How can a chick be bigger than a chicken?

Magnet #1283 - Faberge rooster

Yeah, remember how I said VMFA's Faberge Revealed visitors were sparse yesterday? They were, but there were a few kids running around the exhibit halls, too.

Kids don't really bother me at all...unless they're unruly, or loud, or just spoiled. These kids weren't bad. But apparently, one was just talkative. Or maybe just inquisitive?

I didn't hear her, but they drove Save the World Couple insane with the rat-tat-tat questioning of "How can a chick be bigger than a chicken? How can a chick be bigger than a chicken?" Which is what she asked when she saw this chicken (rooster?) in the display case...because apparently, there was a chick that was...all together now, bigger than the chicken (really, it's a rooster).

Hahaha. Yep. Part of the charm of museums, you never know who you'll meet there.

Anyway, it's Save the World Sister's birthday today, so yay, happy fun trip to Richmond in a hurricane for a milestone birthday. Yay!

Tempting fate...or, Come On, Irene

Magnet #1281 - Accidents will occur

This magnet made me laugh this morning, because as I type, I'm sitting in a rather nice but kind of ridiculous Delta gate at LGA, waiting for my noon flight. To North Carolina. In the midst of a hurricane.

Note: This silliness is only outdumb'd by me thinking I might actually make it home to NYC on Sunday night.

I'm headed to Raleigh, so that Save the World Couple and I can drive up to Richmond and meet up with DCSis for a weekend in Richmond. You know, the town that was superclose to this week's earthquake epicenter and that's now also relatively close to the Irene's path, too?

The airport's pretty calm right now, so I should be totally fine getting down to NC, but I suspect that it'll be DCSis' bus trip from DC down to Richmond that will be plagued with troubles, if not cancellation.

I'll totally admit here that I'm sad to be missing NYC in a hurricane, but at this point, nothing will stop us from heading into a hurricane to celebrate the baby sister's 30th birthday.

Ya'll stay safe out there, Eastern Seaboard!

"British Culture with an American Accent"

Magnet #1200 - Agecroft Hall

BBC-America's @anglophenia, one of my favorite blogs, did a great series of US/UK culture comparison posts last week that had me giggling in more or less agreement:

• Five Great American Things the British Ruined
• Five Great American Things the British Improved
• Five Great British Things the Americans Ruined
• Five Great British Things the Americans Improved

Loved this series, because it's one of those fun debates that are never-ending, depending on who you're talking to.

What's that have to do with today's magnet from my sisters and BIL, you ask?

Well, Agecroft Hall is a Tudor manor sitting on the James River riverbank in Richmond, Virginia. But we're not talking architecturally-speaking Tudor, like that house in Salisbury, NC, that my sister loves that was built in the last 50 years.

No, it's an authentic Tudor-era manor built in the 1400s, that some wealthy American dude from Virginia bought at auction in the 1920s.

And then had it shipped over from its original foundation in Lancashire, England.

I mean, it's common practice for folks to go abroad and have stuff shipped back. It happens all the time, right? A statue or ceiling frieze here, a mantelpiece or a chapel there. And, while I understand it's not the entire estate, it's still a vast majority of the original estate that was purchased and moved.

We're talking someone had to dismantle it, crate it up, ship it across the Atlantic, uncrate it and rebuild a whole manor house. Jeepers.

I can't tell if this is another Great British Thing an American Ruined. Ultimately, I'm torn.

There's a part of me that's glad someone saved it from disrepair, and stopped it from becoming just another set of ruins in England. A part of me that's glad more generations are able to enjoy and learn about the Tudor era, and not have to travel to England to do it, if they can't get there.

But there's another part of me (the part of me that wishes the Met's Temple of Dendur were in its original setting, rather than sitting in a glass-enclosed atrium on the Upper East Side of New York City, and thinks that the Elgin marbles should go back to Greece) that thinks it's such a shame that some American stunted 500 years of history, and replanted it elsewhere.

A friend said something the other week about loving standing on well-worn marble steps. It's true. I'm always saying, one of my favorite things to do is to step where history happened, to walk where so many other feet have walked.

So it begs the question, does it physically matter where on Earth those stairs are, or just that they still exist 500 years later for more people to walk upon?

