A Revolutionary Tour of Central Virginia: The Homes of Jefferson and Monroe and the Home Battle Field By Demetra M. Pappas July 4th invites educational travel for adults as well as families. While my idea of educational travel started with graduate school, a road trip (or easy Amtrak journey) provides for both. This Central Virginia Presidential Home and “Home Battle Field” plan of battle suits either way. Jefferson’s Monticello in Charlottesville is a superb place to start; as Jefferson built and rebuilt the house and garden for over 40 years, it appealed to the academic in me. There is a day in the life tour, and it is a treat
Resident July 2013
to have Jefferson’s inventions pointed out en route. For a pre/post tour of a different sort, lunch nearby at Michie Tavern and learn that reading (or even walking along the path of history are not self-limiting) and for homework, get A Taste of the 18th Century (Michie Tavern ca. 1784). Jefferson’s postpresidential retreat at Poplar Forest in Bedford is a smaller, more intimate experience (where I recently attended an erudite and politically humorous conversational debate between Jefferson and Benedict Arnold).
The University of Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819, has contemporary cultural learning opportunities, as well as Jeffersonian architectural genius. The Small Collections Library is a true treasure trove, with small exhibits and a view of open stacks of rare books behind gleaming glass – access without risk. The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia has rotating innovative exhibits. For theatrical goings on, the UVA theaters (Ruth Caplin, Culbreth and Helms) are running a Heritage Theater Festival over the summer.