Our Community

The Charlottesville community is steeped in history: home of Presidents Thomas Jefferson at Monticello, James Monroe at Ash Lawn-Highland, and James Madison at nearby Montpelier. Meriwether Lewis was born in Albemarle County, and William Clark's family lived here before moving to Caroline County, Virginia.

Jefferson's homeland is uniquely suited for visitors to explore and discover anew the diversity of geography, plants, wildlife and Native American cultures that comprised the nation at the beginning of the 19th century.

The Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center will complement the visitor experience at Monticello, where President Jefferson and his secretary, Meriwether Lewis, planned the trip West. The Center will also feature the roles of James Monroe and James Madison, whose nearby homes, Ash Lawn-Highland and Montpelier, are also visitor attractions. While Madison served as secretary of state during the expedition, Monroe, minister plenipotentiary to France, negotiated the Louisiana Purchase, giving the United States ownership of the western lands.

Meriwether Lewis' family home, Locust Hill, is in Albemarle County as is the Clark homeplace, where William Clark's older brothers, George Rogers Clark, an early western explorer, and Jonathan Clark, were born.

There are other Charlottesville and Albemarle County resources for those interested in the Lewis and Clark story. The Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center of Virginia holds an annual festival to highlight the city and county sites related to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, its personnel and its intellectual roots. The Home Front Chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation holds frequent meetings with guest speakers. The Home Front Chapter hosted the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation’s annual national meeting in 1995. The Virginia Discovery Museum has interactive children’s exhibits with changing themes, often with a connection to Lewis and Clark history. Their original exhibit, Adventures with Lewis and Clark, and a STARLAB -- portable planetarium -- show on “Lewis and Clark’s Celestial Navigation,” are available for rental. A Special Collections at the University of Virginia has early maps of Virginia and the expedition. Its website is especially informative. The Albemarle-Charlottesville Historical Society has relevant displays and the Live Arts Theater features related productions, including an original drama, “Lewis and Clark.” The Virginia Museum of Natural History at the University of Virginia has school resource kits and can design a program focusing on the expedition’s flora and fauna for your class, youth or adult group. (Call museum at 434 982 4605).

The Home Front Chapter has developed a series of five presentations for elementary school children. Available in 2004, this program fits within the requirements of Virginia’s Standards of Learning. The chapter created the program with a grant from the National Park Service and support from the City of Charlottesville, the County of Albemarle, the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center of Virginia and the Charlottesville-Albemarle Visitors and Convention Bureau. Contact Malou Stark at stark@charlottesville.org.

Charlottesville and Albemarle County have sister city/county relationships with Long Beach and Pacific County, Washington. The Lewis and Clark Expedition, which began here, ended there when the Corps of Discovery sighted the Pacific Ocean. View www.lewisandclarkwa.com and www.Lewisandclarkcoast.com.

The Home Front Chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, sponsored a national meeting of the Foundation in 1995. The Virginia Discovery Museum mounted a children's interactive exhibit and the Special Collections at the University of Virginia exhibited a series of early maps of Virginia and the Expedition. The Albemarle County Historical Society also has a display of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and the Live Arts Theater has produced an original drama "Lewis and Clark."

A summer program is being offered by the Virginia Museum of Natural History at the University of Virginia on the Lewis and Clark Adventures. The museum also features "The Flora and Fauna of the Lewis and Clark Expedition", running through December, 2003.

Clark Family property