George Washington once traded his horse for 5,000 acres of Kentucky land near present day Rough River. The legend of the first president is coming back to Kentucky as the focus of a traveling exhibit set to open in Louisville next month at the headquarters of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. “The Many Faces of George Washington” is an exhibit sponsored by the society and the Alexander Hamilton Historical Society of Kentucky. It will focus on the life and leadership of the Virginia boy who grew up to became a two-time unanimously elected President of the United States. Visitors to the exhibit can expect to see artifacts, documents, portraits and actors dressed in colonial garb, Wilson said. “We have many things in our collection that turn this into an interactive experience,” Wilson said. The exhibit is part of an educational outreach program geared towards expanding the knowledge of students, teachers and the general public, Wilson said. “It is open to the general public, but we do have regularly scheduled school groups that come in,” she said. She said students will have the opportunity to make haversacks, write with quill pens and ring a life-size replica of the Liberty Bell. More than 800 students have already scheduled a visit. The exhibit will be free and open to the public during regular business hours (8 a.m.-5 p.m) Nov. 12 through Dec. 16. at the society's headquarters at 1000 S. Fourth Street. Colleen Wilson, the society's education director, said Washington had an affinity for this region of the country. “He thought the Ohio River Valley was very important, in terms of opening up the west,” she said.
