"The father of our country made a pretty decent whiskey, which is the subject of new plans at his Mount Vernon, Virginia home.

George Washington: First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen-and the first and last President known for homemade whiskey. While better known in history as a general, scientist, farmer and first President of the United States, George Washington had an additional, more colorful pursuit that our grade school teachers apparently forgot to tell us: He was a whiskey maker.

And he was no slouch, either. Washington's distillery produced approximately 11,000 gallons of whiskey between 1798 and 1799, bringing in the then-sizable sum of $7,500 for the retired president.

According to recent reporting by the Associated Press, what is believed to be one of Washington's copper stills is coming out of storage in the Smithsonian for a new display at Mount Vernon, Virginia-Washington's home. The Smithsonian is currently in the process of developing partnerships with historical sites across the country in order to display more of the site's artifacts to the public.

Mount Vernon, along with help from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, plans to recreate Washington's distillery by using copies of the original still. The Council is hoping to raise $1.2 million.

The still - which historians are nearly certain was Washington's - was actually used by a moonshiner in Fairfax County, Virginia, as late as the 1940's, when it was confiscated by the IRS. The IRS later turned the still over to the Smithsonian when they learned it might have been Washington's.

Researchers are currently investigating what Washington's whiskey may have been. Experts believe that the retired general's whiskey used at least three grains - com, rye and wheat - and may have tasted something like bourbon.

Producing whiskey was a rather natural accomplishment for a man who historians say might have become known as an agricultural pioneer if it hadn't been for politics.

'Whereas the Revolution and the Presidency forced upon Washington a role in history-a role, I hasten to add, he embraced eagerly and played to the hilt - his career in agriculture, of his own choosing and design, had on him a stronger and more enduring hold than did either war or politics,' said Washington historian W. W. Abbott, Professor Emeritus of the Corcoran Department of History and Editor Emeritus of the Papers of George Washington at the University of Virginia. Indeed, Mount Vernon takes great pains to point out that Washington was a 'first farmer' of America.

As a leader in new agricultural practices, Mount Vernon docents point out, he was one of the first farmers to develop a system of selective breeding to raise stronger livestock, make use of an extended 7-year crop rotation system to preserve his fields, recognize the need to replenish soil rather than move and clear new lands, resolve to make America a "granary" to the world by emphasizing the production of wheat and other grains rather than tobacco" (The American Mix, February 2001).