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

ARRT of Richmond Wilton House Museum Tour

Wilton House Museum was voted our ARRT of Richmond Preservation Partner for 2023. Our membership was invited for an exclusive tour on Saturday, September 14.

Joe Rizzo, Executive Director, and Savannah Gross, Director of Visitor Experience, led our two groups on an in-depth and informative tour of the house and described the move of the house from its original location on a 2,000-acre tobacco and wheat plantation to its present location in Richmond.

Thank you, Joe and Savannah!

Meeting Notes: July 17, 2024

The July 17, 2024, meeting was held in the Westhampton Room, Heilman Dining Center, at the University of Richmond.

The evening’s program speaker was Meika Downey, MA, who serves as the statewide Education Manager for Preservation Virginia’s five early American historic sites across the Commonwealth. Ms. Downey spoke about the overarching missions of Preservation Virginia (https://preservationvirginia.org/), and the six properties and museums which it owns and operates. These properties include Bacon’s Castle, Smith’s Fort, John Marshall House, Cape Henry Lighthouse, Patrick Henry's Scotchtown, and Historic Jamestowne. The focus of her presentation was John Marshall, who was a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia. He briefly served as Secretary of State (1800-01), and who was appointed the fourth Chief Justice of the United States by John Adams. During which time judicial review was further defined as the final arbiter of executive, legislative, or administrative actions strengthening the system of checks and balances in the United States. Ms. Downey spoke about the residence Marshall had constructed in Richmond, its history, and the actions taken by Preservation Virginia at the John Marshall House to engage the public about the life and legacies of the Great Chief Justice, his Richmond home, and the enslaved people who labored there.

Fred Sorrell

Secretary