In 2006, for instance, I was in New York City visiting a restaurant that has since become a favorite of mine, Fraunces Tavern (order the house salad). Because this tavern was the site of many historic events, they have a museum upstairs for anyone who wants to find out more about them. One such event took place on December 4, 1783. On that date, General George Washington bid farewell to the members of the Continental Army. And sure enough, a piece of the general still resides there: a lock of strawberry blond hair. Washington was a red head. How interesting!
And when I lived in the French Quarter, I visited the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum which is home to a snip John F. Kennedy's locks as well as a sample off of Jackson's glorious coiffure.
My most recent Presidential hair siting happened at the Minnesota Historical Society's newest exhibit, Discover the Real George Washington: New Views from Mount Vernon. The exhibit shares quite a bit about Washington's younger years as well as a look at Presidential life at his Mt. Vernon home. There are life-sized forensic wax models of Washington representing various stages of his life -- including a young Washington set upon a taxidermied horse. On Sunday the exhibit was packed with people learning more about the nation's first president and the details of his impressive leadership skills as a young man. Although this may sound crass of me, I must admit that I meandered through most of the exhibit rather quickly. I was most looking forward to seeing the only surviving full set of Washington's dentures. My brisk pace did halt rather suddenly at one point however, most likely the result of Pavlovian conditioning, when I caught the site of a whiskey still.
It was a replica, but no matter, what the hell was it doing here? Turns out George Washington was not only a military and political man, he was a successful agricultural entrepreneur as well. As a result, he began to distill whiskey at his Mt. Vernon home. Since I had Washington's troubled periodontium on my mind, I couldn't help but wonder if he drank whiskey to help ease his pain.
I grew up knowing Washington had dentures and never thought much more about it, figuring it was an inevitable result of a time in which dental hygiene was barely a concept. Mostly I thought it was a time in which people didn't care about dental hygiene or, even if they did, they may not have had access to the proper tools.
As a result of this exhibit I found out that Washington in fact took dental hygiene very seriously; he made a point of always having a toothbrush and brushing powder with him. What luck this poor guy had, I thought. He actually makes a point of taking care of his teeth and still ends up having the worst teeth imaginable. Bad genes, maybe? My older sister had to have something like 17 teeth pulled when she was growing up. If she had grown up in the 1800s, how would that scenario have worked out? Probably not so good. But she would have been able to go to college on Tooth Fairy money alone, so at least there's that.
Anyway, in addition to highly abrasive brushing powder, he most likely used boar hair toothbrushes. It's well-known that Washington had reoccurring toothaches, but I wonder if he further irritated his mouth to such an extent that his teeth and gums just couldn't take it anymore.
There is an entire semi-circular room devoted to Washington's tooth situation, the center piece of which looks like it could have come from the Tut exhibit a few blocks away at the Science Museum of Minnesota. Under a pyramid-like column of glass are Washington's dentures, and they look agonizing. Real teeth (from where!) and carved ivory teeth are embedded in lead. Small metal springs mimic the human jaw's natural hinges toward the back of the mouth. I wonder if they pinched the inside of Washinton's cheeks. Additionally, his gums rested on flat lead surfaces. I can only assume the springs had enough tension to keep the dentures pressed to his upper and lower gums and he had to exude an unnatural amount of force in order to bite down. A guide in the museum pointed out a portrait of Washington and told everyone to look at how his closed mouth bulged around the lips. It was because of his ill-fitting and painful dentures.
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| Coco with Ultra Violet. Photo by Bunny |
Barbara Davis, best known as the spokesperson for Ken Davis's BBQ, MCd the event between commercials. She seemed particularly interested in the emotional instability of the various mom characters in this year's batch of movies. At one point, between various bits of Hollywood gossip, she asked "What's with the mom bashing this year?"
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| Blooming Barbara Davis. Photo by Bunny |
Visit the Washington exhibit at the Minnesota Historical Society. I went on Family Day, so there were many activities and demonstrations going on, including this dance that was popular at the time George Washington was President.
See what I wore to the Oscar party via The Minneapoline.
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