Colonial Virginia

Last week we were supposed to have led a tour to the East Coast, called, “Faith in America”. On account of the pandemic and the Omicron variant, the tour was canceled. We hope to reschedule it for sometime in the future!

Since we had already purchased our air tickets, the two of us decided to travel east anyways. We reduced the itinerary and focused our time exclusively to the sate of Virginia, or as its residents like to say, ‘The Commonwealth of Virginia.’. 

We located an Airbnb in Charlottesville and made that our home base for the majority of our time. Charlottesville was on the original itinerary because of its stature in Colonial America. Younger than Jamestown and Williamsburg, it nevertheless is at the nexus of great events in our nation’s history. 

The key influence of Charlottesville is Thomas Jefferson. It was here that he founded the University of Virginia on the edge of the city in 1819. UVA is noted as the first college or university in America that had at its center a library rather than a chapel. Jefferson wanted to emphasize the centrality of learning and curiosity at the core of this academic institution. 

His home Monticello is just minutes by car southeast of the city. Using the French word for ‘little mountain’, Jefferson spent 40 years building and expanding this unique structure. Inspired by the Enlightenment and Greco-Roman style, Jefferson poured his creative energies into its construction. Even though it is over 200 years old, both exterior and interior have been lovingly and professionally preserved. During our tour it felt like we walked back into time and could have met Mr. Jefferson around any corner. 

In fact they have hired an amazing character actor who represents Jefferson in18th century garb. He came out on the front lawn and a couple dozen visitors gathered around him for a half hour conversation. His accent, knowledge and demeanor were remarkable. He was insightful especially when I asked him about his thoughts on the separation of church and state which he famously proposed.

The foundation which manages and presents the tours are both friendly and up to date. They are very candid that the structures and the grounds were worked by slave labor. One of the ironies of Jefferson is that he penned the words of the Declaration of Independence, “All men are created equal” while during his life time he owned over 600 slaves. History is never orderly. 

One of the treats was the proximity of the Appalachian Trail that runs along the nearby Shenandoah Valley. We spent three days hiking up and down these paths under canopies of hardwoods and rocky outcroppings. The vistas gave proof to the term ‘Blue Ridge Mountains’. 

Towards the end of our stay we visited two treasures in western Virginia. One is the Frontier Culture Museum and the other is the Belle Grove Plantation. The Frontier is an open air museum that contains the actual structures of over a dozen 18th & 19th century structures. The European ones were disassembled in their home country and then rebuilt stone by stone. Inside each home or barn or forge is a guide dressed in appropriate clothing of the period. They explain how flax is turned into linen, how iron is shaped into utensils, how beef is rendered into tallow candles. The first dwelling is a mud and straw hut reconstructed from a typical West Africa village from where millions of Africans were kidnapped and brought to the Americas. Also on site were Native American bark teepees of the kind built by local tribes. 

On the north end of the Shenandoah Valley sits the well preserved Belle Grove Plantation. This building once housed the  Isaac Hite family. Like a handful of other plantations the Belle Grove has recently acknowledged the presence and importance of the slaves who lived and died there. Most of them have been erased from history but slowly and painstakingly, bits of their legacy are coming to light. 

We finished our trip with visits and over nights with my niece and my sister, both long time residents of the Commonwealth. After a week we felt like we only scratched the surface of the rich history of Virginia. It is well worth the time to explore and enjoy. After all it’s state logo is very apt, ‘Virginia is for lovers.’