4 LIVING HISTORY

You can feel the past in Virginia, not just in its many museums and monuments but in its well-worn byways and time-mellowed buildings. Look around and you’ll see the foundations of American history, from the 1600s to the civil rights era. At Colonial Williamsburg, you can explore 18th-century taverns, houses, workshops, gardens and farms. At Mount Vernon, the estate of George and Martha Washington, and Montpelier, the home of James and Dolley Madison, the earliest years of the American Republic and its presidents come to life. Virginia is also home to four centuries of Black history. The Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia in Richmond tells stories of African American lives, sometimes famous, sometimes forgotten but always inspiring. The U.S. Civil Rights Trail runs through the heart of Virginia, highlighting sites that were at the forefront in the fight for racial justice and equality in the 1950s and ‘60s.