Our Introduction to Hemp
Thought to be the first domestically-cultivated plant, evidence of fabrics made from hemp date back 8,000 years to Turkey, now the modern-day Mesopotamia, according to the National Hemp Association. Hemp has quite a history in the United States, as well.
In the 1700s, farmers in some U.S. colonies were required by law to grow hemp as an essential crop. One of the most famous U.S. growers was a very well-known man … for being the first president of the United States. That’s right! George Washington grew hemp.
“It’s one of the many agricultural crops that he planted at Mount Vernon on his five farms,” says Dean Norton, director of horticulture at Mount Vernon. “In writings and diaries, he mentions hemp no fewer than 90 times.”
In a letter to William Pearce dated Feb. 24, 1794, Washington detailed how Pearce could sow saved hemp seed.
“I am very glad to hear that the gardener has saved so much of the St. loin seed, and that of the India hemp,” Washington wrote. “Make the most you can of both, by sowing them again in drills … The hemp may be sown anywhere.”
But why did Washington talk so much about hemp?
“Every part of the industrial hemp plant that Washington was growing could be used,” Norton says. “From the seed you could extract oil, and from the fibers around the stalk you can make cloth, paper and rope.”
Finally, in 2018, after an absence for centuries, hemp was grown and harvested on George Washington’s estate — thanks to the 2018 Farm Bill.
“Bringing this crop back really helps to complete our agricultural story,” Norton says.
