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Just call him George: Haines gets into character to promote county tourism
Yet a guy in a tri-cornered hat, waistcoat and knee breeches has been spotted in some prominent places introducing himself as George Washington and offering his autograph to some surprised-looking people.
As if his face on the U.S. dollar, the quarter and Mt. Rushmore weren't enough, the face of Washington County tourism is, you guessed it, George Washington.
Although the face under the white hair is that of Eric Haines, ask him how he spells his first name, and he'll answer, "G-E-O-R-G-E."
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Word has it that Haines is an actor from Pittsburgh chosen from an ad-agency casting call, but try to confirm that when all he'll let on is that he's from Virginia and lives on an 8,000-acre plantation known as Mt. Vernon.
Schedule a phone interview in advance of Presidents Day, when Haines, costumed as the first prez, is planning to carve a pie almost as big as Cherry Valley, and it's George Washington you find yourself interviewing, not Haines.
He seems to want to preserve a mystique, even when he's posing in a Wild Things uniform. (And baseball as we know it didn't exist until the 19th century.)
In the magazine, this George Washington mascot also is seen operating a trolley, performing at a festival, welcoming people to the casino at The Meadows, shopping at the Tanger Outlets just across Racetrack Road, singing with the Washington County Arts Choir, acting as a hotelier and serving up a tray of desserts at the Back Porch restaurant in Speers.
He spent about two days last spring visiting Consol Energy Field, the Ebenezer Bridge in Mingo Creek County Park, the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum and the Back Porch. The picture of the choir, however, "was done through the magic of Photoshop," Haines said.
Flights of fancy seem contagious when Haines, in costume, is nearby. At the food court at the Tanger Outlets, where the Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency maintains a booth, John Graham of South Strabane Township volunteered, "We voted for George Washington."
The actor said Washington "was also very grateful the County of Washington took my name before we were a sovereign nation."
(Washington County, the first one named after the then-general, was formed in 1781; the American Revolution against Britain ended in 1783.)
Although Haines appears to be wigged, he maintains that one of the fallacies about George Washington was that he spent most of his adult life under fake hair.
"I kept most of my thick, red hair," said the actor. "I put powder in it to make it white, the standard talc of the day."
Did George Washington have a middle name? Haines replied, "I did not have one, nor did my father, Augustine. Multiple names were signs of nobility, and we wanted to get beyond that."
Now, about a certain cherry tree that George is alleged to have chopped down and, when called on the carpet, owned up to the deed, saying he could not tell a lie ... Haines said, "I am honored to be a symbol used to instruct schoolchildren. It is a falsehood as is the story about my teeth."
The story goes that Washington wore uncomfortable wooden dentures. They may have been uncomfortable, but the mascot maintains they weren't wooden.
"I had a half-dozen sets of dentures, none of which was wood. Some were ivory from a strange African beast. Human and equine teeth were added to that. Wires and springs were a great discomfort."
Why did Washington lose his teeth? Haines said John Adams, Washington's vice president, used to joke that Washington employed his teeth to crack Brazil nuts. Haines' theory is that doses of mercury given to Washington in a medicine called calomel to treat smallpox and malaria ruined his teeth.
While those teeth may or may not have cracked Brazil nuts, Haines' persona won't crack during an interview when the questions are directed at Haines, not George.
"Why would I want to be anyone else?" he asked.