Annnd the world got a little smaller...

Magnet #1093 - Richmond, Virginia

Remember how I spent a week in Richmond, and then failed to actually pick up a magnet for the collection? Voila!

Picked it because I recently watched Tim McGraw trace his paternal family tree all the way back through Virginia, Washington, D.C., New York and then Germany, where his eight-times-removed grandfather came across on a ship via England with some of Elvis' relatives. Pretty cool.

I've only seen two episodes (David Tennant's [natch] and McGraw's), but whomever came up with the show Who Do You Think You Are? is a freakin' genius. Originally a UK show, it follows celebs as they trace their bloodlines as far as they can go.

The cool thing is that the bulk of the work gets done for them, either by Ancestry.com (great placement, by the way) or various libraries or genealogy experts, leaving us to tag along with the celebs as they discover where their people came from. I mean, ole Tim had me sniffling with just his opening scene!

In seventh grade, I traced the family tree back a generation or two through oral records and hearsay, but I didn't really have anything official. My parents came from the Philippines through LAX to O'Hare a year before I was born, so I'd have to travel a world away to trace my heritage beyond my grandparents.

Which is what one of my Twitterpals did, as it turns out.

She and I have Twitterbonded over TV shows and cuteboys over the last few months, but never really knew anything personal about each other. When I Tweeted that I was watching Tim McGraw's story, she mentioned loving the show, and how she went to go find her own grandfather's roots.

And I said exactly what I said above, I'd love to do the same, but I'd have to travel to the Philippines, and Lord knows how their records were, after a certain point.

That's when I learned of her journey to do exactly that - taking a five-hour bus-ride north of Manila to her grandfather's village, and finally managing to track down a first cousin of her grandfather's. (I wish I could link to the LJ story, but best not to without permission.)

Still. An amazing, and quite inspiring story. If she could track down her roots in a remote village, finding mine in Cebu City should be a piece of cake! Food for thought on our next trip to the homeland.

Hearing her story also makes me wish that they'd do a regular folk Who Do You Think You Are? series. The journeys would be just as cool, methinks.

Of course, I do find it extremely funny (and fitting!), that in all the world, through an online friend that I met on a completely separate messageboard, I somehow managed to end up Twitterpals with a chick who is part-Kababayan.

Take a look, it's Dinosaur Land - Guest blogger, Save the World BIL

Magnet #997 - Dinosaur Land

I have a confession to make:

I've never seen an episode of Reading Rainbow. I know! It was on from 1983-2006! How could I have missed 155 episodes of the show!

So when STW BIL sent me his guest blogger post below, and said it was written a la Reading Rainbow, the reference totally went over my head. Sure, I've seen bits and pieces of it over the years, and heard my sisters rave about Levar Burton, but I've never sat down for a full-blown episode. Of course, I had to go look up the wiki.

Still, the below's written in voice so well, that it's not hard to imagine hearing Levar in your head, reading the below magnetpost aloud to you.

I'll see you next time!

- joy

____________________________________

Hi, I’m a guest blogger.

Do you enjoy stories of giants, epic battles, and wild exotic lands? Well, then this magnet is for you. Dinosaurs may have lived millions of years ago, but there’s one place in Virginia where you can relive their glory days. What would you call this intriguing land of dinosaurs?

Dinosaur Land, of course!

Dinosaur Land takes us back to a simpler pre-Spielbergian time when plastic replicas represented these giants and roadside attractions brought people from miles around on the weekends. You can see the dinosaur battle reenacted by the titans on the magnet, and if you squint hard enough you’ll swear that they really moved. They have all the dinosaurs you’ve come to love and know like stegosaurus, triceratops, and brontosaurus; and a few you may not really know such as the oviraptor and iguanadon. Each one has a written description of where it lived and what it ate.

If you wanted something a little more than just dinosaurs, then you too are in luck. They also have a giant spider, sabertooth tiger (really a smilodon), and King Kong. Once you finish your self-guided tour, make sure get to the gift shops where you not only find dinosaur-themed gifts, but Native American and patriotic fare. [Clearly, this guy was meant to be in our family, if he's mentioning the gift shop! Yay! -joy]

If you find yourself near Winchester, VA, Dinosaur Land makes for a fun afternoon. But don’t take my word for it…..find out for yourself!

