James Madison's Montpelier We The People Spring 2013 | Page 12

We The People
12

Special Interest Tours
Tickets for the following Special Interest & Quarterly Walking Tours may be
purchased at the Montpelier Visitor Center on the day of your visit.

Family Friendly Tour

Journey from Slavery
to Freedom

Every Saturday and Sunday –
11:00 a.m.
FREE

First Saturday of every month, April through October – 1:00 p.m.

Bring the family for this free tour
designed to engage all ages, touching
on history, governance, and life on a
working plantation. Join other families
as we focus on the “fun stuff” and
explore James Madison’s Montpelier.

Adult Admission + $5

Gilmore Cabin Open House

Experience nearly 300 years of African American history, visiting sites and
original structures on the Montpelier plantation that bring to life generations
of enslaved individuals from slavery through Emancipation, and shed light on
living and working through Reconstruction, Jim Crow segregation, and the Civil
RIghts Movement. A walking and driving tour.

Every Saturday and Sunday, April
through October – 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
1119 Constitution Hwy, across Route 20
from the main entrance of Montpelier

The Enslaved Community Tour
Every Saturday and Sunday, April
through October – 1:00 p.m. (*On first
Saturday of month, Journey From Slavery to
Freedom is offered instead.)

Admission + $5
Journey through the lives of more
than 200 enslaved individuals
during the Madison period. Visit the
village where they lived, the cellars
and fields where they worked, and
the cemetery where they now rest.
Learn from the stories of individuals,
families, and their often-complex
relationships with the Madisons.

Garden and Grounds Tour
Every Sunday, April through October
1:00 p.m.
Admission + $5
Peel back 250 years of landscaping to
reveal how people changed the land
— and how the land changed them.
Learn how the grounds of Montpelier
became a trove of champion trees and
unique plantings, cultivated with great
care and attention over its generations
of preservation.

In the Ground and in the Lab:
Special Tour with Archaeologists
Every Thursday, April through
November – 1:00 p.m.
Meet at the Visitor Center
Admission + $5
Take a guided tour of an active dig
site and learn how archaeologists
restore ceramics and process
artifacts in the archaeology lab. No
reservation required. Contact the
Archaeology Lab for more information
at 540.672.2728 ext. 163.

How Best Do We Govern
Ourselves? (Constitution Tour)
Every Friday and Saturday – 1:00 p.m.
Meet at the Visitor Center
Admission + $5
A unique look at the home of James
Madison from the perspective of his
greatest legacy. Join us for a journey
through the Montpelier mansion that
will reveal the story of how Madison
took the age-old idea of selfgovernment and made it a reality.
This is not a tour about places and
things but about ideas; it is a quest
in search of the essential principles
of the Constitution.

FREE
Enter the home of George and
Polly Gilmore, born into slavery at
Montpelier in 1810, and visualize the
life they built for their family after
Emancipation. This free tour highlights
the continuing