Day two of our trip was arrival day.  Though this trip came about primarily because of the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, it was also a culmination of our HIStory lessons on the American Revolution and the founding of our country.  I had a list of places to visit and which days to do this on.  Sometimes the best of plans change for the better.

As we are driving near Richmond husband informs me we are right by Monticello.  This had been put down for day six, so I was surprised to find us pulling in the place at 2pm.  They said we would have enough time and so we bought our tickets and went for it.

Of course, it was a beautiful plantation.  The view from the top of the "little mountain" was incredible!  The gardens were incredible too.  I smelled Jefferson's flowers and enjoyed seeing the peonies blooming (which I thought I was missing at home)  I couldn't find my seeds though.  Bummer.  We walked to Jefferson's tomb and through his woods.  We saw the house and where he read and where he died.  It was very inspiring.  The ground there must have a lot of red clay.  Our feet were a disaster--lots of red dirt.  (Note to self--don't wear nice shoes on any plantation tours.)   

Because he essentially died a pauper, there were not many original artifacts in the house.  That was kind of sad.  But what came next, was truly extraordinary!

We get back in the car to head towards Jamestown.  Now, I had been reading the "Laird and Lee's Guide to Historic Virginia and the Jamestown Centennial", published in 1907 (Vision Forum).  In this little guide book they told of all the places to see in Virginia 100 years ago.  One page talked of the great statue of George Washington mounted on his horse.  You've probably seen pictures of this in biographies, as I had.  The guide said it was in Richmond.  They also spoke of the great marble statue made by a french sculptur name Houdon.  He was the only person to sculpt Washington from life.  This was also in Richmond (a 100 years ago).  As we came upon the Richmond exit, I looked at the husband and he looked at me and we went for it.  We typed in our GPS, Capitol Street, Senate Street---anything that we could think of to lead us to the Capitol building.  It worked!

So we pull up to this huge round-a-bout and there is the big statue of George in the middle.  The thing must be at least three stories tall!  It was beautiful.  After we studied and totally fell in love with George Washington, everything George moves us!  Now, we still wanted to see the Houdon but it was after 5.  The place was pretty much deserted even though it was an absolutely beautiful evening.  I saw a sign on the door and went over to read it.  As I was heading that way, a security officer came out.   

He greeted me and asked how we were doing.  He was very friendly.  I asked him if the building was indeed closed, which he confirmed.  I asked if there was a window we could peek in to see the Houdon.  His eyes lit up and he began talking about the statue.  I told him how we had been reading about it in a 100 year old book and that we had come from Indiana for the Jamestown Anniversary.  He told me a couple of stories about the statue that were fascinating then he looked over at my kids and husband who were wandering around the big statue looking at it.  He asks if that's my family and I say yes.  Then he says, "Wait here...I'm going to make a call".   My heart started racing!!!

He came back out and said, "Get your family.  I'm giving you a tour!"  I nearly wet my pants!  It was so exciting!  We went in and he let me take pictures for about twenty minutes while he continued to tell us great stories about the statue including how two Virginia delegates once had an argument that led to one taking a shot at the other.   The statue was nicked.  He was definately up on his statue lore...and excited about it!

 He then gave us a brief tour of the rest of their newly refurbished State House including the original meeting room that houses the sceptre given by the King (??) and a huge bronze statue of Robert E. Lee.  He said the room was used in the filming of the movie Gettysburg (minus the statue!)

Well Officer Harper.  As you are tending to your duties today in Richmond, Thank you!  You made our day!  What a treat that we will never forget! 

 To be continued...