Bundump dump.

Who says, who says

Magnet #962 - Joy President of the United States

I never wanted to be president of the U.S. I never had any interest in politics - ironic, given my poli sci and international studies degree. Clearly, the degree my mother picked out for me.

But, ya'll know I love my name, and that's how I ended up with this magnet, which I think I bought at the now-closed Presidents Park in Williamsburg, VA. Or, maybe one of the many presidential libraries I've gone to over the years?

This magnet reminds me of my mother, because after many, many hours on the road back and forth to Boston, she picked out the Hannah Montana CD, and says, "Let's play this. I like that she says, 'who says, who says, I won't be president.'"

Yep, Mom's a Hannah fan. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I guess.

Stone's throw from Boston

Magnet #914 - Maymont

Yep, my second Maymont magnet. I've magnetblogged about that house before, so I'm using this one for today's visit to yet another obscure historical house.

This time it was Robert Treat Paine's Stonehurst, in Waltham, Massachusetts, designed by Henry Hobson Richardson, with a little landscaping help from his friend, Frederick Law Olmstead.

Some consider Richardson to be one of the greatest American architects - born in Louisiana, most of his work is scattered in New England, and the Midwest, from Trinity Church in Boston to the original Marshall Field store in Chicago, to having a hand in the NY State Capitol. And of course, everyone knows Olmstead for his work in Central Park and Chapel Hill and myriad other places.

Stonehurst was pretty bare, but man, was it gorgeous! Wood paneling, stone facade, giant hall, several parlors, fantastic. And of course, we were the only ones inside, and while we only did the self-guided tour, we ended up bombarding the poor lady with question after question after question.

Eh. It's what we do. It's who we are.

Oh. And we knocked on some wood, too.

300

Magnet #879 - Romanov Tercentenary Faberge Egg

This Faberge egg for the Romanov Tercentenary, was gifted by Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra, in honor of 300 years of Romanov rule, which started started in 1613 with Michael, and ended with the execution of the Romanov family in 1918. Very sad.

But the egg itself is gorgeous (aren't they all), and made from gold and silver, diamonds and more diamonds, turquoise and enamel. It's dotted with 18 little watercolor portraits of the Romanov line, which included the likes of Catherine the Great.

But the pretty prize inside is a little blue enamel and gold globe that rotates (!!!!) and shows the territories they ruled in 1613 on one side, and what they ruled in 1913.

The fact that the globe rotates (!!!!) seriously just makes me want to touch it. Like, I just want to play with these eggs. It also makes me wonder if the Romanov kids were allowed to mess around the eggs just sitting on the shelves at home. Cuz, hi, that would be superawesome. Go long, Tsarevich Alexei, go long!!!

Anyway, I picked this egg today, because of two reasons. First, because last night's Lie to Me, had a Faberge-like egg that was part of a robbery, and people were getting beat up for it, and to my knowledge, even to the end, never even acknowledged what the egg was.

And, second, because I wanted to report back about the happiest place inside the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Faberge room, which was kind of like a Faberge egg itself - small in size, but with absolute treasures inside.

It was a pretty small and unassuming room, off to the side. But as you step in, you see there are several display windows just chockful of Faberge decorative pieces. Remember, they have the largest amassed collection of Faberge outside Russia. So they had the six eggs in their collections, plus a bunch of baby eggs, umbrella handles, picture frames and other doodads belonging to the Romanov family.

Quite an amazing collection. I wish I'd had more time to explore it, but who knows, maybe one day, I'll exit off of I-95 to visit them again. Although, at this point, the more I visit the Kremlin website for more information, the more I really want to visit.

I will say, I was quite disappointed that the gift shop didn't have any egg magnets. They had egg card holders, though totally out of my price range, what with the semi-precious stones and all, but no egg magnets?

Hmph.

That the future may learn from the past*

Magnet #872 - Colonial Williamsburg

Good gravy, Colonial Williamsburg must have a big marketing/advertising budget. I feel like everyone's seen their ads, but when I went to go look them up on YouTube to link to them, there's like a zillion ads for them! (Also, geeky digital note here, I can't believe they own the history.org domain. Whoa!)

