Virginia - Part 1

On Monday October 18 Mum and Dad left for their trip to New York and we set off on another road trip, this time around the State of Virginia, which borders Washington DC. We were headed to Richmond but passed by the town of Fredericksburg on our way. Because of its strategic position between Washington and Richmond, Fredericksburg became another focal point for a battle during the civil war. Pia and Ella were not overly thrilled to be doing another battlefield tour so we kept this one fairly brief. We saw the site of the Marye's Heights battle and the Sunken Road, the site of a huge battle in 1862. The Confederates held the heights here and many of the Federal soldiers were killed trying to reach them, having nowhere to hide.

Lee's drive

We also drove around the very scenic Lee's drive, the site of many battlefields and trenches from the war.

We then continued on our way to Richmond. Our purpose here was to see the State Capitol building, as it was designed by Thomas Jefferson. After his posting to France and having seen the Maison Carree at Nimes, Jefferson changed the design of the Capitol building part way through to reflect the style of architecture being built in Europe at the time. The Richmond Capitol building is credited with influencing the style of many of Washington's future public buildings, such as the White House and Supreme Court.

The statue of Thomas Jefferson inside the Virginia State Capitol building.

The Palladio inspired Capitol building was completed in 1788. As we first drove past it, Pia asked "What is that building?". It is set high on a hill and does look very impressive.

That night we arrived in Williamsburg, ready for a full day at Colonial Williamsburg on the Tuesday. When I was at university I wrote an essay as part of a history course on Colonial Williamsburg as an example of an authentic open-air museum so it was great to be able to finally see the real thing. Colonial Williamsburg is actually the old part of the town of Williamsburg. During the 1700's it was the capital of England's largest colony in the New World and today 88 original buildings still stand, as well as hundreds of recreated ones. You can visit many of the homes, shops, inns and buildings and talk to many of the 'townsfolk', as well as take part in recreated scenes from history.

We saw Thomas Jefferson give a public speech and later we saw George Washington in a public theatre where he answered questions from the audience about his views on politics and the state of the nation.

We did a tour of the Governor's Palace and saw some of the family's private rooms as well as the ballroom and kitchen.


We saw carpenters, blacksmiths and other tradespeople talk about their jobs and the sort of work they did each day in the colony.




The Union Jack still flies here and horse and carriage are the means of transport. Cars are not allowed into this part of the city.


The day ended with a reconstruction of the time when Virginia declared its Independence from England. The band marched past the Capitol Building and cannons blasted as the crowd cheered!

We had a great time in Williamsburg and the next day we made our way to Charlottesville. We did, however, stop in Richmond again, continuing on our civil war theme. During the Civil War, when Virginia broke away from the Union, Richmond became the capital of the Confederate States of America from 1861-1865. We visited the Museum of the Confederacy and also did a great tour of the Confederate White House. This was quite small compared to the White House in Washington and living space and office space were often quite close together. The girls were most interested in the children's bedroom, where they saw the real working cannon that the President's 5 year old son was given as a present and which he used to light and shoot in the garden!

The Confederate White House in Richmond, home to Confederate President, Jefferson Davis.

We then continued on to Charlottesville and arrived at Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, just as the rain stopped. Thomas Jefferson spent over 40 years designing, building and re-building his home, Monticello. He loved his home and estate and once declared, "I am as happy nowhere else and in no other society, and all my wishes end, where I hope my days will end, at Monticello". He finally completed the house in 1809 and Monticello in now the only home in America designated a UN World Heritage site.

We did a tour of the house and saw many of Jefferson's private rooms. He was innovative in his design and included many features uncommon in that day, such as an indoor calendar to tell the day of the week pulled by weights, as well as pulleys in the fireplace that allowed wine to be sent up from the cellar and a revolving cupboard that allowed food to be served easily in the dining room. Some rooms were designed in the shae of an octogon, a shape Jefferson loved as it eliminated dark corners. Pia and Ella were given the job of counting all the clocks in the house. They performed their task well and correctly found 7 clocks. This was at a time when most people still told the time by the position of the sun.

James outside the entrance to Monticello

The vegetable gardens at Monticello

A short walk away from the house lies Jefferson's grave. He planned the tombstone himself and wanted 3 things mentioned on it, the achievements of which he was most proud. These were that he was the writer of the Declaration of Independence, the writer of the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom and the Father of the University of Virginia. Even though he was Secretary of State and the 3rd President of the United States, to him these were just positions he held that other men would hold after him. It was the 3 things mentioned on his tombstone of which he was most proud and where he felt he had made a difference.

On our return to the Monticello Visitor's Centre, Pia and Ella visited the children's hands-on room in which they could practise using some of Jefferson's inventions, do a rubbing of the inscription on his tomb and dress up as a slave, as Ella did. She played the role well, looking suitably miserable! Jefferson was an interesting contradiction. He was the writer of the Declaration of Independence and declared "All men are created equal.." yet he owned many slaves and relied on them to work his estate and help build Monticello. He did express his discomfort with this situation yet did nothing to change it. His view seemed to be that his generation had done enough for change in America and that getting rid of slavery was a task for future generations to deal with.

Next post will be Virginia - Part 2: coming soon!