May 28, 2008 – Preservation in Pink

Poplar Forest Day 4: The highlight of today was most definitely our visit to Monticello. I have never been there and I was thoroughly impressed – more so than I thought I would be. Of course, the best part about being in a certain group are the special parts of the tour that most people don’t see. The architectural restoration crew talked to us and their techniques in such things as fixing a bow in the stone wall, paint analysis, deciding on the roof structure, etc. Granted, house tours are always a nice thing but I prefer more architecturally centered tour. Anyway, for now, I’ll just post a few Monticello picures.

Monticello from the west lawn (the rear of the building.)

We were allowed in the dome room! (Turn your head for now _ I can’t figure out wordpress.) (The third floor. It is amazing and really hard to capture in a picture. I’ll post more soon.)

Ever see the inside of a lock? We learned about door locks!

More to come.

Welcome to Poplar Forest.

I know that I said that I would be updating daily, however, my computer refuses to connect to the Lynchburg College internet system. Therefore, I will not have this luxury – but I will still do my best to feature some of it. Sorry!

This is currently Day 4, though the first day was just meet & greet time while we had appetizers and wine (or your drink of choice.) Everyone is really nice. There are nine students, including me. Some are grad students, some are working in the field, some are deciding which route of history/preservation to go. It makes for interesting conversations (hooray!)

I have found so far that there is so much that I know I studied at Mary Wash, but haven’t used in the past two years and therefore cannot remember. It’s frustrating, but we do get readings every night and I know that eventually it will come back to me.

Highlight of the first few days: Poplar Forest is gorgeous, peaceful, and amazing because the restoration began in 1989. This means that they have been able to do everything from the ground up, using modern technology and benefiting from prior restoration projects. The board completely supports doing everything as historically accurate as possible, which provides the leisure of time. And Travis McDonald has been with the project since restoration began. It is an amazing experience.

Stay tuned.