43

STATE OF VIRGINIA

Alexandria’s Farmers Market

 44
October 1999 trip to Virginia and Washington D.C.
The trip to our Nation’s Birthplace began at the Dulles 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, where
we had planned to spend the night at the Middleburg Country Inn. As a result we arrived quite late, so
late in fact that the inn’s proprietor had retired for the night, leaving the key to our room in an envelope
marked “The Schnells” at the unattended front desk. The room in this historic former Church Rectory buil
in 1820 was quite charming with a wall-to-wall canopied bed. A fierce rainstorm overwhelmed us that firs
night walking back from a cozy dinner at a local restaurant. On the following bright morning we strolled th
town located in an area once surveyed by George Washington when it was known as Chinn’s
Crossroads. After a lovely breakfast, we checked out and headed for the Shenandoah Valley along
Skyline Drive, a spectacular route that winds 105 miles south from Front Royal to Waynesboro over
the Blue Ridge Mountains of the Shenandoah
National Park. En route we visited the Luray Ca-
verns, where for millions of years water has seeped
through the limestone and clay to create a wonderfully
weird world of stalactite and stalagmite mineral forma-
tions. At Waynesboro we turned off and headed
for Charlottesville, the epitome of Virginia’s Pied-
mont area. After checking in at the 200 South Street
Inn, a former brothel restored to create an old fashion-
ed inn in the historic district, we strolled this area at
length and visited its pedestrian shopping mall stretch
ing along six blocks of Main Street with fountains, out-
door restaurants and restored buildings lining a brick-
paved street. Prior to visiting Jefferson’s Monticello
the following day, we went to the west end of town to
check out the University of Virginia, one of the
nation’s most distinguished institutions of higher lear-
ning, which was founded and designed by Thomas
Jefferson, who called himself its “father” in his own
epitaph. 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 that
flows down from the Rotunda, a half-scale replica of
the Pantheon in Rome. We were thoroughly awed
The Country Inn in Middleburg, Virginia by this historical and dignified seat of higher learning.

The Shenandoah Valley 200 South Street Inn, Charlottesville, Virginia

 45
Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello
If Charlottesville is the epitome of Virginia’s Piedmont are
the major attraction in the Piedmont is nearby Monticello,
the distinguished home that Thomas Jefferson designed
and built for himself. Waiting in a long line to get in,we we
greeted at the entrance by a guide about to take us on a
tour of the home of our brilliant third president. This, his
most famous of homes, is a masterpiece constructed over
a period of 40 years,1769-1809. Typical of no single
architectural style, it is characteristic of Jefferson, who ma
a statement with every detail. The staircases were narrow
and hidden because he considered them unsightly and a
waste of space and his bedroom alcove was surprisingly
modest. Monticello was a revolutionary structure, a neocl
sical repudiation of the prevalent English Georgian style
and the Colonial mentality behind it. It became the center
Jefferson’s world where he retreated from the politics that
he called his “duty”. A French visitor in 1782 reported that
Jefferson was “Musician, Draftsman, Surveyor,Astronome
Natural Philosopher, Jurist, and Statesman”. Surrounded
by books and his inventions, Jefferson’s studies ranged
from the rich classical past of Greece and Rome to scienc
and architecture. His ideas were strongly influenced by th
Enlightenment, the eighteenth century movement that em
phasized reason and scientific inquiry. Monticello was ho
not only to Jefferson and his large family, but also to as m
ny as 135 slaves who worked the plantation’s four farms,
constructed the house and outbuildings, and carried out
household chores. We walked through the gardens and
visited Jefferson’s grave site with an obelisk inscribed:
Donna at the Vegetable Garden and Pavilion “Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, Author of the
Declaration of American Independence, Of the Sta-
tute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of
the University of Virginia”.

