek to emulate his quest for the best stewardship of this rich farmland.

During the summer the sweet smell of lavender fills the air with a rich honey-like aroma. Each year we harvest the lavender by hand at its peak to extract the essential oil, ensuring the finest quality by distilling these flowers in small batches.  Here are some valuable tips for using lavender essential oil:

• Rub a drop of lavender oil on your palms and smooth it on your pillow to help you sleep.
• Apply a drop of lavender oil on a bee sting or insect bite to stop the itching and to help reduce swelling.
• Put 2-3 drops of lavender oil on a minor burn to decrease pain.
• Rub lavender oil between your toes to prevent athlete’s feet.
• Mix several drops of lavender oil with V-6 Enhanced Vegetable Mixing Oil and use topically on eczema and dermatitis.
• To alleviate the symptoms of motion sickness, place a drop of lavender oil on the end of the tongue or around the naval or behind the ears.
• To stop a nosebleed, put a drop of lavender oil on a tissue and wrap it around a small chip of ice. Push the tissue covered ice chip up under the middle of the top lip to the base of the nose and hold as long as comfortable or until the bleeding stops; avoid freezing the lip.
• Rub a drop of lavender oil over the bridge of the nose to unblock tear ducts.
• Rub lavender oil on dry or chapped skin
• Rub a drop of lavender oil on chapped or sunburned lips.
• Reduce or minimize the formation of scar tissue by massaging lavender oil on and around the affected area
• Rub 2 – 4 drops of lavender oil over the armpit area to act as a deodorant.
• Rub a drop of lavender oil between your palms and inhale deeply to help alleviate the symptoms of hay fever.
• Rub several drops of lavender oil into the scalp to help eliminate dandruff.
• Place a few drops of lavender oil on a cotton ball and place in your linen closet to scent the linens and repel moths and insects.
• Place a drop of lavender oil in your water fountain to scent the air, kill bacteria and prolong the time between cleanings.
• Place a few drops of lavender oil on a wet cloth and throw into the dryer, which will deodorize and freshen your laundry.
• Put a drop of lavender oil on a cold sore.
• Diffuse lavender oil to alleviate the symptoms of allergies.
• Spritz several drops of lavender oil mixed with distilled water on a sunburn to decrease pain.
• Drop lavender oil on a cut to clean the wound and kill bacteria.
• Apply 2-3 drops of lavender oil to a rash to stop the itching and heal the skin.

For more info on lavender, see Washington Lavender.