On March 16, we celebrated a very special birthday at the home of the Father of the Constitution! Montpelier welcomed friends from all over to celebrate James Madison’s 261st birthday!
This past week twelve metal detector experts from Minelab Americas attended a week-long metal detecting program to help archaeologists search for plantation sites across the property. The program also provided the participants an opportunity to learn about how archaeologists use metal detectors to discover and define archaeological sites.
In September 1821, Albert Picket Sr., Albert Picket Jr., and John W. Picket wrote James Madison requesting his opinion of female education, particularly in light of a planned female college in Maryland. The Pickets asserted, “If it be worthy of national concern, to educate young men well, in all that pertains to their morals & intellect, it is no less necessary to educate females in an equally solid, if not splendid degree.”1
James Madison is having a birthday commemoration and you’re invited! March 16 marks the 261st anniversary of the fourth president’s birthday. We will have several opportunities for our visitors to mark the occasion.
In honor of African American History Month, objects once owned by Montpelier slave Catherine Taylor are currently on display in the Joe and Marge Grills Gallery, joining archaeological objects from the recent South Yard excavation.
James Madison’s most publicized friendship is undoubtedly with his colleague from neighboring Albemarle County, Thomas Jefferson. Madison also found a companion and mentor in another founding father—George Washington. Following their initial meeting in 1781, the two politicos collaborated during the next decade to shape the new nation and its government.1
The Montpelier Foundation President and Chief Executive Officer Michael C. Quinn today announced his resignation to become president and chief executive officer of the American Revolution Center in Philadelphia.
In 1791, James Madison became friends with an unlikely companion, Italian sculptor Guiseppe Ceracchi (1751-1801) who moved to the new American capitol to carve a commemorative monument of the American Revolution. Madison, then a congressman from Virginia’s fifth district, lodged with Ceracchi at Mary House’s boardinghouse on the corner of Fifth and Market Streets.
When Paul Jennings created his memoirs, he probably never imagined he would have an audience of millions. This is exactly what happened on last night’s episode of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” though.
The archaeology department recently finished its field season in the South Yard and just began an analysis of all the artifacts recovered during the nine-month excavation season. The analysis of the household items recovered from the South Yard will be very important for our overall archaeological study of Montpelier’s enslaved community.
