Lexington, Virginia and Stonewall Jackson

On the road trip home from New York, we made a few stops in Virginia (including the Booker T. Washington National Monument and Home). We also spent the better part of a day in Lexington, Virginia.

I loved Lexington! Ryan and I really loved walking around the town. We both agreed to add it to our "short list" of places we'd like to live.

It has a very quaint Stars Hollow (the fictional town of Gilmore Girls) feel to it.

It is a town rich with historical significance and military background. It is home to the Virginia Military Institute, which was founded in the early 1800's and played an important role in the Civil War. This picture was taken on our walk around downtown.

Our main objective was a visit to the Stonewall Jackson Home and Museum. This picture was taken from behind the house. It is located right on the cute street in the pictures at the top. Photography isn't allowed inside the home. We enjoyed our tour, though, from the nice young man who shared many tidbits of trivia about Stonewall and his life.

the kitchen garden

We didn't get to go inside, but this is the Robert E. Lee home. The Washington and Lee University, a liberal arts school is located all around here, as well. Lee's (and Traveller's) grave sites are located on the campus.

"The Last Home of Traveller, through war and peace the faithful, devoted, and beloved horse of General Robert E. Lee"

We walked to the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery.

This is his burial site and monument. Interesting fact: his amputated left arm is buried elsewhere. Here is another fact I found interesting:

Who shot General Jackson?
Jackson died as a result of "friendly fire." He was shot at Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863, by an unknown member or members of the 18th North Carolina Infantry Regiment; he died on May 10. The order to fire was given by Maj. John D. Barry, and many of his men fired at the same time. Jackson was struck by three smoothbore musket balls. Barry died two years after the war at the age of 27; his family believed his death was a result of the depression and guilt he suffered as a consequence of having given the order to fire.

I was curious why there were lemons lying around so I googled it while we were there. Apparently, it is a myth that lemons were his favorite fruit, and people leave them here to honor him. There is no documentation to prove he loved lemons more than any other fruit; he was just seen eating them several times during the war as they were easy to come by.

We bought this antique-style ink bottle and pen at the gift shop. I thought it would be fun for the kids to play with.

We also bought these ink tablets. They are non-toxic and actually more environmentally friendly than regular ink because they are made from sugarcane. You just add water.

There were no instructions, so I'm not entirely sure I added the right number of tablets to the right amount of water. Even so, we got to practice what it was like to go without the modern convenience of plastic ink pens. There are lots of youtube videos to explain how to make your own pen and ink, but our bag of ink tablets were only a few dollars. That's my 5 year old's hand.

Sissy was very exact at first, practicing her letters and even pretending to write in flowy cursive.

Then she realized she could use it as "splatter paint," and that kind of took over.

Tornado was trying to draw a picture from his magazine, complete with his "To Mom" that he writes on almost all of his drawings. They had more luck using wooden skewers, rather than the wooden dip pen, which takes some practice.

I'm really looking forward to us reading these books I ordered:

Stonewall Jackson's Black Sunday School

Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the White House

Both books are written by Rickey Pittman. Stonewall Jackson was known to be a friend to all people, regardless of color. He went against the law to teach slaves to read and write, and he stood up against backlash he received when starting a Sunday School class for slaves. And yet he owned a few slaves, believing that no matter how he felt about it personally, it was ordained by God. The same with Jefferson Davis, who apparently even welcomed a mistreated slaved to live as a part of his family. It's an intriguing (and baffling) topic to me, as is the entire Civil War. (I love the aspect of homeschooling that provokes me to learn so much myself.) Joining in on the Geography/History Link-Up at Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn, stART (story+art) at A Mommy's Adventures, Read, Explore, Learn at JDaniel4's Mom, and Field Trip Friday at Live the Adventure.

Booker T. Washington National Monument in Virginia

On our drive back to Arkansas, one of our stops was Hardy, Virginia where the Booker T. Washington National Monument is located.

We prefaced this visit by reading Booker T. Washington by Lola M. Schaefer. There were several similar books at our library; I chose this one because it seemed to be geared to the youngest audience. It also felt appropriate to learn about Washington and his life because we had already visited Gettysburg during this trip, and the discussion of the Civil War and slavery was already underway.

We found worksheets (crossword puzzles, word searches, etc.) and a nice youtube video about Washington on this site.

We enjoyed our visit! We didn't have a lot of time on our drive back, and we wanted to choose rest stops that were easy, fun, educational, and allowed the kids to run around a little bit. Hardy was about 30 minutes (I think!) from interstate 81.

There are several sculptures and exhibits with information to read. The ladies who worked in the museum were sooo nice and helpful. They were very friendly and gracious in offering us information and answering our questions. There was a nice gift shop full of books and learning materials about African American history.

Since Tornado loves comic books, we picked out this book, Wonder Women. You can read more about Chester Comix here; I'm sure we'll end up getting more of these.

We began our visit with watching a video presentation on Washington and his life. I just love these videos at visitor's centers. I always find them interesting. I think the kids like them, too, because they watch them intently, without making a peep. They also enjoyed looking at this 3-dimensional story board.

The museum is located on the original Burroughs family planation. James Burrough owned the 207 acre tobacco farm. Above is a replica of the building that served as the kitchen and home to the plantation cook and her children, one of whom was little Booker. You are able to step inside the 19th century replica farm buildings and get a feel of what life was like for the young slave and his family.

Our most notable impression was just how cooold it was inside this house. We watched on the video that Booker slept with blankets on the floor, and the windows didn't even fully close. It just made me feel so sad inside.

This the Burroughs family home (which is no longer standing). Washington recalls a Union Soldier standing on the porch reading what he later came to know as the Emancipation Proclamation. After reading it, he told them they were free, and Washington traveled with his mother and siblings to West Virginia where her husband worked in the salt mines.

There is a lot of space to run and things to explore!

There were farm animals on the property (to help create the mood of a real, working farm) and trails to help you tour the property more completely. We didn't have time to walk the trails, but we would love to stop by again sometime when we're "in the neighborhood." We really enjoyed Virginia, and there was so much we were unable to take advantage of.

Joining the ladies at Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn -

I always love seeing what everyone else is up to.