Mount Vernon

The last couple days have been crazy busy. One of the instructors had to leave unexpectedly so I had to take over his course- which, is why I have been busy.

I hadn't planned to go on the Mount Vernon trip, I have been there before and wanted to go someplace new- but I am so glad I went- it was a really fun trip. Plus, the last time I went we didn't get to go on the house tour because the line was too long and my friends had to get to the airport- so it was nice to see the inside of the house. Unfortunately, I can't show you any pictures of the inside of the house because they didn't allow us to take pictures inside.

The house tour was kind of bizarre- we all filed through in a very long line, staying between the ropes, and the tour guides kind of shouted tidbits of information at us from the middle of the rooms- all they needed was a conveyor belt to keep it all moving more smoothly. It was the Disneyland of presidential homes. Very strange. The goal was clearly to get as many people through as quickly as possible. I think the tours are very different during less busy times of the year- I'll have to go back during the winter.

The assembly-line fashioned tour aside, it is now my favorite presidential home. I have only been to three but Mount Vernon is my favorite so far. It's beautiful. If you get the chance- go see it.



Here are a couple pictures of the garden...















and of the Potomac.

Fort Monroe

Yesterday we went to Fort Monroe. I don't have much to say about the trip other than I'm glad I got to go on this one (but I do have lot's of pictures)- I think Fort Monroe and Tredegar have been my favorite so far. I'm not exactly sure why.

Fort Monroe is in Hampton- it was built between 1819 and 1834. It is at the point where the James and York come together- which is obviously an important spot when you think about protecting the Hampton Roads area- well the whole peninsula really. The English built a fort there in 1609- Fort Algernourne. The decision to build Fort Monroe came about because of the War of 1812 and it is the largest stone fort in the United States. Since we visited it as part of the Civil War class I should mention that the Union held the fort throughout the war- if I am not mistaken the Confederates didn't even bother trying to take it. It is also were Benjamin Butler made his famous contraband decision after three slaves escaped from their masters and went to the fort- their masters then came over the water under a white flag and asked for the slaves return- Butler refused and called the slaves contraband- he had come up with a legal excuse to keep the slaves (he was a lawyer and a political general- which means he had no prior military service and got the post because of his political connections). This opened the floodgates and soon slaves were escaping by the hundreds.

The Army still runs the fort today- it is a training facility- but it is going to be decommissioned soon and returned to the state. This makes me a little nervous since it is prime real estate and could be turned into condos but hopefully they will preserve the fort.



These are the stairs up to the parapet.





We also walked through the wall- I am not sure how to phrase this- we were basically inside the walls of the fort.





And here's the moat. There's just something cool about a moat. I want to live somewhere that has one.



Here we are on the top of the fort- where there is a pet cemetery- crazy right? - the whole parapet is interspersed with headstones for beloved pets.



Here is a view of Saint Mary's church from the top of the fort.



And one of the houses inside the fort.







I believe these are called casemates- I could be wrong- they are where the big guns that protected the fort used to be. There was a headstone between each but I don't think you can see them in the picture.



These are some signs found on the parapet-


















And the view of the water...





Pictures from inside the fort...





(the word park is covered by the tree branch in this picture)



I don't know why- but this amused me...



This is the famous Lincoln Gun. You probably can't tell how big it is from the picture- to give you an idea of it's massive size, it would take 150 horses to pull it. And I love these trees.



We then went into the Casemate Museum- which is housed in the walls of the fort. It was kind of fun because they have mannequins all over the place- which also amused me.





Jefferson Davis was imprisoned here for a short period- here's his cell.



And a picture of the flag they hung in his cell.



And a bird that has taken up residence between the barred windows.





I think this is supposed to be his wife.



And this is his pipe- one of the RPAs said it is very badass.

Montpelier

Montpelier is the 3rd Presidential home I have visited (Mount Vernon was the first and Monticello the second). Montpelier was the home of James and Dolly Madison (she was the first FIrst Lady- though she wasn't called that until her funeral). After James Madison passed away Dolly left Montpelier in the hands of her son (his stepson) while she mourned in Washington DC. He quickly ran the plantation into the ground and landed himself in debtors prison. Dolly Madison sold Montpelier to get him out. Eventually the duPonts purchased the house- added on to it and covered it in pink stucco. Yes- you read that right- this home



was covered in pink stucco. The house is now owned by the Montpelier Foundation which has thus far spent $25 million on restoration- most of which was used to remove the pink stucco and all of the additions the duPonts had made to the house.

Here are a couple more pictures of the house today (well yesterday).







And here are a couple pictures taken from the roof terrace- the first is of the front lawn and the second of Dolly and James chillin' in the backyard.





I took these next 3 pictures as we walked the ground around the house- it's a beautiful spot.







And here is a picture of the garden gate (we didn't actually go in the garden).



We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house- so that's it for the pictures today- but I wanted to bring something up. We have gone to these amazing homes- like Montpelier and Westover (not to mention my owns trips to Mount Vernon and Monticello) and we all ooh and aahh over these architectural beauties but the people who run these sites rarely mention the people who actually built these homes. Slaves. Oh- they will talk about slaves and we might even look at the slave quarters but people rarely acknowledge that slave owners, like Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and William Byrd, would never have been able to build these homes without slave labor.

On to Jamestown

I have kind of a strange job with NIAHD- I am a fill-in or floating instructor- so I am here if one of the instructors is ill or cannot teach a class for some reason and I also fill in one day for each of them so they can have a day off and I can get some experience working directly with the students. So it is a very different experience than Keio where I got to know my group of students really well. I haven't had to fill in for anyone yet so I have just gone on the field trips and then get to go home- I feel a little guilty because I haven't had to work all that hard yet and have had fairly short work days.

Anyway- the whole point of me mentioning that I am the floating instructor is to say that there won't be a natural timeline- or progression of the sites I visit. Some days I go with the Colonial group (which focuses on American History from Jamestown to the Revolution) and other days I go with the Civil War group (which focuses on American history from the Revolution to the Civil War).

Yesterday I went with the Colonial group to Jamestown Island - which is the actual site of the original Jamestown Fort where there is an ongoing archeological dig. Part of the fort's remains have been eroded away into the James River but about 3/4s of the land where the fort stood is still there and it is an incredibly active and rich site. I have been there before, last summer, and already shared those pictures so I tried not to post duplicate images- fortunately the dig has moved from where they were last summer so there are new things to see and we were allowed to go into the vault where they keep a lot of the remains they have found.

We were also incredibly fortunate with the weather- it was the perfect day to go there, apparently almost every other year they have had students who have passed out on the Jamestown Island day because it is usually so miserable (hot and humid) when they go there- and it has been a very hot couple weeks but we lucked out and went while the weather was not only bearable but actually quite lovely.

This building wasn't there last summer (at least I don't think so).




Here we are standing around a site in the fort that is actually both a Civil War site and a Jamestown Fort site- meaning CIvil War soldiers (Confederates if I am not mistaken) built some earthworks here on the Jamestown site. And the statue you can see is on John Smith.



In this picture you can see the church, one of the digs, and the obelisk in the background.



And these two pictures are from inside the "vault."