I dunno if you've ever been, but for the history buffs among us, it's a must-see. If you're on the East Coast within driving distance (and you like history), it's a must-see. If you're an American (and you like history), it's a must-see.

But, see it on a not-so-hot day, and not when you're expecting, because the (pregnant) BFF and I during the BFF Babymoon were shot by the end of the day. I mean, it is 300 acres to see, learn and explore. Or so the vids tell me.

Like any other living history attraction, you get out of it, what you put in it. In this case, if you want to spend the day going to all of the demonstrations, visiting the governors palace, and getting the most out of the day, you put in about $46.

Or, if you're us, you decide to park at the parking deck, and just walk around on your own.

I'd been there before when I was little, so I didn't feel as though I missed anything. I do think that BFF might have gotten a little bit more out of it by going to see all the talks, rather than us just walking down the main drag and seeing what we could see on our own.

I was happy for dayplayers dressed up in period dress, roaming the streets, making conversation and teaching the little ones. And I was happy for the bakery. And definitely the air-conditioned shops that smelled of pungent soaps and wood. And I loved that the modern comforts of vending machines and restrooms were set so far away, it really was like visiting the outhouse!

The history buff part of me wishes we'd made time for the re-enactments and the talks, but I met a bit of my own history when I stumbled into the very shop I visited when I was like 10, and found the same exact tin whistle, in the exact display with the very same orange songbook. I remember standing in front of it, begging for both, and promising to learn every song in the book,and skipping out of the shop with both in hand. Note, I didn't learn every song, but I know full well that song book's sitting with all of our other piano books at home. Crazy.

Anyway, if you've never been before, Colonial Williamsburg stays on my recommended list (along with a visit to Presidents Park up the road).

Besides, with a grand and noble tagline* like that, how could it not live up to its promise?


eta:
It occurs to me that I should have written up this post before my friends' vacation. They're down there right now, and I probably should have let on about the 300 acres...before they went roaming around.

Oops.

Walking in Richmond

Magnet #869 - Memphis, TN

STWsis got me this magnet from her trip to Memphis, TN, and I was planning to use it for when the BFF and I did the BFF Babymoon.

I mean, that was when we thought we were going to Memphis. Until we realized that it was about a 9-hour drive to get there from NC. Which meant, shoot, we might as well have driven back up to NY for all the driving we'd have to do. So, we skipped it.

Instead, we ended up in Richmond, VA. Which, if I haven't said before, revealed itself to be quite the jewel of the South. Lovely town, and so much to see and do. A true gem.

And, since I totally spaced and forgot to get a magnet from Richmond (I know! Crazy!), this will have to do.

Upstairs, downstairs

Magnet #861 - Maymont

Have ya'll seen that Clive Owen movie Gosford Park? The really good one - about the genteel Brits in the English countryside and the lives of their upstairs and downstairs servants?

That's what the Maymont House Museum reminded me of. The U.S. version of that movie. Maymont was the 100-acre Gilded Age estate of a wealthy Richmond couple, the Dooleys. There's a nature preserve and a set of gorgeous gardens, plus the house on the estate is available to tour.

So, yeah, you know we totally did the tour. It starts you off belowstairs, with a rather well-done and in-depth self-guided tour, telling the story of how the Walker family, and the rest of the servants lived and helped serve the Dooleys family over the generations. So very cool. I mean, on these tours, you always get to see the dumbwaiters, the bellringer switchboards, the pantries and the kitchens, but, how often do you get to learn the details?

I mean, dudes, it took 10-12 hours to do laundry - one load! And, the manpower needed to host a tea party, you would not believe!

When it's time, they have you meet around the house at the front door. Not the side, where the carriage entrance was - you have to love houses with carriage entrances, it puts you right in that carriage in your best day/evening dress! But, at the front door, you're greeted by one of the docent volunteers to take you through the house, presumably because the mistress of the house has gone away for the day, leaving the guide to show you around.

What a good tour and a sweet tour guide, too. You can see the tour via this lovely blogpost. But our guide took us through the receiving and dining rooms downstairs, as well as the bedrooms upstairs, all the while answering our questions where she could.

She gave me a bit of perspective, explaining to me that though the Dooleys were very wealthy - they weren't near as wealthy as those Vanderbilts down in NC - which I have to take that they couldn't have been part of Mrs. Astor's circle in NYC, could they have? I dunno.

