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STATE OF VIRGINIA

Alexandrias Farmers Market

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October 1999 trip to Virginia and Washington D.C.

The Country Inn in Middleburg, Virginia

The Shenandoah Valley 200 South Street Inn, Charlottesville, Virginia

The trip to our Nations Birthplace began at theDulles Washington D.C. Airport late in the afternoon.Here we rented a car and immediately proceeded to get lost trying to find the road to Middleburg, whwe had planned to spend the night at the Middleburg Country Inn. As a result we arrived quite late,late in fact that the inns proprietor had retired for the night, leaving the key to our room in an envelopmarked The Schnells at the unattended front desk. The room in this historic former Church Rectoryin 1820 was quite charming with a wall-to-wall canopied bed. A fierce rainstorm overwhelmed us that

night walking back from a cozy dinner at a local restaurant. On the following bright morning we strolltown located in an area once surveyed by George Washington when it was known as ChinnsCrossroads. After a lovely breakfast, we checked out and headed for theShenandoah Valley alongSkyline Drive, a spectacular route that winds 105 miles south from Front Royal to Waynesboro ove

theBlue Ridge Mountains of the ShenandoahNational Park. En route we visited the Luray Ca-verns, where for millions of years water has seepedthrough the limestone and clay to create a wonderfullweird world of stalactite and stalagmite mineral formations. At Waynesboro we turned off and headedforCharlottesville, the epitome of Virginias Pied-mont area. After checking in at the200 South StreetInn, a former brothel restored to create an old fashioned inn in the historic district, we strolled this area atlength and visited its pedestrian shopping mall stretcing along six blocks of Main Street with fountains, outdoor restaurants and restored buildings lining a brickpaved street. Prior to visiting Jeffersons Monticellothe following day, we went to the west end of town tocheck out theUniversity of Virginia, one of thenations most distinguished institutions of higher lear-ning, which was founded and designed by ThomasJefferson, who called himself its father in his ownepitaph. Regarded by many as the proudest achie-vement of American architecture in the past 200

years,students vie for the rooms in the original pavi-lions that flank the lawn, a graduated expanse thatflows down from theRotunda, a half-scale replica ofthe Pantheon in Rome. We were thoroughly awedby this historical and dignified seat of higher learning.

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Thomas Jeffersons Monticello

Donna at the Vegetable Garden and Pavilion

President Thomas Jefferson West lawn and Monticello

If Charlottesville is the epitome of Virginias Piedmont arthe major attraction in the Piedmont is nearby Monticellothe distinguished home that Thomas Jefferson designeand built for himself. Waiting in a long line to get in,we wgreeted at the entrance by a guide about to take us on atour of the home of our brilliant third president. This, hismost famous of homes, is a masterpiece constructed ovea period of 40 years,1769-1809. Typical of no singlearchitectural style, it is characteristic of Jefferson, who ma statement with every detail. The staircases were narroand hidden because he considered them unsightly andwaste of space and his bedroom alcove was surprisinglymodest. Monticello was a revolutionary structure, a neoclsical repudiation of the prevalent English Georgian styleand the Colonial mentality behind it. It became the centerJeffersons world where he retreated from the politics thahe called his duty. A French visitor in 1782 reported tha

Jefferson was Musician, Draftsman, Surveyor,AstronomNatural Philosopher, Jurist, and Statesman. Surroundedby books and his inventions, Jeffersons studies rangedfrom the rich classical past of Greece and Rome to scienand architecture. His ideas were strongly influenced by tEnlightenment, the eighteenth century movement that ephasized reason and scientific inquiry. Monticello was hnot only to Jefferson and his large family, but also to asny as 135 slaves who worked the plantations four farms,constructed the house and outbuildings, and carried outhousehold chores. We walked through the gardens andvisited Jeffersons grave site with an obelisk inscribed:

Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, Author of theDeclaration of American Independence, Of the Sta-tute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father ofthe University ofVirginia.

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Colonial Williamsburg

Two lads from the Fife and Drum Corpson the mile long Duke of Gloucester St.

Donna At the Bootmakers Shop in Colonial Williamsburg

From Monticello we drove 70 miles southeast to Richmondto spend the night here in the capital of the commonwealth,once also the capital of the Confederacy. Something aboutthis most industrialized city in the south made us change ourplans and instead compel us to drive another 50 miles makinus arrive a day early in Colonial Williamsburg. After check-

ing in at the

Fort Magruder Inn, we went to the huge visitorscenter to buy our Patriots Passes for the most visited histo-ric site in Virginia. Colonial Williamsburg is a convincing re-cration of the late 18 century city that was the capital of Virginiafrom 1699-1780, succeeding Jamestown. Although it haslong ceased to be politically important, it now resembles it-self in its era of glory and ranks as a jewel of the commonwe-alth. The restoration project, begun in 1926, was financed byJohn D. Rockefeller, Jr. and continues to this day, while be-ing operated as a living museum. One can only tour the restoed area on foot because all vehicular traffic is prohibited to prserve the Colonial atmosphere. 88 original 18 century structues have been meticulously restored. 225 period rooms havebeen furnished from a collection of more than 100,000 piecesof furniture, pottery, china, glass, silver, pewter, textiles, tools,and carpeting. All year long hundreds of costumed interpre-ters, wearing bonnets or three corner hats, rove and ride thruthe streets. Dozens of skilled craftspersons, also in costume,demonstrate and explain their trades inside their workshops.

