2024 Preservation Partner Voting is Open -- Deadline is December 30

[from Bill's monthly newsletter]

As you know, $5.00 of each membership is earmarked for a preservation partner.  That means $395 for this year.  Here are the three nominees.

Please also click on the site names below for more information.

James Monroe Birthplace Foundation - nominated by Chris Yohn 
 

The James Monroe Birthplace Park & Museum is a +70-year project of the James Monroe Memorial Foundation, which was established by the descendants of President James Monroe. Through the charitable contributions of everyday people, we see the establishment of the Visitors Center and the completion of the Birthplace Home with the park's various activity trails.

 

James Monroe lived the largest part of his life here on a 500-acre peach and apple orchard plantation. This rebuilt home is an exact replica of the original.

 

The James Monroe Memorial Foundation continues the work of restoring the grounds and re-establishing some of the orchards of James Monroe’s time.

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Patrick Henry's Red Hill - nominated by Randy Flood 

Since 1944, Patrick Henry’s last home and burial site has been lovingly restored, maintained, and shared with the public. Red Hill keeps the spirit of the Voice of the American Revolution alive by inspiring a better understanding of Colonial history through supporting scholarship, conducting educational programs, and continuing stewardship of the property.

After acquiring Red Hill from Lucy Gray Henry Harrison, a great-granddaughter of Patrick Henry and the final descendant to live on the estate, the Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation began the process of restoring the property and constructing a museum to house what is now the largest collection of Patrick Henry-related artifacts in the world.

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Stratford Hall - nominated by Rob Pettus  

Stratford Hall is a National Historic Landmark , the boyhood home of two and the only brothers to sign the Declaration of Independence, Richard Henry Lee (1732–1794), and Francis Lightfoot Lee (1734–1797) also the birthplace of Robert E. Lee (1807–1870), who served as General-in-Chief of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865). 
The study of the American Revolution would not be complete if it did not include locations that influenced the Founding Fathers. It is of utmost importance to support and ensure the preservation of those locations.  
There are a number of projects underway at Stratford Hall, as identified by President Karen Daley kdaley@stratfordhall.org ,  including the East Steps project at the Great House. The Colonial Revival stairs on the east were causing significant moisture damage to the 18th century Great House wall, so they were removed. Additional archaeological and architectural investigations have been underway to determine the likely design of the first period stairs that were there and will be restored in 2024. At the Visitor Center,  a number of recent projects: replacing the HVAC system, painting the exterior, and replacing the entrance portico which had failed a number of years ago. Two preservation-related projects currently in the works include restoration at our Gristmill and hosting a Preservation Trades Intern this coming summer. From my own observation a number of the outbuildings and outdoor features of the property are in need of maintenance/restoration.

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*** DEADLINE FOR VOTING IS DECEMBER 30 ***

Dues paying members only.  There will be no in-person voting at the meeting.  The only way to vote is by sending an email with your choice to me at wmwelsch@comcast.net.  The deadline for voting is Monday, December 30th.  There will (hopefully) be no email reminder follow up to this, so please vote now.

If more than one member is at the same email address, be sure to send both votes.

Thanks very much for your selection.  They are all good causes, so we can't go wrong.

Next Meeting: January 15, 2025

Major General Jason Q. Bohm, USMC (Ret.)    January 15, 2025, ZOOM

“Washington’s Marines: The Origins of the Corps and the American Revolution, 1775-1777”

After thirty-four years of distinguished military service to our country, General Jason Bohm retired from his career in the Marine Corps to become the new Dean of the Helms School of Government at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Prior to his retirement, he served as Inspector General of the Marine Corps (2022-2024), Commanding General of the Marine Corps Recruiting Command (2020-2022), Chief of Staff for the Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (2018-2020), Commanding General of the Marine Corps Training Command (2016-2018), and Director of Expeditionary Warfare School (2015-2016). His talk for the Richmond American Revolution Round Table will be on “Washington’s Marines: The Origins of the Corps and the American Revolution 1775-1777," a talk on the creation of the Corps and how it impacted the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.

*** NOTE: THIS IS A ZOOM MEETING ONLY ***

ARRT-Richmond 2025 Membership Information

Information for 2025 memberships is located under the "Dues" tab above. Mark Groth will begin collecting dues at the March 19, 2025 meeting. If you wish to pay earlier, dues may be mailed to him at the address on the bottom of the form (also located under "Dues" above.)

ARRT-Richmond 2025 Meeting Dates

The dates, topics, and speakers for our 2025 meetings have been added under the "Meetings" tab above.

