The Anne Spencer House & Garden Museum
Anne Spencer was a poet, a civil rights activist, a teacher, librarian, wife and mother, and a gardener. More than thirty of her poems were published in her lifetime, making her an important figure of the black literary and cultural movement of the 1920s—the Harlem Renaissance—and only the second African American poet to be […]
The Curious History of Percival Island
Nestled in the James River, Percival’s Island Natural Area serves as both a piece of Lynchburg’s history and a natural resource for the community to enjoy. Once a private home and later a rail yard, Percival’s Island now offers the Lynchburg community a space for a variety of recreational activities. Before being named Percival’s Island, […]
Monument Terrace in Lynchburg Virginia
Monument Terrace was originally conceived as a city project in the early 1880s. August Forsberg, the city engineer, was asked to provide a better route for citizens to move along the steep hill between Court and Church Streets. Forsberg designed a series of steps and landings from Court Street that culminated in a semicircular staircase […]
How Virginia Became A Transportation State
For most of history, humans have lived in a four-mile-an-hour world. People traveled only as fast as their feet, their animals, or the wind could carry them. This began to change early in the nineteenth century with the introduction of steam power, but the real changes in this area have occurred over the past century […]
The Quite Miraculous Story of Amazement Square
Turning back the pages of the J.W. Wood Building’s history, one thing becomes clear: the bricks and mortar that make up this unique, Civil War-era structure have meant many things to many people. Over the course of the past 150 years, the J.W. Wood Building has served as an infirmary for the Confederate Army and […]
Thomas Jefferson and the Poplar Forest Plantation
Poplar Forest is a plantation and plantation house in Forest, Bedford County, Virginia. Thomas Jefferson designed the plantation and used the property as a private retreat and a revenue-generating plantation. Jefferson inherited the property in 1773 and began designing and working on the plantation in 1806. While Jefferson is the most famous individual associated with […]
The Old City Cemetery Rose Garden
Old City Cemetery is home to the largest public collection of heirloom roses in the Commonwealth of Virginia. There are over 425 different varieties planted throughout the grounds, representing all classes, habits, colors and fragrances of antique roses, or “Old Garden Roses”. Our rose collection consists mostly of “Old Garden Roses”, and also includes roses […]
The Appomattox Court House and Battlefield
Appomattox Court House National Historical Park is comprised of many of the village’s original historic structures, along with several reconstructed buildings on approximately 1,700 acres in rural Virginia. The Wilmer McLean home, where the surrender was signed, is open to the public. A driving tour and several trails cover the battlefield. It was eight days […]