Archaeologists have unearthed two glass bottles filled with 250-year-old cherries, pits, stems, and a gooey residue beneath a brick floor laid in the 1770s at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s historic home in Virginia. The amber-colored liquid in the bottles is believed to be groundwater that seeped in as the corks deteriorated over time. Researchers speculate that the cherries were harvested at Mount Vernon likely before the Revolutionary War and buried between 1758 and 1776 for future consumption. While cherry bounce was popular during colonial times, the small size of the bottles suggests the cherries were likely preserved for cooking or baking rather than for making the alcoholic beverage.