We had just one day available to visit around the Staunton, VA area. We were really on the go but got to take in so much.
We began with a car tour along the 'Sky Line Drive' in the Shenandoah National Park. This park was dedicated by President Franklin Roosevelt on July 3, 1936. We were surprised to learn that originally there was an attempt to ban all blacks from this National Park and instead it was decided to develop racially segregated areas within this National Park (restrooms, picnic areas, lodges) with the area at Lewis Mountain being designated as the Negro only area. This was the norm at this National Park until 1950 when the park was finally racially integrated. Most of the park access follows a ridge trail, used many years ago by both Indians and early settlers. The views are spectacular and the trees are ever so abundant.
In the actual city of Staunton, VA we visited the birth house of President Woodrow Wilson and also his Presidential Library. Sorry no inside pictures were allowed. The Woodrow Wilson Presidential library is privately funded because only the presidential libraries from the administrations of Hubert Hover forward receive funds from the federal government for library maintenance. Woodrow Wilson we learned is our only President to have ever earned a PhD. and amazingly he accomplished that with a learning disability that today is believed was dyslexia. Named at birth, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, he would later completely drop the Thomas name. His father, the Reverend Wilson, made their home in the church Manse which is also where 'Tommy' Woodrow was born . We were surprised to learn that the church in addition to providing their family home also provided the family with 3 leased slaves one was a female cook, another a female nanny and the third a male manual laborer. We asked the tour guide about the church's provision of leased slaves and we were told this was not uncommon in this area at the time (both the leasing of slaves and the provision of slaves by the church).
Young 'Tommy' Woodrow was unable to read anything until the age of 10, but born with a well educated preacher father, he was continually pushed, despite his learning challenges. His father is said to have taken him on learning tours and required him to write and provide speeches about these tours. It is said, that he was pushed to write, talk and repeat until he performed both perfectly. Woodrow Wilson eventually attended Princeton, got his law degree from the University of Virginia and his PhD. in Political Science from John Hopkins University.
President Wilson, besides being the only US President to earn a PhD., he is also the last US president to travel his inauguration ceremony in a horse drawn carriage. He is credited with starting both the Federal Reserve and the Federal Trade Commission, establishing child labor laws and helping in the negation of the Treaty of Versailles. In 1919 he received the Nobel Peace Prize for being the lead architect behind the League of Nations and is thought to have minimized our involvement as much as possible during WWI. He also pushed for Women's right to vote which was passed during his second term. Less than an hour from here is Monticello which we are headed to tomorrow.
We began with a car tour along the 'Sky Line Drive' in the Shenandoah National Park. This park was dedicated by President Franklin Roosevelt on July 3, 1936. We were surprised to learn that originally there was an attempt to ban all blacks from this National Park and instead it was decided to develop racially segregated areas within this National Park (restrooms, picnic areas, lodges) with the area at Lewis Mountain being designated as the Negro only area. This was the norm at this National Park until 1950 when the park was finally racially integrated. Most of the park access follows a ridge trail, used many years ago by both Indians and early settlers. The views are spectacular and the trees are ever so abundant.
In the actual city of Staunton, VA we visited the birth house of President Woodrow Wilson and also his Presidential Library. Sorry no inside pictures were allowed. The Woodrow Wilson Presidential library is privately funded because only the presidential libraries from the administrations of Hubert Hover forward receive funds from the federal government for library maintenance. Woodrow Wilson we learned is our only President to have ever earned a PhD. and amazingly he accomplished that with a learning disability that today is believed was dyslexia. Named at birth, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, he would later completely drop the Thomas name. His father, the Reverend Wilson, made their home in the church Manse which is also where 'Tommy' Woodrow was born . We were surprised to learn that the church in addition to providing their family home also provided the family with 3 leased slaves one was a female cook, another a female nanny and the third a male manual laborer. We asked the tour guide about the church's provision of leased slaves and we were told this was not uncommon in this area at the time (both the leasing of slaves and the provision of slaves by the church).
Young 'Tommy' Woodrow was unable to read anything until the age of 10, but born with a well educated preacher father, he was continually pushed, despite his learning challenges. His father is said to have taken him on learning tours and required him to write and provide speeches about these tours. It is said, that he was pushed to write, talk and repeat until he performed both perfectly. Woodrow Wilson eventually attended Princeton, got his law degree from the University of Virginia and his PhD. in Political Science from John Hopkins University.
President Wilson, besides being the only US President to earn a PhD., he is also the last US president to travel his inauguration ceremony in a horse drawn carriage. He is credited with starting both the Federal Reserve and the Federal Trade Commission, establishing child labor laws and helping in the negation of the Treaty of Versailles. In 1919 he received the Nobel Peace Prize for being the lead architect behind the League of Nations and is thought to have minimized our involvement as much as possible during WWI. He also pushed for Women's right to vote which was passed during his second term. Less than an hour from here is Monticello which we are headed to tomorrow.
      Staunton VA  Staunton VA  Church of Woodrow Wilson's Father, Rev. Joseph Ruggles Wilson Staunton VA |
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