Four taverns serve food and drinkthat approximate the fare of 200years ago. We spent 3 days heresoaking up the history of a time whenin the capitol building the pre-revolu-tionary House of Burgesses challen-

ged the royally appointed councilthat eventually arrived at the resolu-tions that led to rebellion and formati-on of American democracy from itsEnglish parliamentary roots. Whilehere, we made a side trip to York-town, whose Main Street is an arrayof preserved 18th century buildingson a bluff overlooking the York River.We checked out the battlefield wherecombined American and French for-ces surrounded British troops under

Lord Cornwallis in 1781, forcing anend to the American War of Indepen-dence. On the way back to Williams-burg, we stopped at Carters Grove,which examines slave dwellings andexcavated 400 years of history. Wetoured the elegant mansion, built in1755 by Carter Burwell, whosegrand-father, King Carter was one ofVirginias wealthiest landowners. It wextensively remodeled in 1919 to ex-press its owners fascination with thepast.

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Alexandria and Mount Vernon

Cobblestone street in Old Town Alexandria

George Washington On Bowling Green of the Mount Vernon Mansion

Leaving Williamsburg, we headed north towards Alexandria, where we planned to stay the rest of thetrip. On the way we stopped atFredericksburg, which rivals Alexandria and Mount Vernon in its con-nections with the Washington family. The first president lived across the Rappahannock River from agsix to 16, later he bought a house for his mother here. Intending to visit Mount Vernon on our way toAlexandria, it rained so hard by the time we got there, we put it off for another day and instead checkedHoliday Inn Old Town onKing Street. Our lovely room overlooked Farmers Market Square, the

nations oldest continually operating farmers market (1749), whereGeorge Washington

sold the cropfrom his Mount Vernon farm. The city of Alexandria maintains an identity distinct from that of Wash-ingtDC, across the Potomac. Established in 1749, the city dwarfed Georgetown - Washingtons oldestneighborhood - in the days before the revolution. Eager to inspect the remnants of its past in the historidistrict of Old Town, we set out on foot through cobblestone streets strewn with autumn leaves andmarveled at the charm of the brick and shingled homes of early Alexandria, now the chic homes of thecontemporary families. We peeked over brick walls into tranquil English gardens that beckoned us to qmoments and reflections of years gone by. We went inside Christ Church, unchanged since GeorgeWashington and Robert E. Lee worshiped here and stopped by Gadsby Tavern Museum, whereGeneral Washington reviewed his troops for the last time from the steps of the building. Trendy cafesoffered an eclectic array of cuisine in this with-it town, one place in particular, la Madeleine, a French

bistro, caught our fancy. Time came to drive the 8 milessoutheast of Alexandria and visit George Washingtons

house at Mount Vernon, probably the most visited historichouse museum in the U.S., after the White House. Wetoured the Mansion, outbuildings and thePioneer Farmersite. Washington considered himself a farmer, and al-thohis farmhouse was a formal one, nothing disguisedits working nature; in the ornate dining room, for example,guests ate at a simple trestle table assembled from bo-ardand sawhorses. We lounged on the famed long por-ticowith its 8 columns facing east across the Potomac with aview matching the period authenticity of Mount Vernonsinteriors. The outbuildings, kitchen and stable, have beenprecisely restored and beyond them, George and Martha

Washington were laid to rest in a tomb on the estate.

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Washington D.C.

Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial Donna at the Capitol

Time to explore our nations capital on the banks of the Potomac. Not wanting to be bothered with acar in the big city, we hopped the Metro in Alexandria to take us the few miles to Arlington, where wegot on a bus touring the National Cemetery, containing the graves of 200,000 American soldiers. Onthis beautiful plot of land we saw the Kennedy graves and the changing of the guard at the Tomb of tUnknowns. Another day saw us catch a Tourmobile narrated tour bus going across the Potomac andgetting off at theLincoln Memorial, where the statue of Abraham Lincoln appears to be con-templating the broad expanse of theNational Mall from a neoclassical structure reminiscent of the Pathenon. We ascended the imposing marble steps to read the immortal words of Lincolns GettysburgAddress carved on limestone walls. Back on the bus, we headed down the Mall onConstitution Aveand got off to have a look at theWhite House and as we walked the expanse of the Malls green with tnearly dozen diverse museums ringing it, we became aware that Washington, the worlds first plan-necapital (by the brilliant French engineer Pierre LEnfant)was indeed also one of its most beautiful.

We skipped visiting the Washington Monument (it was being reno-vated) in favor of theNational Air and Space Museum, where 23galleries tell the story of aviation. Suspended from the ceiling like plmodels in a childs room, we spied the 1903 Wright Flyer and Char-lesLindberghs Spirit of St. Louis. Across the Mall we entered theNational Gallery of Art which holds one of the worlds foremostcollections of paintings, sculptures and graphics, thanks in large part

the generosity of financier Andrew Mellon. We enjoyed a lovelylunch here in the Sculpture Garden Cafe. No visit to Washington iscomplete without a visit toCapitol Hill and so after waiting in a longline, we entered the gleaming white capitol. A guided tour started beneath the Rotundas dome drawing attention to the huge paintingsdepicting U.S. historical events and ended in Statuary Hall, once thLegislative Chamber of the House of Representatives. By nowexhausted and suffering from sensory overload, we declared oursel-ves ready to call it a day on a very educational trip to the lovely Statof Virginia and Washington D.C.

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