Anyway, you'll see through that blogpost that the house was certainly the epitome of the Gilded Age - for better or for worse, filled with such Gilded Age-y ornate furniture from all over, fueled by some definitely eclectic tastes.

On the good side, that eclecticism also included a number of Tiffany pieces that were pointed out along the way - which was no surprise, since the Tiffany exhibit at the VMFA has totally taken over Richmond, in such a wonderful surround-sound branding way, that I can hardly believe it. The piece on this magnet is actually a major panel in the house in their grand foyer.

So gorgeous. So unsigned! But no worries, Tiffany confirmed that it was from their studios.

On the bad side, the eclecticism (yes, that word sounds ok - odd, but ok) really freaked me out when we got to Sallie May's room - where, upon her death, she had her bed from their second house, Swannanoa, brought to Maymont room, so it could be on display. Which wouldn't have been so bad, had it not been this huge monstrosity...in the shape of a swan.

A swan. A big giant swan.

Of course, both sisters were more worried about the Tiffany whaletusk/silver vanity table and chair. Disturbing, to say the least, but man, I'll see that swan in my nightmares.

And we'll likely be riding it, right into belly of the Kraken.

Are you surprised?

Magnet #860 - Pink Joy

Nooooo, you can't tell me you're surprised that this magnet is the reason I bought that magnet set from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts that I talked about yesterday.


eta:
Sorry for the short & sweet - got hit with a cold this week and am fevery and sniffly today, the day I was supposed to go back to work after a week off.

And, though it turns out that I probably got it from my STW BIL this past weekend, I'm really starting to believe in the physical manifestations of environmental (work) stress/distress.

Died of a theory*

Magnet #858 - White House of the Confederacy

And, here it is, the White House of the Confederacy, nestled in the heart of Richmond, where we went last week on the BFF Babymoon Over the Confederacy roadtrip. It's part of the adjacent Museum of the Confederacy.

I always feel a little weird going anywhere with heavy Southern sympathizer tendencies, mainly because some of the teachers I had growing up in the South were old enough to remember the last years of an America before the Civil Rights movement. I remember being the fifth grader asking the hard question about which camp this little Filipino girl would fall in. And, I was always considered the Yankee (and foreigner) who moved from Chicago to North Carolina...in kindergarten.

But, I suppose history is something you can't ignore, and when you're here in the South, it's almost unavoidable. But last week, we actively sought out history, to look it right in the face.

The Museum of the Confederacy was actually a pretty cool little museum - it takes you through the major battles of the Civil War, which of course, I totally related back to North and South, and the battles that Orry and Billy Main and George Hazard fought.

But the White House was supercool. It was the residence of Jefferson and Varina Davis, and their six kids. He took us through the receiving room, as well as the sitting and retiring rooms, as well as the upstairs private rooms. Though some of the decor was questionable, it was quite amazing to walk the halls of history.

From the coal-shaped "IED" that the confederates would stuff with gunpowder and stick into coal piles to be able to blow up ships/trains, to the rubber hoses made by Mr. Goodyear to pipe gas down from the chandeliers to the table lamps. And learning that Jeff Davis didn't believe in disciplining his six kids, believing that it would stifle creativity...so much so that whenever they placed nanny ads, they had to place it blindly, with a fake address and a fake name, so that no one knew it was for the Davis kids.

C'mon, that's a movie in the making right there.

Such a great tour. And you know I always say that the tour guide makes the tour. Always.

The 3pm tour last Thursday the 24th of June? Out. Standing. He was so good. You could tell the kid wanted to share much more about the lives of Jefferson and Varina Davis, and the Civil War. He was just bursting with information, and he was coaxing us to ask the right questions.

Loved it. No matter how you feel about the War between the States, this museum/tour is definitely on my Recommend list!


“If the Confederacy fails, there should be written on its tombstone: Died of a Theory.”

- Jefferson Davis

The Old Well

Magnet #853 - UNC's Old Well

The Old Well is a long-standing symbol of Carolina, once the only water supply for Old East and Old West, now two dorms. Old East is actually a national landmark, they call it the oldest state university in America (from 1795).

