Madison & Monroe

When I die, I expect whoever ends up clearing out my stuff to simply chuck it, which would be a shame because I have a lot of photos and documentation that historians would kill for.

Take these photos that I ran across today while I was looking for something else. I had forgotten I had these. While not the best shots - obviously wherever I was there was a glare - these are historic documents with the signatures of James Madison and James Monroe. They were owned by a resident of the town of Fincastle when I took these photos. I have no clue where the originals might be now. Somewhere there's an article that accompanied these - 

Poplar Forest

About 10 miles from The National D-Day Memorial is Poplar Forest. Poplar Forest is the name of an octagonal home built by Thomas Jefferson, the nation's third president, for use as a retreat.

Jefferson inherited 4,819 acres of land and 11 enslaved men, women, and children at Poplar Forest through his father-in-law, John Wayles in 1773. The property’s name, which predates Jefferson’s ownership, reflects the forest that once grew there. Several stately poplars in the front of the home welcome visitors today.

In the early years of his ownership, Jefferson managed Poplar Forest from afar, hiring overseers to manage day-to-day duties, as he practiced law and served in a series of government offices. He and his family, however, did spend two months there in 1781 when they left Monticello to elude British capture at the end of the Revolutionary War. During this visit, Jefferson compiled much of the material for his only book, Notes on the State of Virginia.

In 1806, Jefferson traveled from Washington to supervise the laying of the foundation for the octagonal house that exists today. When his presidency ended in 1809, Jefferson visited the retreat three to four times a year, staying from two weeks to two months at a time. His visits often coincided with the seasonal responsibilities of the working plantation. He also oversaw the ornamentation of the house and grounds, and the planting of his vegetable garden. Family members, most often two granddaughters, Ellen and Cornelia Randolph, often traveled to Poplar Forest with him beginning in 1816.

Jefferson made his last trip to Poplar Forest in 1823 when he settled his grandson, Francis Eppes, on the property. Ill health prevented further visits. In 1828, two years after Jefferson’s death at age 83, Eppes sold Poplar Forest to a neighbor.

The design of Poplar Forest is highly idealistic in concept with only a few concessions to practicality—it was so perfectly suited to Jefferson alone that subsequent owners found it difficult to inhabit and altered it to suit their needs. In 1845 a fire led the family then living at Poplar Forest to convert Jefferson’s villa into a practical farmhouse. The property was privately owned until December 1983 when a nonprofit corporation began the rescue of the landmark for future generations. Visitors today see the house as reconstruction, restoration and preservation, are in progress.  -- Poplar Forest website

Here are photos I took during our visit:

The exterior octagon shape isn't as visible as one would think, but it's there.

The story of how Jefferson built the house.

A front shot.

Still trying to show the octagon sides. Note the structure attached. This was the kitchen and guest rooms.

Just another exterior shot.

From left: A privy, the overseer's house, and the enslaved persons quarters.

Enslaved persons quarters in the forefront.

A sign designating the two structures.

The overseer's house.

An interior room in that long side portion.

Jefferson had one of the better equipped kitchens for the time period. It's in the long portion, too, away from the main house.

He constructed an ingenious set of guttering within the rafters to keep water off the roof.

Interior of the house.

Information exhibits take up a lot of the space, but it's rather a small area by today's standards.

This was in the middle of the house proper.

The octagon shape does not lend itself to good use of space.

The National D-Day Memorial

June 6, 1944, was the beginning of the end of World War II. This conflict involved dozens of nations allied against the autocracy of Hitler and others in an effort to overthrow democracy and institute instead rule by one man over millions.

The landing in Europe on June 6, 1944, was called operation Overlord. Overlord was the largest air, land, and sea operation ever undertaken. The landing included over 5,000 ships, 11,000 airplanes, and over 150,000 service men. Many of the first young men (most not yet 20 years old) entered the surf carrying eighty pounds of equipment. They faced over 200 yards of beach before reaching the first natural feature offering any protection. Blanketed by small-arms fire and bracketed by artillery, they found themselves in hell. When it was over, the Allied Forces had suffered nearly 10,000 casualties; more than 4,000 were dead. Yet somehow, due to planning and preparation, and due to the valor, fidelity, and sacrifice of the Allied Forces, Europe had been breached and the Allied Forces were able to move inland and begin to liberate cities, towns, and nation-states from Hitler's horror.

