Booker T. Washington National Monument honors the birthplace of an influential African American educator, writer, orator, and presidential advisor. Exhibits, films, a recreated 1850s farm, and guided tours explore how he rose from enslavement to leadership of the African American community during a time when racial discrimination was legalized in the United States. Read on to find out more.
History
Booker T. Washington National Monument preserves the birthplace of one of the most influential African American leaders of his time. A former slave, he became an educator, orator, and presidential advisor. He founded Tuskegee Institute and was an advocate of education for all people.
The park’s visitor center shares his story through exhibits, a film, and a living history farm. There are also short trails and a creek-side trail to explore and the grounds are beautifully maintained.
The museum is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is free. The monument is located near Smith Mountain Lake in southern Virginia. The 207-acre site honors the life of Washington and his philosophies as an educator, orator, and presidential advisor. It was his past that influenced his later views on how African Americans should interact with white society.
Exhibits
The monument preserves the 207-acre tobacco farm on which Booker T. Washington was born in 1856. Exhibits and living history demonstrations bring to life the setting of this important civil rights leader’s early years. Washington went on to become a prominent educator, orator, and African American spokesman during the trying period after the Civil War. He also founded Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
Begin your visit at the visitor center where exhibits and an audio-visual presentation orient you to the monument’s story. Park personnel and volunteers are available to answer your questions. Next, follow the plantation trail to reconstructed nineteenth-century farm buildings. The evocative one-room log cabin where Washington was born provides a glimpse of life on the Burroughs farm. The little dwelling had no glass windows and he and his siblings slept on the dirt floor bundled in rags. This article is worth reading.
Trails
A great National Park with a beautiful visiting center and hiking trails. Located outside of Hardy Virginia (20-minute drive from Roanoke).
This park evokes the experience of slavery in America and is the birthplace of Booker T. Washington, an orator, educator, and presidential advisor. Exhibits, films, and tours share the story of his remarkable rise from enslavement to success.
The historic 0.25-mile Plantation Trail loops through the property and includes reconstructed buildings such as a kitchen cabin where Washington’s mother lived and a tobacco barn. The 1.5-mile Jack o Lantern Branch Heritage Trail also traverses the grounds. Trail guides are available in the visitor center.
Pack a picnic (and snacks for your pooch) to enjoy the pawsome wooded setting. Picnic areas include a water fountain, trash cans, and restrooms.
Parking
Booker T. Washington National Monument preserves the birthplace of America’s most prominent African American educator, orator, and leader of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This National Monument interprets the life of this abolitionist through exhibits, films, a living history farm, guided tours, special events, and educational programs.
The park contains most of the original 207 acres of the plantation, along with a beautifully recreated 1850s tobacco farm and historic buildings. Demonstrations of farm life in Civil War Virginia help visitors understand how the past shaped Washington’s philosophies and beliefs.
The property has two hiking trails – the Plantation Trail is a short 1/4 mile loop and the Jack O Lantern Trail is a 1.5 mile walk that meanders through fields and forests. Dogs are welcome on the trails, but make sure they wear their leash and bring clean up bags.
Weather
The park has a variety of exhibits, videos, reconstructed buildings, and tours that help you envision what life was like here in the 1800s. It is a great place to bring your family or group of friends.
This national monument commemorates the birthplace of one of America’s most influential African American leaders born into slavery in Franklin County, Virginia. He went on to become a successful businessman, politician, and leader in African American education during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Reconstructed farm buildings and demonstrations of 1850’s farming and slavery help to bring the setting for Washington’s childhood to life in this rural national park. Bring a picnic lunch to enjoy in the pawsome wooded picnic area. There are also public restrooms located in the visitor center. Discover more interesting articles.
Driving directions from Pure Vue Window Cleaning to Booker T. Washington National Monument
Driving directions from Booker T. Washington National Monument to Smith Mountain Lake Farm Alpacas