July road trips

Gunston Hall, home of George Mason IV

July 6, 2013 my husband and I went to visit Gunston Hall.  We had a great time.  The mansion was decorated in period furniture.  The guide who showed us the mansion was knowledgeable.  I especially enjoyed the decorative crown moldings and the wallpaper.  Two facts that I learned was George Mason wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights and he was married twice.  Jefferson used Mason’s Virginia Declaration of Rights as an example for the Declaration of Independence.

George Mason had a very nice view from Gunston Hall of the Potomac River.  Along with the mansion, there is the garden, a couple of out buildings, and a small visitor center/museum.  The out buildings were a kitchen, laundry, and schoolhouse.  Walking around, one gets a good idea what it was like to live on the plantation in the 18^th century.  The museum gave some very good information about Mason.

If one gets a chance, you should really visit this Founding Father’s home.  It truly is an architectural gem, and a piece of history.  I can see why George Mason loved his home.

            

Gunston Hall

 Kenmore Plantation, home of Fielding and Betty Lewis 

(Betty Lewis was George Washington's sister)

 July 28, 2013 my parents, Matt, and I took a tour of the beautiful Kenmore mansion in Fredericksburg, VA.  I used to volunteer here in college and even created a small exhibit during an internship.  Even though I was a little disappointed that they took down my exhibit, the curator did a great job creating a new exhibit. A visitor can really get a sense who Fielding Lewis was. I loved the few children activities they had to interact and teach the children.  I did learn two facts that I did not know.  Fielding Lewis was married once before he married Betty, and Fielding and Betty were actually related, distant cousins.

            The tour guide was relatively new, but knowledgeable.  The inside of Kenmore is beautiful.  I really love the ceilings.  They are so decorative.  It was somewhat also disappointing that we could not go upstairs, but I understand.  The foundation wants to protect the beautiful ceilings.  I truly think that it is amazing that Kenmore was not destroyed during the Civil War.  Since I last been to Kenmore, they added an herb garden.  The garden is beautiful.  The kitchen set up was cool.  One can imagine a slave cooking the dinner and supper in the kitchen.

            If one is in Fredericksburg, VA, you have to visit this gem of a house.  It is an architectural masterpiece from the 18^th century.  We do not build houses like that anymore.

http://www.kenmore.org/kp_home.html   http://www.gunstonhall.org/

Kenmore Plantation

 Happy Blogging!

American History

One Saturday afternoon in January, my husband and I went to the Smithsonian American history museum in DC to meet friends.  We saw two exhibits: first ladies and food exhibit.  I enjoyed the first ladies exhibit.  It is interesting to see the different styles through the ages.  I thought the exhibit was done well and organized in logical way.  One thing that I would change though is to place a couple of benches around the exhibit.  Afterwards we met our friends, and went to the food exhibit.

It was interesting in how it discussed food, the preparation, and ideas about food.  One great aspect of it was the long table in the center with various food pyramids through time. The long table was there to stimulate conversation about food, very cool idea.  I did notice people were talking at the table, but do not know about what.  I did not like how it was organized, and thought it was a hodgepodge of information.  In addition, the info was written in a confusing manner.

Happy Blogging!