Past Events
Annual Meeting - Saturday, September 13, 2008
In 2008, Mr. Patrick Henry joined us for lunch and a program at Winton. Patrick Henry, whose mother is buried at Winton, was portrayed by Robert Schumann.
On Saturday, April 19, 2008the 2008 Annual House Tour featured the community of Poplar Grove and the area just east of the Town of Amherst.
To take a look at the 2007 tour, click here.
To review the 2006 historic home tour, click here.
If you missed the 2005 home tour, click here for an overview
To see an overview of the 2004 historic home tour, click here.
To review the 2003 historic home tour, click here.
If you'd like to see the 1957 Home Tour, you can click on the link.
Thomas Jefferson in Amherst County!
Mr. Jefferson attended our Annual Membership Meeting on Saturday, September 15, 2008, at Winton.
Since America was celebrating its 400th anniversary, we hosted a very special guest attended - Thomas Jefferson, portrayed by Bill Barker of Colonial Williamsburg. Mr. Barker has appeared around the world and on many television shows; he has done local programs at Poplar Forest and truly brings history alive.
Jefferson had extensive contacts in Amherst County - particularly with the family of Hugh Rose of Geddes. He owned property in the county and did legal work for various clients. (If you’d like to brush up on Mr. Jefferson’s Amherst County connections, see our book From Days Gone By...
on sale at the Museum Gift Shop.)
Would you like to be reminded about the Museum's upcoming activities via e-mail? Send an e-mail to Amherst County Museum & Historical Society. We will then compile an address list and send out reminders about activities a week or so in advance.
Exhibits
Amherst County Pathways
On June 2nd, 2001 the Museum celebrated the opening of our permanent exhibit, Amherst County Pathways, on the history of Amherst County. It explores several aspects of the county's history including natural history, the bateaux, agriculture and the Civil War. Objects on display include Monacan projectile points, a copy of the original legislation creating Amherst County, a Civil War era wooden leg, a ca. 1900 christening gown and much more. It is the Museum's hope that every individual who visits the exhibit will learn something new about the history of Amherst County.
Previous Exhibits
Local Artists, Local Places, 2005-2006
The Major Thomas Whitehead gallery exhibited historic sites and landscapes of Amherst County, as painted by local artists. These artists generouly loaned their paintings of such places as downtown Amherst of the early twentieth century, the National Register site Six Mile Bridge and of course, a bateau on the James River. For more details of the exhibit, click here.
Native American Archaeology
Through archaeology and historical research we have been able to uncover much information on the lives of early Native Americans in Amherst County. Both Monacan and Cherokee were on this land long before settlers sailed up the James River. They left behind sherds of pottery, projectile points, stone tools and many other artifacts as they moved throughout the county. Both groups also left behind important oral traditions that have been carried down to present day.
This exhibit displayed artifacts discovered throughout Amherst County and Central Virginia to uncover the lives of these early people. Artifacts included specimens found in a 1970 dig near Galt's Mill, a collection of arrowheads and spear points, sherds of pottery and reproduction pottery made in the early 1980s at the Monacan Co-Operative Pottery.
The Whitehead gallery had been displaying some of our more recent acquisitions. Among items exhibited in this gallery were a wire recorder with wire spools and headphones, antique food preparation utensils, a scrapbook of eleaborately decorated eggs, and the original of the popular bateau print from the early years of the James River Batteau Festival.
School Days
In 2004, as school began the Museum exhibited a number of artifacts from Amherst's educational history--from a 1920s graduation dress, textbooks from the 1880s, an early twentieth century mapcase with maps and more. Click here for more on this exhibit!
In 2005 our Academic Amherst exhibit included a variety of textbooks and teachers' grade and report books. In addition, all visitors were invited to "vote" for their favorite school subjects on the retired voting machine. The results of the vote:
- Arithmetic, 8
- Art, 31
- Geography, 20
- History, 23
- Lunch & Recess, 30
- Math, 6
- Music, 34
- Physical Education, 14
- Reading, 21
- Science, 18
Amherst Court Days
During the summer of 2004 in the Singleton-Zinsser Memorial Gallery were items that reflect the heritage of the Amherst Court-its House and its people. In this gallery were fragments of artifacts found on the site believed to be the location of Amherst County's first courthouse, several law books, forms and a forms cabinet, manuals for justices of the peace one of the benches from the old courthouse and the opportunity to watch former Clerk of the court Billy Sandidge speak about the building of the new courthouse facade.
Local Artists, Local Places
20 February - 20 May 2004
The Major Thomas Whitehead gallery housed an exhibit of historic sites and landscapes of Amherst County, as painted by local artists. These artists most generouly loaned their paintings of such places as the old store at Fancy Hill, Woodson's Mill, a bateau on the James River, and of course, the Museum's own Tyler Schoolhouse. For a more detailed description of the exhibit, click here.