George Washington Slept Here

No, REALLY! After eating their included breakfast at the hotel (which of course they did every day), Virginia and Ken’s first adventure was to walk the short distance from their hotel to the George Washington House. The house was built in 1717.

The story goes that on George Washington’s only trip outside of what later would become the United States, he accompanied his older brother Lawrence when Lawrence came to the booming British Colony of Barbados in 1751. Lawrence was seeking relief from tuberculosis and thought the fresh air would help. George only stayed for seven weeks. While here two events occurred that the native Barbadians suggest significantly impacted George and his conduct during the Revolutionary War. (Ken is not taking a position but is simply relaying the information he saw in the museum.) 

1. He contracted smallpox. This lead him to understand its devastating effects and emboldened him to defy a Congressional ban and order his his troops to be vaccinated.
2. He came to understand the importance of sugar to the British economy. He later successfully convinced the Dutch to attack British sugar holdings in the Caribbean, thereby diverting a significant portion of the British military assets away from fledgling colonial America.