On to Virginia

On the 25th we moved from Tennessee to Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Unfortunately our choice of camground gave us no signal for access to the internet to keep up this travel blog. Since it is Memorial Day weekend, we had to stay put for a few days. So here's what we did on the 26th.

Our first stop was Jefferson's Poplar Forest near Bedford, Virginia. This plantation was inherited by Thomas Jefferson and his wife from Martha Jefferson's father in 1773. The 4,819 acre farm provided Jefferson with significant income and a place where he could pursue his passion for reading, writing,studying and gardening after retiring from public life. Although his primary residence was Monticello, Jefferson and his family visited this retreat 2-4 times per year, staying anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months.

In 1806, Jefferson started construction on the octagonal home seen here. Constructed of brick and timber, it is under restoration at this point and will soon be exactly as it was during Jefferson's time.

We then traveled to nearby Lynchburg. We visited the old city cemetery. The cemetery dates back to the late 1700's and contains graves of soldiers from the Revolutionary War as well as the Civil War. It was interesting to see the old headstones.

Next we visited the campus of Washington and Lee University and the Lee Chapel and Museum in Lexington, Virginia. General Robert E Lee served as president of Washington University after the Civil War. It renamed Washington and Lee University shortly thereafter. Lee's family had the chapel built as resting place for the former General. Lee's beloved horse, Traveller is also buried outside the chapel.
In addition to Lee's crypt, the chapel houses a number of original portraits of famous Americans including George Washington.

We covered a lot of ground investigating some of the history in Central Virginia.