Now Available!

The History Press, Charleston, SC.
ISBN: 978-1596291737

2nd Edition of Index to Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations to be Published

McFarland & Co., Publishers announces the Fall 2009 publication of Jean Cooper's Index to Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations: Locations, Plantations, Surnames and Collections, 2d ed. (ISBN: 978-0-7864-3990-4). The Fall 2009 catalog will be available in June 2009 for pre-ordering.

Messiah Sing-In at Old Cabell Hall (UVa)

On Tuesday, December 9th, the McIntire Department of Music at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville will present the 41st Annual Messiah Sing-in, conducted by Donald Loach. The audience becomes the chorus, and the orchestra will play from the stage. Non-singers are welcome! Copies of the vocal score will be available for those who do not have their own, and orchestral parts will be available for instrumentalists. I can tell you that this event is great fun, and eagerly anticipated by musicians and would-be musicians as an integral part of the holiday season in Charlottesville.

Date: December 9, 2008
Time: 8 p.m. EST
Place: Auditorium at Old Cabell Hall on the University Grounds
Cost: $5 to benefit the University's choral ensembles

For more information: www.virginia.edu/music/Messiah

Virginia State Parks

You may remember First Landing State Park and Chippokes Plantation State Park from my free tours that go along with Chapter 1 in the Guide. (Here's the link if you haven't seen it: My Favorite Places in Historic Tidewater Virginia.)

Here are a few events that will be happening in the coming month at these locations:

2008 Fall Festival at First Landing, Oct 18, 2008, 3:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Celebrate fall with programs covering harvesting, Native American ways of life, pirate history, games, hikes and hayrides. Take a night hike in search of the elusive screech owls that live in First Landing. Location - Picnic Area & Trail Center Phone - (757) 412-2300

Jones-Stewart Mansion Tours at Chippokes Plantation , Oct 10, 2008 - Sep 04, 2009 , 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Experience the comforts of an antebellum mansion and get to know the folks that called Chippokes home! Tours are family friendly and there is no fee to tour the Mansion. Open Saturdays and Sundays. While you are here, please visit the Chippokes Farm and Forestry Museum. Location - Jones-Stewart Mansion Phone - (757) 294-3625

Fossil Walk at Chippokes Plantation, Oct 11, 2008, 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. and Oct 18, 2008, 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Participants will hike through a journey millions of years in the making! The walk will be about 1.5 miles. Geology and natural history of the park will be discussed as well as fossil identification and methods to finding fossils. Location - Meet at River House parking lot Phone - (757) 294-3625

If you want to be kept informed of what's going on in your state parks, go to the Park Events page, and sign up for the electronic newsletter.

Corn Mazes in Virginia

Mazes used to be very popular among the 18th and 19th century folks, and they seem to be making a comeback. Typically, a farmer will create a maze in a cornfield to make some extra cash from the crop.

One nearby corn maze is at Hess Greenhouse in Harrisonburg, VA, about an hour west of Charlottesville. Field trips to the maze can be scheduled anytime from August 10th through November 4th, 2007, and on most fall weekends, Hess is having a variety of harvest festivals. Check out the Calendar of Events to see what's happening.

Other Virginia mazes include the Corn Maze in the Plains, in Northern Virginia; the Corn Maze at Bridgemont Farm, in the northern Shenandoah Valley; and the Virginia is for Lovers Corn Maze in Midlands, VA.

James Madison's Montpelier

Montpelier is a very interesting place. It was the home of James and Dolley Madison, who lived there with Madison's parents. Madison is related to Albemarle County, not only because he was a friend and protege of Thomas Jefferson, but because he was the first President of the Albemarle Agricultural Society. The house is also interesting because it was owned by the DuPont family from the late nineteenth century to 1983, when Marion duPont Scott died and left it to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

After much study, the National Trust decided to restore the house to it's eighteenth-century look, removing all of the DuPont additions. Now, the restoration is complete and on September 17, 2008 -- Constitution Day -- Montpelier will hold a Restoration Celebration, open to the public.

On November 1st, Montpelier will host the Montpelier Hunt Races, a tradition started by Mrs. Scott in 1924.

Independence Day at Monticello

In my opinion, there is no better day to visit Monticello than July 4th. Thomas Jefferson preferred to celebrate Independence Day rather than his own birthday (April 13th). As he said in his last political statement:

May [July 4] be to the world, what I believe it will be -- to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all -- the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That form [of government] which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. These are grounds of hope for others. For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them.

The Thomas Jefferson Foundation also invites the public to Monticello every July 4th, to attend a Naturalization Ceremony for what is usually over 100 people who wish to become citizens of the United States. Here's a video clip on YouTube of Sam Waterston, as the speaker for the Naturalization Ceremonies in 2007, and a transcript of his speech.

NOTE: The speaker this year was actually the sitting President, George Bush.

I suggest you get there at least an hour early and take a walk around the mountaintop while waiting for the ceremony to start. Although you must buy tickets for the House Tour, the Gardens and Grounds Tour, and the Plantation Community Tour (all are included in one ticket), there is still plenty to see. If you feel like seeing everything, you can buy another ticket to see Montalto, the Jefferson property on the next mountain west that the Foundation acquired in the past couple of years.

What I like to do is take a walk through the vegetable garden, walk down Mulberry Row, and follow the path down the mountain. I always stop at the Monticello Cemetery, where there is a wreath-laying ceremony after the Naturalization Ceremony. It's a beautiful walk (about half a mile long, but not handicap accessible) and gives you time to contemplate the founding of our nation over two hundred years ago.