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Spotlight on History

Early Summer 2010
by Lynette Johnson

The Shenandoah Valley is rich with American history, from its Native American heritage to pre-Revolutionary times, through the Civil War, to today. Museums, historical markers, and events showcase that history along every mile of your Valley travels. This summer, we’ll take you to two museums that need to be on your “must visit” list while you’re here.

The Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton provides a fantastic introduction to Shenandoah Valley cultural history—it is a living history center, depicting the roots and blending of the cultures and people who settled the Valley. Enjoy an outdoor learning adventure, as you roam the grounds experiencing period farm life at authentic German, Scots-Irish, English, West African, and American farms, actively worked by costumed interpreters. Each structure here was brought from its country of origin and reconstructed in perfect detail.

East of Staunton, over scenic Afton Mountain, lies Charlottesville, home of President Thomas Jefferson. Head up Rt. 53 to Jefferson’s mountain top estate, Monticello—meaning ‘little mountain’ in Italian. The name is certainly appropriate, as you’ll discover, winding your way up its steep mountain drive! Monticello was Jefferson’s ‘work in progress’, from 1768 to 1809, when Jefferson retired from the presidency and Monticello was completed. (You know how those home repair projects just stretch on!) The home was purchased in 1923 by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation and has been improved and restored continuously since then.

Inside the home you will see, in addition to Jefferson’s own possessions, items collected by Lewis and Clark on their exploration of the West. Thomas Jefferson, a man with an amazing breadth and depth of knowledge, has been described as a statesman, architect, author, inventor, archaeologist and horticulturist. The home contains many unique ideas and inventions of Jefferson, including an apparatus that allowed Jefferson to duplicate his writing! I particularly like the great clock, built by Jefferson. It’s in the entrance hall, and its mechanisms extend through the first floor, all the way down into the kitchen below.

While you are here, tour the home, grounds, and slave quarters, to learn not only about Jefferson but also about the culture, society, and daily plantation life of his day. The gardens still carefully tended, with flowers in season and vegetables being harvested daily. Opened in 2009, the new Visitor Center provides an excellent introduction to all things Jeffersonian.

The historical legacy of the Shenandoah Valley and central region of Virginia is extensive. Choose your era and focus—Appalachian settlement, Revolutionary War, Civil War, Presidents, industrial revolution, African American, World Wars I & II, architecture, or railroading would be some excellent possibilities—and plan your vacation this summer. The memories preserved here are too important to forget!


Our Museum Advertisers

Bedford National D-Day Memorial
Bridgewater Reuel Pritchett Museum
Charles Town Jefferson County Museum
Charlottesville Monticello
Clifton Forge C & O Railway Heritage Center
Covington Alleghany Historical Society
Dayton Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society
Forest Poplar Forest
Harrisonburg Crossroads Valley Heritage Center
Harrisonburg Hardesty-Higgins House
Harrisonburg Virginia Quilt Museum
Lewisburg North House Museum
Lexington Lee Chapel & Museum
Lexington Stonewall Jackson House
Lexington VMI Museum
Lynchburg Historic Sandusky
Middletown Belle Grove Plantation
Middletown Cedar Creek Battlefield
New Market New Market Battlefield
Roanoke O. Winston Link Museum
Roanoke Taubman Museum
Roanoke Virginia Museum of Transportation
Rocky Mount Blue Ridge Institute & Museum
Salem Salem Museum
Shenandoah Caverns American Celebration On Parade
Staunton Eavers Classic Car Museum
Staunton Frontier Culture Museum
Staunton Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum
Waynesboro P Buckley Moss Museum
Winchester Museum of the Shenandoah Valley
Winchester Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum

 




 
Your Guide to the Mountains & Foothills of the Virginias