Researchers announced today that they’ve discovered George Washington’s boyhood home. The site of the home, called Ferry Farm, was never lost. Yet the actual location of the house on the property has been a mystery.

A few months ago, I was in Fredericksburg, Va., for a soccer tournament with a couple of my kids. We stopped by Ferry Farm and walked down a slope to the river. As the NYT reports: “The house stood on a terrace overlooking the Rappahannock River, where legend has it the boy threw a stone or coin across to Fredericksburg.” I decided to test the legend, and tried to throw a few rocks. I may not have the arm of Roberto Clemente, but I did my best–and my furthest throw plunked into the water about halfway across. George Washington was a physically imposing man, and I suspect he was quite strong in his youth. But it would have taken an exceptionally good throwing arm to toss anything across that river.