George Washington's Barbados Diary, 1751-52

In the autumn of 1751, at the age of nineteen, George Washington sailed with his older half—brother Lawrence from Virginia to the Caribbean island of Barbados—the one and only time that the future Revolutionary War hero and president would leave the shores of continental North America. Lawrence had long been in poor health and hoped, in vain, that the island climate would prove restorative. The Washingtons landed in early November, and George spent seven weeks on Barbados, recording his imp...