No undertaking is more important to the remembrance of George Washington and his leadership of the Revolution than Ann Pamela Cunningham’s organizing the effort to acquire, restore and preserve Mt. Vernon. In a time of national turmoil in the 1850’s, how did a 37 year old, semi-invalid, single woman from rural South Carolina do it? Her … Read more
Develop a visual literacy of two-hundred years of building history through this survey of domestic forms and aesthetic movements.
Preserving tangible links to our past makes sense and dollars, whether you are rehabilitating properties for commercial or residential use.
This lecture considers ways that staff at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and James Madison’s Montpelier have engaged with Descendants of those enslaved there in telling the stories of their ancestors.
Americans stand in a very peculiar relationship to their history. We are fond of evoking it with pride – as the inspiring story of the “City on the Hill,” or the “last best hope for democracy,” and as the “leader of the free world,” and so on. We Americans are also readily inspired by our … Read more
Skulls and crossed bones. Weeping willows and rosebuds. Did you know Charleston has more 18th-century burial grounds than any city in the United States? Find out why on this visual stroll through historic colonial and antebellum cemeteries as we explore a religious diversity unknown in the other thirteen colonies. Moreover, Charleston’s ancient graveyards are art … Read more
This presentation addresses the need and efforts to preserve historical records, photos, and documents on the black experience. Also, included are the practice of proper storage and care of these archival materials.
Tom often writes about the vanishing ways, places, and traditions that have blessed the South with a sense of place: small towns that close at noon Wednesdays, vanishing country stores, telephoning fish, wasp attacks in church, casting spells to remove warts, and more. He brings the Southland of yesteryear alive … despite change and newcomers … Read more
Tom travels many a road off the beaten path. Three legs across South Carolina on Highway 76 reveals the state’s rich and surprising character. Other journeys have taken him from the Chattooga River to the Glendale Ruins to the Lowcountry. A surviving drive-in theater, the Kings Highway, a covered bridge, nuclear weapons reactors, poke salad … Read more
In “Abandonment Vs. Preservation,” Tom uses 33 photographs from the back roads that showcase places meriting preservation, places falling into beautiful wreckage as they crumble, and places other have had the foresight to preserve. Especially revealing are “roadside museums” where self-appointed curators have established memorials to earlier times. The message is simple: Architecture is a record of man’s activities … Read more
A traveling display of Lincoln and Civil War memorabilia and artifacts is available as a separate program. It requires a dedicated classroom for the day and at least six folding or library size tables. One or more classes can be rotated through the exhibit during a period of perhaps four repetitions; commentary and historical explanation … Read more
Nick Gambrell’s passion has long been historic rural construction of the region. The lecture will cover building styles, construction methods & ranges from farmhouses to log cabins.
Nick Gambrell has moved many historic structures over the years by disassembling and reassembling. This lecture illuminates the painstaking process as well as looking at a variety of historic properties that have been relocated.
