Historic Garden Week in Virginia - April 19-27, 2008

This weekend marks the beginning of this year's Historic Garden Week in Virginia. There are going to be a number of interesting gardens open in Albemarle County, among them Morven; Casa Maria, Ramsay, and other properties in the Greenwood area; and the University of Virginia Grounds and Gardens. I urge you to take advantage of these rare opportunities to see these private homes and gardens up close; Garden Week is usually the only time they are open to the public. Plus, the entrance fees help the garden clubs of Virginia continue the preservation of historic sites around the state.

For more details, check out the Albemarle-Charlottesville schedule.

Virginia Festival of the Book, March 26-28, 2008

Hi, all! I'm very excited about participating in the Virginia Festival of the Book this year. They have over 365 authors making presentations on books and writing over a period of three days.

The event I'm taking part in is: Traveling Historic Virginia: Sites and Tales. This will be a panel of three authors (myself, Pamela K. Kinney, and Donna Akers Warmuth) talking about our books on traveling in Virginia. The event is to take place on Friday, March 28th, at 2pm at the Sun Bow Trading Company (110 W. South Street) in Downtown Charlottesville. (They have beautiful rugs too!)

Come and join us!

Bicycling Central Virginia in the Spring

Now that the weather seems to be warming up, we can look forward to a lovely spring in Central Virginia. One of the pastimes that everyone enjoys is bike riding on the more than 800 miles of scenic bike trails in Virginia. The Virginia Dept. of Transportation offers a free state bicycling trail map that you can order online, or retrieve as a PDF map file and a PDF bicycling guide.

The trail that goes through Albemarle County is US76, which starts north of Richmond, goes west past Lake Anna in Louisa County, then swings south to Fluvanna County, and then west through Fluvanna and Albemarle Counties. The trail meets the Blue Ridge Parkway at Waynesboro, and follows it for 25 miles before turning into the Shenandoah Valley. In spring, this trail is beautiful! (And for those of us not up to biking across several counties, most of the trail follows paved roads accessible to automobiles.)

Enjoy!

On the Map: The Seymour I. Schwartz Collection of North American Maps, 1500-1800

From Jan. 28, 2008 through Jan. 17, 2009, the Main Gallery of the Harrison Institute/Small Special Collections Library will display an exhibit called "On the Map: The Seymour I. Schwartz Collection of North American Maps 1500-1800." Dr. Schwartz is a well-known surgeon and medical educator whose avocation is cartography. Over a long and distinguished career, he has been recognized as one of the foremost U. S. authorities on maps and has written five books on the topic. This exhibit offers an opportunity to see Dr. Schwartz's North American map collection, which he has donated to the University of Virginia Library. For more information on the exhibit, see the exhibit website.

Traveling Historic Virginia: Sites and Tales

We've just got more information on the Virginia Festival of the Book panel that I will participate in.

Here's the link: Traveling Historic Virginia: Sites and Tales.

John Mosby Heritage Area, Feb. 9 & Mar. 8, 2008

Though John Mosby was a native of Albemarle County, the John Mosby Heritage Area is located around Warrenton, VA (about an hour west of Washington, D.C. and 2 hours north of Charlottesville). This is the area where Mosby and his men were most active during the Civil War.

During February and March of 2008, the Grey Ghost Interpretive Group will be offering "Fireside Mosby" at the Rector House in Atoka, near Middleburg, VA. As the website explains, "These are stories from costumed interpreters portraying citizens and soldiers who lived in this area during the time of the Civil War." Cost is $5 for adults and $2 for students. Check the website of the John Mosby Heritage Area for more information.

Spain and the U.S. in the Age of Independence: National Portrait Gallery

There is a new show at the National Portrait Gallery called "Legacy: Spain and the United States in the Age of Independence, 1763-1848." According to the Washington Post, it is a collection of "some 70 portraits, maps, and treaties that attempt to shed some light on this still-shadowy corner of history."

While the National Portrait Gallery is not in Charlottesville or Albemarle County -- it's in Washington, D.C. -- this show sounds like it would be a lot of fun and educational, too!