Happy Retreat
Multi species works from the home of Charles Town's Founder
Representative Gallery
2022 Update
Until now the majority of my work from the site of Happy Retreat had been in English Walnut, but in Spring, 2022, an unusually large specimen of Northern Spicebush was removed from the grounds. Despite loads of information about medicinal and culinary uses of this shrub's flowers, berries, and twigs, I couldn't find any reference to the wood itself, which I found quite striking. I rough turned some pieces...we'll see.
About Historic Happy Retreat
Also known as the Charles Washington House and Mordington, Happy Retreat is the the Federal/Greek Revival style home of George Washington’s brother Charles Washington, the founder of Charles Town. The home is set upon a hill that overlooks Charles Town on 12 acres of sloping lawns and woods. While Happy Retreat is generally held to have been constructed by 1780, there is evidence that the land was farmed and occupied well before the Revolutionary War. In modern times, the National Trust for Historic Preservation added Happy Retreat to its growing portfolio of National Treasures. Since 2015, the non-profit Friends of Happy Retreat (FOHR) has partnered with the City of Charles Town to restore and preserve Happy Retreat for public use, to include a 10-acre park and the use of the house and outbuildings as a center for history, heritage tourism, scholarship, culture, and other events. Read more, including the exciting list of public events and how you can support Happy Retreat at:
www.happyretreat.org
www.happyretreat.org
Happy Retreat Today
These days Happy Retreat hosts annual events, concerts, and other events, including a Craft Beer & Music Festival, a wine festival, Christmas at Happy Retreat, and regular concerts as part of the Charles Washington Chamber Music Society Concert Series (see Events | Happy Retreat for more details). For the Friends of Happy Retreat, organized as FOHR in 2006 for the purpose of acquiring, preserving, and utilizing the property for public benefit," the preservation and upkeep of the grounds and building is a labor of love, overseen by by Washington Family descendant Walter Washington. The removal of the large but damaged English Walnut pictured below, was just one example of the maintenance and upkeep required of an historic old property; fortunately for me, the proprietors of Happy Retreat generously allowed me to harvest some of the wood for turnings.