President Thomas Jefferson West lawn and Monticello

 46
Colonial Williamsburg
From Monticello we drove 70 miles southeast to Richmond
to spend the night here in the capital of the commonwealth,
once also the capital of the Confederacy. Something about
this most industrialized city in the south made us change our
plans and instead compel us to drive another 50 miles making
us arrive a day early in Colonial Williamsburg. After check-
ing in at the Fort Magruder Inn, we went to the huge visitors
center to buy our Patriot’s Passes for the most visited histo-
ric site in Virginia. Colonial Williamsburg is a convincing re-cre-
ation of the late 18 century city that was the capital of Virginia
from 1699-1780, succeeding Jamestown. Although it has
long 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 by
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and continues to this day, while be-
ing operated as a living museum. One can only tour the restor-
ed area on foot because all vehicular traffic is prohibited to pre-
serve the Colonial atmosphere. 88 original 18 century structur-
es have been meticulously restored. 225 period rooms have
been furnished from a collection of more than 100,000 pieces
of 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 thru
Two lads from the Fife and Drum Corps the streets. Dozens of skilled craftspersons, also in costume,
on the mile long Duke of Gloucester St. demonstrate and explain their trades inside their workshops.
Four taverns serve food and drink
that approximate the fare of 200
years ago. We spent 3 days here
soaking up the history of a time when
in the capitol building the pre-revolu-
tionary House of Burgesses challen-
ged the royally appointed council
that eventually arrived at the resolu-
tions that led to rebellion and formati-
on of American democracy from its
English parliamentary roots. While
here, we made a side trip to York-
town, whose Main Street is an array
of preserved 18th century buildings
on a bluff overlooking the York River.
We checked out the battlefield where
combined American and French for-
ces surrounded British troops under
Lord Cornwallis in 1781, forcing an
end to the American War of Indepen-
dence. On the way back to Williams-
burg, we stopped at Carters Grove,
which examines slave dwellings and
excavated 400 years of history. We
toured the elegant mansion, built in
1755 by Carter Burwell, whose
grand-father, “King” Carter was one of
Virginia’s wealthiest landowners. It was
extensively remodeled in 1919 to ex-
press its owners fascination with the
past.
Donna At the Bootmakers Shop in Colonial Williamsburg
 47
Alexandria and Mount Vernon
Leaving Williamsburg, we headed north towards Alexandria, where we planned to stay the rest of the
trip. On the way we stopped at Fredericksburg, which rivals Alexandria and Mount Vernon in its con-
nections with the Washington family. The first president lived across the Rappahannock River from age
six to 16, later he bought a house for his mother here. Intending to visit Mount Vernon on our way to
Alexandria, it rained so hard by the time we got there, we put it off for another day and instead checked in
Holiday Inn Old Town on King Street. Our lovely room overlooked Farmer’s Market Square, the
nation’s oldest continually operating farmer’s market (1749), where George Washington sold the crops
from his Mount Vernon farm. The city of Alexandria maintains an identity distinct from that of Wash-ington
DC, across the Potomac. Established in 1749, the city dwarfed Georgetown - Washington’s oldest
neighborhood - in the days before the revolution. Eager to inspect the remnants of its past in the historic
district of Old Town, we set out on foot through cobblestone streets strewn with autumn leaves and
marveled at the charm of the brick and shingled homes of early Alexandria, now the chic homes of the ci
contemporary families. We peeked over brick walls into tranquil English gardens that beckoned us to qu
moments and reflections of years gone by. We went inside Christ Church, unchanged since George
Washington and Robert E. Lee worshiped here and stopped by Gadsby Tavern Museum, where
General Washington reviewed his troops for the last time from the steps of the building. Trendy cafes
offered 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 miles
southeast of Alexandria and visit George Washington’s
house at Mount Vernon, probably the most visited historic
house museum in the U.S., after the White House. We
toured the Mansion, outbuildings and the Pioneer Farmer
site. Washington considered himself a farmer, and al-though
his farmhouse was a formal one, nothing disguised
its working nature; in the ornate dining room, for example,
guests ate at a simple trestle table assembled from bo-ards
and sawhorses. We lounged on the famed long por-tico
with its 8 columns facing east across the Potomac with a
view matching the period authenticity of Mount Vernon’s
interiors. The outbuildings, kitchen and stable, have been
precisely restored and beyond them, George and Martha
Washington were laid to rest in a tomb on the estate.
Cobblestone street in Old Town Alexandria

George Washington On Bowling Green of the Mount Vernon Mansion

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Washington D.C.
Time to explore our nation’s capital on the banks of the Potomac. Not wanting to be bothered with a
car in the big city, we hopped the Metro in Alexandria to take us the few miles to Arlington, where we
got on a bus touring the National Cemetery, containing the graves of 200,000 American soldiers. On
this beautiful plot of land we saw the Kennedy graves and the changing of the guard at the Tomb of th
Unknowns. Another day saw us catch a Tourmobile narrated tour bus going across the Potomac and
getting off at the Lincoln Memorial, where the statue of Abraham Lincoln appears to be con-
templating the broad expanse of the National Mall from a neoclassical structure reminiscent of the Par
thenon. We ascended the imposing marble steps to read the immortal words of Lincoln’s Gettysburg
Address carved on limestone walls. Back on the bus, we headed down the Mall on Constitution Ave
and got off to have a look at the White House and as we walked the expanse of the Mall’s green with th
nearly dozen diverse museums ringing it, we became aware that Washington, the world’s first plan-ned
capital (by the brilliant French engineer Pierre L’Enfant) was indeed also one of its most beautiful.
We skipped visiting the Washington Monument (it was being reno-
vated) in favor of the National Air and Space Museum, where 23
galleries tell the story of aviation. Suspended from the ceiling like plast
models in a child’s room, we spied the 1903 Wright Flyer and Char-
les Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis. Across the Mall we entered the
National Gallery of Art which holds one of the world’s foremost
collections of paintings, sculptures and graphics, thanks in large part to
the generosity of financier Andrew Mellon. We enjoyed a lovely
lunch here in the Sculpture Garden Cafe. No visit to Washington is
complete without a visit to Capitol Hill and so after waiting in a long
line, we entered the gleaming white capitol. A guided tour started be-
neath the Rotunda’s dome drawing attention to the huge paintings
depicting U.S. historical events and ended in Statuary Hall, once the
Legislative Chamber of the House of Representatives. By now
exhausted and suffering from sensory overload, we declared oursel-
ves ready to call it a day on a very educational trip to the lovely State
of Virginia and Washington D.C.
Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial Donna at the Capitol