Meeting Washington

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LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Today is Wednesday, July 1st.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Making history human.

As Americans mark the nation's 250th anniversary, many are visiting Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, where historical interpreters bring the founders to life for thousands of visitors each year.

MAST: WORLD correspondent Jeff Palomino went to meet the man with perhaps the most challenging assignment of all: portraying America's first president.

AUDIO: Hello! Are you interested in touring the palace or seeing Mr. Washington? Mr. Washington.

JEFF PALOMINO: A young woman in colonial dress stands between two brick columns outside the Governor’s Palace in Colonial Williamsburg. A crowd is gathering, and it’s starting to get a little chaotic.

AUDIO: All right, all right . Give me one second. My friends, if you want to meet with Mr. Washington, I need you to form a line going to the right.

The people in line are eventually directed to walk through green gardens and into the Palace’s West Advance room.

Over 70 people squeeze into 4 rows of chairs and tight seating around the walls. Children sit on the hardwood floor in the front of the room. The crowd can’t wait to see the man who will walk through the door.

CARNEGIE: My name is Ron Carnegie. I work for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. And I’ve been playing George Washington for the last 20 years.

Carnegie is a historical interpreter. He portrays George Washington in various Williamsburg programs.

CARNEGIE: My job, in my opinion, is for you to feel like you've met Washington.

That might sound like a fun job - even an interesting one - but bringing “The Father of our Country” to life for audiences in 2026 is also a job with many unexpected challenges.

WASHINGTON: Morning, gentlemen, ladies, good people of our United States of America.

Carnegie wears an ivory vest and trousers and a brown coat. A black, cocked hat sits on a wig of long, grey hair tied in the back with a black ribbon. A lace neck piece and walking stick completes the look. His program today is an abbreviated version of Washington’s Farewell Address.

WASHINGTON: The instance for a new election of a citizen to administer our executive branch of government being not far removed, I thought at this time it proper that I apprise you of a decision that I have made and that is that my name shall not be amongst the number from whom your choice shall be made.

Carnegie worked at Williamsburg 11 years before being asked to audition for the role of Washington.

CARNEGIE: Washington, that came to me unexpectedly. I don't look like George Washington. So I never saw myself in that role.

He got the job, and Williamsburg gave him a full year to prepare.

CARNEGIE: Washington is an incredibly well-documented man. So there's a phenomenal amount of information regarding him out there.

He read books and pored over original documents. He even watched shows and documentaries. When the year ended, Carnegie knew Washington pretty well, but now he had to interpret him – while interacting with an audience.

CARNEGIE: The problem is, until you're playing it, you often don't know what the public's going to find interesting and is gonna want to know more about. And the researching doesn't stop. It keeps going on and there's constantly new things that you have to embrace.

Another challenge Carnegie faced comes from Washington’s own personality and public persona.

CARNEGIE: Washington was a stoic. He’s a little aloof. He's not a cuddly, bouncy, cheerful man. Jefferson called him gloomy. He has his moments, but they're mostly in private. And that's not really the best kind of character to choose for the kind of work we do.

You wouldn’t know it this morning, though, as the crowd hangs on every word. Even the kids sit still. At the end, hands shoot up.

CARNEGIE: My favorite part of most of my programs is when I'm taking questions from the public.

And that’s when Carnegie encounters yet another challenge of being Washington. Tall tales and legends.

TOURIST: There have been some reports the cherry tree story is fabricated. Can you shed light on that?

The Cherry Tree story was invented after Washington died, but many myths started during his life. Carnegie thinks this happened because a young America wanted its own heroes. But that’s not the real Washington.

CARNEGIE: He’s just another man. He's a remarkable man. Most of us couldn't be Washington, but he's still a mortal man. He still suffers faults. He still has sins. He's not perfect.

TOURIST: Was there ever a point during the Revolutionary War where you did not think you would win?

WASHINGTON: Sir, it’d be easier to answer if there was a point during the late war where I thought we would win. (Laughter)

The program covers a range of topics. Mr. Washington asks people to respect the “new written constitution" and he pleads for national unity over “mere regional distinction.”

WASHINGTON: There is no greater honor that may be bestowed upon you than your title of American, which is your title in your national capacity…

He warns against divisions caused by political parties and America becoming “embroiled in foreign entanglements.” He even gets this question.

TOURIST: What happens if a future president has a desire to become king?

WASHINGTON: Well, I don't see that happening. So, the question is, what occurs if a future president wishes to be king?

Carnegie says audiences always remark that the program sounds like it was written for today. And that’s a challenge in and of itself. We all have a tendency to interpret history through modern filters.

CARNEGIE: We do that with all the founding fathers. The challenge is that we often fill what we don't know about them by our own wishes and thoughts.

In doing so, we may forget America’s founders disagreed about a lot of things. Still, when the audience makes connections in their heads it can only mean only one thing: they find Washington relevant.

CARNEGIE: I will do this as long as I can, because in this kind of work that's brilliant, that's exactly what I want.

It’s also why, at age 64, he still loves showing people the human side of American history.

CARNEGIE: I think showing historical figures, whether they're well known or not as real humans, makes history more interesting. It reminds you that these people don't know where they're going. They're taking risks that they don't know the answers to. History is human.

WASHINGTON: I would like to thank you for your time and your attention. God save us all, and God save the Constitution of our United States of America (applause)

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Jeff Palomino in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia.

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