There are a few legends about this well, though. The first is that all in coming freshmen should drink from here, to ensure great grades. The other, is that there's a reason some folks nicknamed it the Pee Well. Ewww.

I picked this one that my sisters got me a couple of weekends ago, because in a few hours, I must get up and over to my BFF's house, so we can get this roadtrip on the road.

We'll be stopping along the way for a late breakfast in Chapel Hill with another friend and then the start of the BFF Babymoon Over the Confederacy Roadtrip to Richmond begins in earnest.

Richmond's a place that we've both driven through, but never been. I mean, all I know about Richmond, is what I know from whizzing by it on 95. The crazy streets with the tons of crazy drivers, zipping around the corner of that really pretty church. I swore I've never been, but I have a dim memory of driving around deserted streets. My dad confirms that "Oh, c'mon now, don't tell me you've never been to Richmond! We've had Chinese dinner there!"

Uh, yeah. That totally doesn't count!

I'm superexcited about our trip. The Virginia Museum of Fine Art is what I'm hanging my hat on. You'll see why, soon. Just gotta get into that gift shop!

Usonian U-turn

Magnet #714 - Pope-Leighey House

There's nothing better than serendipitous sidetrips. So, after a day of hanging out at George Washington's Mount Vernon several years ago, we were headed back to my sister's place. On the way, we ended up running into the Frank Lloyd Wright's Pope-Leighey House in Alexandria, VA.

The house is on the grounds of Woodlawn Plantation, which is a house that was designed by the same guy who designed the U.S. Capitol, for George Washington's nephew and wife Nelly Custis. That's a great place to visit with a cool tour, but, I was all over the Wright house.

At that point, I didn't even know that FLW even built in the DC area. Of course, at that point, I hadn't been spoiled for the tragic end of Loving Frank, either - but that's a whole different story.

Such a great unexpected sidetrip that was. We made it just in time for the last tour of the day - and the guide took us in and around the house, explaining concepts and layouts for the FLW Usonian house. Basically, FLW's goal was to bring his architecture to the common man, affordable homes for cost-conscious people with great taste.

Though I really love touring and looking at his houses, and seeing all the intricate details in his design work, I gotta be honest. I don't think I could live an a Wright house - mainly because the places he liked to make small, I like to have big. He was a big believer in common spaces being bigger, because that's where the family gathers. His homes have big living and dining rooms, with incredibly small hallways, bathrooms and bedrooms.

And, really. Have you ever tried the plopability of his sofas or chairs? I haven't sat in many, but man, if you can't plop on to a sofa or a chair, there's no point trying to sit in it!

I shall return

Magnet #241 - MacArthur Memorial

When I was young, my dad somehow got me interested in reading about the only 5-star generals ever. There were only five of them: George C. Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Henry H. Arnold, and Omar N. Bradley.

Like most Filipinos of the post-WWII generation, my dad had a special interest in General MacArthur, whose famous speech promised his return to help save the Philippines from Japanese Occupation. And today, in 1944 (about two months before my dad was born), MacArthur made good on his promise, and landed back on the island of Leyte. This famous image of the landing is forever stamped on the minds of Filipinos the world over.

So, it's no surprise that we totally had to visit the MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk, VA. I mean, how could we not. It's a great way to spend a quiet morning - a small museum of his personal belongings, he and his wife's final resting place, visitors center, a library and archives, and, duh, a little shop!

Mind you, MacArthur was a hard man, impatient and often at odds with his superiors. That's what I got from the books. But, I got second-hand confirmation, eventually. One holiday, we had some company over - this family and their grandfather who used to keep my sisters and me when we were little. During dinner, somehow MacArthur came up, and old Grandpa Joe, (whom I'd known for 20 years but didn't know he was a vet), sat at the head of the table listening to the conversation, and in mixed tone of admiration and ire, busts out with, "MacArthur! Now, he was a son of a bitch!"

A-maze-ing

Magnet #220 - Garden Maze

An acre's never seemed so big. The Garden Maze at Luray Caverns, Virginia was terrific fun.

It's one of those old-school giant mazes that you have to figure out how to get to the middle. It's more fun when you travel in packs, though it's funny how you start to compete with other random people in the maze.

