Esther White

Thursday, June 19, 2003
3:15 pm - 4:45 pm

Panel Two: Biographical Interpretations at Historic Sites, On Stage, and In Film

Esther White is the director of archaeology at Mount Vernon, George and Martha Washington’s home in Virginia. Since 1987, archaeology has functioned as a permanent part of Mount Vernon’s research program to study the plantation. Details about slave life, daily life of the Washington family, evolution of the plantation landscape, and various plantation activities such as blacksmithing and farming have been revealed through excavation. Currently White is in charge of the excavation and historical research of Mount Vernon’s 1797 whiskey distillery, a project that will help document one of Washington’s most lucrative business interests and allow better interpretation of his entrepreneurial activities. Her research interests include plantation life, the role of historic sites in presenting history, and historic ceramics. White has published articles on public archaeology, archaeology of enslaved African Americans, eighteenth-century material culture, teaching archaeology to deaf students, and reconstruction of a blacksmith shop at Mount Vernon.

Web site:
http://www.mountvernon.org