Category: Virginia

Last day of trip 2020

Alleghany County VA
Driving up to Falling Springs Overlook we drove through thick fog, and then suddenly, bright sunshine! Beautiful autumn view of the falls.
This is the fog we drove through going up the mountain.
Sunrise over the mountain.
Island Ford Cave, east of Covington VA
A few feet inside the cave. The cave is deeper and more shallow than this view.
Morning scene near Clifton Forge VA

Woodrow Wilson

Presidential Museum, Staunton VA

(Thomas) Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the US.
He was the eighth (and so far, last) president born in Virginia. He was born in this house in Staunton VA in 1856. This was the manse for the Presbyterian Church. His father was a Presbyterian minister.
Due to COVID, the birthplace house was not open for visitors, but I was able to see the foyer through the front window.
Rear of the manse.
Entrance to the museum
Bust of President Wilson, wearing a mask. He was president during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, so he actually did wear a mask back then!
President Wilson’s Pierce Arrow, which he used is his post-presidency days (1921-1924).
Wilson’s desk at Princeton. He went to UVA law school, practiced law in Rome GA, where he met and married his first wife. Ellen Axson, another Presbyterian minister’s child. First Lady Ellen Wilson died in 1914.

Wilson earned a PhD in Political Science from Johns Hopkins University, still the only president to have earned a PhD. He subsequently taught at Princeton University, and later was president of Princeton. He also served as governor of New Jersey for two years before winning the presidency in 1912.

President Wilson suffered several strokes, including one before he ran for President. He suffered two debilitating strokes in 1918 as president, and was largely unseen the last two years of his presidency. He required assistance when leaving the White House in 1921 to attend President Warren Harding’s inauguration.

He lived in Washington DC after he left office, and died in 1924. He is buried inside the National Cathedral in DC.

Wilson’s desk lamp.
Due to a schism in the Republican Party, (Theodore Roosevelt ran third party after he failed to gain the Republican nomination from President Taft), Wilson won a decisive Electoral College victory, even though he won only 41.8% of the popular vote. Roosevelt and Taft combined for 50.7%.

President Wilson was a racist in a big way. The first major movie ever screened at the White House was “The Birth of A Nation”, which was glorified the KKK from the Reconstruction Era. He also continued segregating the Civil Service.

President Wilson’s White House phone.
President Wilson’s progressive policies expanded the Federal government bureaucracy. He also opposed voting rights for women.
Three constitutional amendments were ratified during the Wilson presidency.
17th: Enabled direct election of Senators
18th: Prohibition of alcohol manufacturing and sale
19th: Women’s right to vote
After campaigning in 1916 that he kept the US out of war, President Wilson led the US into World War I after the Germans sunk the Lusitania, which killed 1198 people, including 128 Americans.
World War I poster.
It was interesting to see these posters after seeing the World War II art posters at the FDR Museum in New York in 2018.
Trench warfare display
Medic tent. It may be hard to see in this small picture, but there are rats all over this display!

After the war, President Wilson worked tirelessly to institute his “Fourteen Points” toward worldwide peace, which culminated in the creation of the League of Nations, which was a precursor to the United Nations. The League of Nations failed when the US Congress rejected it. It was a huge defeat and embarrassment for President Wilson.

Natural Bridge VA

We took a day trip to see Natural Bridge VA. We had never been here before.
After you walk down 137 steps, go through the gate, and there it is! It is much larger than you can tell in a picture. It is really quite a sight!
Looking up at the bottom of the bridge. Route 11 runs right over the top of the vridge.
Looking up at the bottom again.
George Washington climbed 28 feet up the rock and etched GW in the rock.

Orange County VA

So we took advantage of a beautiful Presidents’ Day holiday this year, and went to Orange County, home of one US President and birthplace of another.

MONTEBELLO

Zachary Taylor, our 12th President, was born at this site in 1784. The house where he was born no longer stands, and the current Montebello farm is private and not open to the public. Taylor’s family lived in Kentucky, and they visited family in Virginia, and on their return trip, several people became ill, so they stopped here to recover before continuing on to Kentucky. It was during this time that the future president was born. President Taylor was a cousin of President James Madison, whose house is…