Please remember that our January 15, 2025 meeting will be ZOOM ONLY.

Winner of the 2024 Harry M. Ward Book Prize Announced!

The American Revolution Round Table of Richmond is pleased to announce that the 2024 Harry M. Ward Book Prize goes to Revolutionary Roads: Searching for the War That Made America Independent . . . and All the Places It Could Have Gone Terribly Wrong, by Bob Thompson.

Thompson, a feature writer for the Washington Post and editor of the Post’s Sunday magazine, has written widely on the connections between history and myth. In Revolutionary Roads, he takes readers on a literal road trip through the War for Independence—he logged some twenty thousand miles visiting all manner of historic sites and talking with innumerable historians and history buffs of all descriptions. The result was this wonderful book filled with entertaining and sometimes poignant observations on the people, places, and events that shaped the revolutionary struggle. 

Thompson has a keen eye for the pivotal moments when confusion, misunderstandings, blunders, conflicting personalities, and just plain happenstance could have sent America’s founding conflict down unexpected paths and toward possibly tragic results. His writing sparkles—this is a captivating read. Thompson deftly captures the essence of the Revolution’s personalities, reminding us to see events from the perspectives of those living through them, often with little or no idea of how the future would unfold. Victory in the War for Independence was never a sure thing; the war, as Thompson shows us, “could have gone terribly wrong” at any number of times. That it didn’t is the story at the heart of Revolutionary Roads. The book was the unanimous choice of the Round Table’s selection committee.

Next Meeting: November 20, 2024

 

Mark Wilcox will present, "All That Can Be Expected: The Battle of Camden and the British High Tide in the South, August 16, 1780."

Mark Wilcox works as a ranger at Richmond National Battlefield Park and the Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site, leads battlefield tours around Richmond, and presents on the city’s Revolutionary War, Civil War, and Civil Rights history. Mark is also a living historian of the Colonial era and provides educational programs for public history sites in Virginia. He is also a member of our round table and blogs for Emerging Revolutionary War.  Mark will have copies of his book available for sale and inscribing. 

Here are directions to campus and a map.  Click on Campus Map near the bottom.  We will meet in the Heilman Dining Center.    

Meeting Notes: September 18, 2024

The September 18, 2024, meeting was held in the Westhampton Room, Heilman Dining Center, at the University of Richmond. Members of the University of Richmond’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute also attended.

Bill Welch announced that the Roundtable has recently received the Internal Revenue Service’s tax-exempt organization status under IRC Section 501(c)(3) as a public charity. Donations to the Roundtable are tax deductible.

The evening’s program speaker was Cody Youngblood, MA, who serves as the Director of Historic Preservation & Collections at Red Hill, a home of Patrick Henry now owned by the Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation. Henry owned the property from 1794 until his death in 1799. Mr. Youngblood is steward to a collection of over 3,000 artifacts and documents relating to Patrick Henry and participates in archeological activities on the property. Red Hill is located about two miles southeast of Brookneal, Virginia. See https://www.redhill.org/ for further information.

Mr. Youngblood’s presentation, “Unveiling the Past: New Discoveries at Patrick Henry’s Red Hill,” focused on the current (and planned) archeological projects at Red Hill. Red Hill was one of Patrick Henry’s 13 homes and was the one in which he lived last. Originally, the farm consisted of 2,965 acres, on which tobacco, wheat, and corn were cultivated and alcoholic spirits distilled.

Over the years, ownership changes have occurred. This resulted in later buildings being constructed and garden additions, most notably beginning in 1905, those by Lucy Gray Henry Harrison, a great-granddaughter to Patrick Henry. The property was eventually acquired by the Foundation which restored Henry's law office and preserved his grave. It also reconstructed his last home and several dependencies. A new museum was built to provide for interpretation of his life and place in 1976. The museum houses what is now the largest collection of Patrick Henry-related artifacts and memorabilia in the world, representing those acquired by purchase and those acquired by archeological digs. The purpose of this collection is to aid in educating the public about the life, times, philosophy, and contributions made by Henry to America’s posterity.

Mr. Youngblood summarized recent archeological efforts and how those efforts are woven into the Foundation’s interpretive fabric, touching on: test pits, site reports, field data, artifact data, spatial data, and data visualizations.

For a more in-depth account of Patrick Henry, Mr. Youngblood recommended For the People, For the Country: Patrick Henry's Final Political Battle by John A. Ragosta, University of Virginia Press.

Patrick Henry is buried at Red Hill alongside his second wife Dorothea Dandridge Henry.

Fred Sorrell

Secretary