It's also funny how as time wears on, you start to second and third guess your choices...mainly cuz you've run into a green wall. Or two. Or ten.

Kinda wish I'd visited the little shop to buy this magnet, before we went through it.

If men were angels...

Magnet #208 - James Madison's Montpelier

...no government would be necessary.

- James Madison,
4th president,
"Father of the Constitution"*

Happy Constitution Day! This day in 1787, our founding fathers signed the Constitution, forever cementing the foundation of U.S. history.

And, at James Madison's Montpelier today, they're celebrating another foundation - that of wrapping up their five-year campaign to restore the presidential mansion back to its former glory.

Interesting, but slightly freaky fact: James Madison died on a July 4...the same date that Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe and John Adams died. But, when Madison died, he was pretty much broke, leaving Dolley to have to sell off Montpelier. Each subsequent owner renovated, and in the end, the house was almost unrecognizable. Indeed, the last owners - the duPonts - had a 55-room house, versus James and Dolley's 22. Whoa. But, if I remember correctly, the last duPont owner left her entire estate to restore Montpelier.

That's where the fun begins. When they began the restoration, the house began to talk. We had a terrific tour guide, and based on her passionate lecture, it truly must have been supercool to work at Montpelier these last several years, discovering all the secrets of the house, not really knowing what was under that floor, in that wall, or over that door.

They found out that there were like 51 doorways in the original house...and by the time we visited, had only found 38 of the missing doors...only they weren't missing, they were just in different locations.

They found out that the windows beside the grand entrance? Didn't open outward: they slid right into the walls - something unheard of back in the day.

Dudes, they even found a rats' nest with bits of a Madison letter (!), and wallpaper, which let them figure out what wallpaper to use!

Ok, ok, suffice to say that the Montpelier tour was one of the coolest live exhibits that I've ever been to, and I'm totally looking forward to going back.

*Source: I rarely ever need to source things, usually because I can link to them, but I find it incredibly funny that a lot of this tour that we did back in 2006 was repeated in the Madison article in American History magazine (Oct 08) that a friend saved for me.

Bust a move

Magnet #189 - Joy in Presidents Park

A few years ago, we visited Presidents Park in Williamsburg, VA. And, I'm considering a trip to the one out in South Dakota.

I love presidential history - which is odd, given that I'm one of the most apolitical folks I know. I hate discussing politics with anyone - the Republicans think I'm on the Democrat side, the Democrats think I'm on the Republican side, and truth is, it's no one's business but my own. Despite the unending efforts of both sides to convince me, I'm not listening to anyone but the candidates. I swear, you'd think I was at the crossroads of Eden and Sodom & Gomorrah, with my soul at stake. Though, really, it's more like the crossroads of Salisbury, NC, and New York, NY...with my vote at stake.

But, I digress - this is a magnetblog, after all. Right. Presidential history - that means (mostly) dead presidents.

This place is loaded with them - it's basically a park where they have 20-feet-tall busts of all of our U.S. presidents placed along a meandering path in numerical order. Twenty feet! Forty-three of them! It's insane! I bet it's kinda scary to be in at night. I bet they all talk to each other when no one's around. I bet I'm creeping myself out.

Anyway. At the base of each president, they have displays that basically go through their fact sheets - personals, career accomplishments, presidential achievements and failures, fun facts, etc. And though you think you know all there is to know about your dead presidents...I'm sure you'd still find one or two things to learn, while you're peering up Harry Truman's nose.

Seriously, folks, it's the coolest place on earth. Or the creepiest.

Colors of the Wind

Magnet #82 - Jamestown, VA

So, May 14, 2007, was the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in what is now the U.S.

You'da thunk a year-long celebration would have given me ample time for me to get down to Virginia, but nope. I missed all of it - my sisters brought this one back for me. Jeepers, even the Queen made it down there to make her speeches.

I actually think I wasn't the only one who couldn't make it. Last year, just before the anniversary celebration proper, they still had tons of tickets leftover...which is a tiny bit sad. Methinks it was probably a hard sell. I'm not gonna go for the history lesson on this one, but, if you want to learn more, this education site has a few good videos to while away the time.

But, I'm not gonna lie. While I dimly remember learning about the settlement in school, most of what I know about Jamestown is really from Disney's Pocahontas.