Nearby Bedford, VA is the setting of The National D-Day Memorial. Like eleven other Virginia communities, Bedford provided a company of soldiers, activated on 3 February 1941. Some thirty Bedford soldiers were still in that company on D-Day; several more from Bedford were in other D-Day companies.

By day’s end, 19 of the company’s Bedford soldiers were dead. Two more Bedford soldiers died later in the Normandy campaign, as did yet another two assigned to other 116th Infantry companies. Bedford’s population in 1944 was about 3,200. Proportionally this community suffered the nation’s severest D-Day losses. Recognizing Bedford as emblematic of all communities, large and small, whose citizen-soldiers served on D-Day, Congress warranted the establishment of the National D-Day Memorial here.

Here are photos I took when we visited with some out-of-town cousins on October 14, 2022.

From left: my husband, cousin Chris, and cousin Bonnie at the entrance.

The entrance to the memorial. This soldier is assisting another to get upon the beach.

A statue of a soldier in the water.

Statues of soldiers making their way onto the beach.

This poor soldier did not make it.

An overview of the exhibit that shows the rush onto the beach. The water splashes and pops as if there were gunfire.

Cousin Bonnie reading about something.

This statue is quite intricate and shows soldiers climbing the rocks to get up the beach.

Another view of the above statue.

A monument to the Air Force.

The soldier in the water again. Can you see the water disturbances?

A huge wall shows the medals of honors from the Allied nations.

The backside of the opening arch.

My handsome fellow.

The names of the US soldiers who died on D-Day are on this wall.

A little closer look.

The three cousins read the story about the Bedford Boys. This statue is a monument to them.

Colonel William Preston Memorial

Botetourt County in July, 2022 (this year), dedicated a memorial to Colonel William Preston (1729-1783) next to the Botetourt County Administration Building at the Botetourt Center at Greenfield. (Isn't that a lot of "Botetourts" in that sentence? Whew.)

Colonel Preston once owned the property that is now the county's premiere industrial park, as well as home to its governing center.

Preston was an American Revolutionary War hero and local surveyor. He laid out the Town of Fincastle, which was named and still is the county seat, and many other properties as this part of Virginia began to be taken over by Europeans who forced out the Native Americans and took their land. (And I don't care who thinks that's "woke" because that is what happened.)

He also served in the Virginia House of Burgesses and held many enslaved persons.

He was a founding member of Augusta Hall, which is now known as Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA.

One of his sons, James Preston, served as Virginia Governor from 1816-1819.

After he left Greenfield, William Preston moved to Smithfield, which is on the National Historic Register of Places. He is buried there. Smithfield is located near Virginia Tech University and has connections with that school.

The memorial in Botetourt took about 20 years to finally come to fruition; I remember writing about in the newspaper as far back as 2002. The memorial is shaped a bit like a sundial, with concrete points that have information about Preston's life on them.

Thursday Thirteen

For Thursday Thirteen today, we're visiting the Botetourt History Museum, which has a new location in the county seat.

The former location, one of the oldest buildings in town, is being moved about 50 feet from its present location to make way for a new county courthouse. The old one is scheduled to be torn down in the next year and a new one constructed.

Anyway, here are some photos from the Museum, which is now located about a block from where it used to be, and is on Main Street.

The photos, which I took from my iPhone, loaded backwards in the blog. I have no idea why.

An old switchboard from way back.

A mortar and pestle used by First Nations Settlers (Native Americans)

A stand of antique stuff. I didn't pay that close attention to what was on it.

I think, but am not sure, that this is a spindle or yarn doohickey.

This is a Chickering piano. See the captioned piece above for its history.

This small book was in an enclosed case. It's dated 1857. Just note what it says.

This is a picture of Grove Hill, owned by the Breckinridges. This large plantation once took most of the land in the area of Catawba Creek outside of Fincastle. The home burned down in 1909. Some of the bricks were hauled to New York and used in a home there.

To Have and To Hold was written by Buchanan native Mary Johnston. It was the best-selling book in 1900. It was made into a movie.

A book presser, used in book binding.

Antique tea set.

The desk from the law office of James Breckinridge.

A bad picture of an article from about 40 years ago that shows the former Museum location.

The Botetourt County Historic Society has a number of books available, both for sale and for research, if you want to sit and review them.

This was on a mantle in the main entry room; I liked the picture. Fincastle does have a Lewis and Clark connection; William Clark's wife, Judith Hancock, was raised down the road in the plantation known as Santillane.

The exterior of the new location of the museum.

___________________

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 772nd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.