
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, September 27, 1994                   TAG: 9409270117
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: STAFFORD                                 LENGTH: Short

FIRE CHARS WASHINGTON'S HOME SITE

Fire early Monday gutted an 80-year-old structure built atop stones that once were the foundation for George Washington's boyhood home.

Investigators who began poking through the charred interior of the empty 1914 farmhouse said they were looking for evidence of arson, but they would not rule out the possibility that lightning started the blaze.

Stafford Fire Marshal Curt Alvis said the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was assisting in the investigation, ``just to have a second pair of eyes.''

Firefighters from at least six different fire departments found the blaze too far along to save the structure, but the foundation appears to remain intact, Alvis said.

The farmhouse covered foundation stones from the Washington family home built 1727. That house burned in the late 18th century, and another structure was built on the foundation in 1825.

by CNB