MONTPELIER

Just a few miles from President Zachary Taylor’s birthplace is Montpelier, the home of James Madison, the 4th President of the United States, and author of the US Constitution.
Approaching the front of Montpelier.
This is a beautiful house! Maybe even more impressive than Monticello!
This is the view from the front porch at Montpelier.
Gazebo with brick columns.
Entrance foyer
Parlor
Dining room
James Madison’s desk in his office
President Madison’s bed in his later years, when he was too weak to walk upstairs.
This is also the room that he died, June 28, 1836, six days short of July 4, the day that Presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe all died on. He was last signer of the Constitution to die.
One of his nieces asked him “What is the matter?”
His last words were “Nothing more than a change of mind, my dear.”
James and Dolley Madison’s bedroom
This is the room where James Madison wrote the United States Constitution.
Actually, he carefully drafted a proposal to replace the failing Articles of Confederation. He took his proposal to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, and as discussions progressed, became know as the Virginia Plan, which was mostly adopted with a few changes based on ideas from other states. Virginia was the tenth state to ratify the new constitution in 1788, and the current United States form of government was launched!
Outbuildings, such as smoke houses and slave quarters
A pitcher honoring President Madison, misspelled “Maddison”.
President Madison was our shortest president. When I first started studying about the presidents, I read that he was 5’1″ tall, and when I reached that height in fourth grade I was very proud to be as tall as a president! Now, depending on whose research you read, President Madison’s height was anywhere from 5’1″ to 5’6″.
Graves of President James Madison and First Lady Dolley Madison.
Shortly up the road from Montpelier is this house, which was the home of freed slave George Gilmore, who built it in the 1860s.
Inside of George Gilmore’s house..

MONTPELIER STATION

Train depot at Montpelier.
Interesting scene here. Notice the signs above the doors. This is what life in the south was like during Jim Crow.
This is the room for the “colored” people.
This is the much larger room for Whites.

JAMES MADISON MUSEUM

In the town of Orange, there is this neat museum called James Madison Museum. It is basically a museum about the history of Orange County. This house, completed rebuilt inside the museum, is a typical Virginia house in the 1800s for Virginians who didn’t live in mansions like Mount Vernon, Monticello and Montpelier.
A horse-drawn Rockaway carriage from the 1880s.
1912 Ford Model T
President James Madison’s favorite chair
Bust of President James Madison
Everything in the picture belonged to President Zachary Taylor:
Bed, grandfather clock, general’s chest and chair.
Although born in Virginia, President Taylor grew up near Louisville, Kentucky.
He enlisted int he US Army in 1806 and eventually rose in the ranks to brigadier general. He fought in the War of 1812, Black Hawk War, second Seminole War, and finally the Mexican-American War, during which he emerged as a national hero for winning the Battle of Buena Vista even though outnumbered 4 to 1. As a national hero, he won the 1848 presidential nomination from the Whig Party, and then the presidency. He died in office in 1849, elevating Millard Fillmore to the presidency.
Slave’s clothing and other items.
The museum holds a pretty large collection of arrowheads, and Indian tools, as well as ancient rock drawings.
The town of Orange once had a very busy silk mill, and there are artifacts from that mill in the museum. This ball of silk would be spun into silk thread one mile long!

RAPIDAN VA

Driving through the countryside of Orange County, we passed through the little village of Rapidan, which spans the Rapidan River, and rests in both Orange and Culpeper Counties.
This is the Waddell Memorial Presbyterian Church, built in 1874 in the Carpenter Gothic style with board and batten siding.
This is the Rapidan Schoolhouse, built in 1887 for the rector’s eight children. It was later used as the town library.
The inside of the schoolhouse.

MITCHELLS VA

This is Mitchells Presbyterian Church in Mitchells, Virginia. This is the village where my father was born in 1925.
These are the graves of my grandparents.
These are the graves of my great-grandparents.

CULPEPER VA

This memorial park is located in the town of Culpeper.
Dedicated to Culpeper County natives who have served in the US military.
These stones honor my father’s five brothers who served in World War II.
Civil War battlefield at Brandy Station.
This battle on June 9, 1863, the largest cavalry battle of the entire Civil War, lasted for one day, as the Union forces slowed down (but did not stop) General Robert E. Lee’s progress toward Gettysburg, and the battle that would occur there on July 1-3.
We finished our day here at the Frost Cafe in the town of Culpeper.
They have the best fried chicken!

George Washington’s Mount Vernon

After all these years we FINALLY made it to Mount Vernon!
Entrance with the circle drive. Again, we visited a landmark that was hidden by scaffolding! They are doing some structural rehabilitation on this side.
This is the porch that faces the Potomac River.
Potomac River from Mt Vernon’s front porch
Tulip Poplar planted by George Washington in 1785.
The ballroom, where the Washingtons entertained.
Mirror actually owned by George Washington.
George and Martha Washington’s bedroom. George died in this bed in 1799. Martha closed the door and never slept in this room again. She died in 1802.
George Washington’s office.
The actual key from the French Bastille. This was a gift to George Washington from French Marquis de Lafayette.
The Washingtons’ tomb.
George Washngton’s casket.
The museum was very full and informative. There are several videos that are very well done.
This is a scene of young George Washington as a surveyor
Revolutionary War General George Washington on his horse
George Washington’s inauguration
George Washington’s actual dentures. They were not wood, but a combination of human and cow teeth, and elephant ivory!
George and Martha with grandchildren “Washy” and Nelly
As our nation’s first president, Washington was certainly self-aware of his importance in the country’s future and continuity.
So it looks like people have been rubbing Washington’s nose, so…
… since we did it with Abraham Lincoln, why not Washington?!