A dispute between the Montpelier Foundation board and the Montpelier Descendants Committee over a power-sharing agreement reached last summer has now snowballed into what appears to be a full-on revolt by staff at the fourth U.S. president’s historic estate. “By revoking parity with the MDC and by firing and suspending staff, TMF has attempted to […]
A dispute between the Montpelier Foundation board and the Montpelier Descendants Committee over a power-sharing agreement reached last summer has now snowballed into what appears to be a full-on revolt by staff at the fourth U.S. president’s historic estate. “By revoking parity with the MDC and by firing and suspending staff, TMF has attempted to […]
For almost a decade, Charlottesville resident Valerie Goodman has created Ukrainian eggs for fun—but when Russia invaded Ukraine, she saw the eggs as a way to raise money and awareness. Since March, Goodman has hosted egg-decorating parties for up to a dozen people. At the events, the minimum donation is $25 per egg, but Goodman […]
It’s been more than a year since statues began coming down in Charlottesville—where are they now? Johnny Reb In August 2020, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to take down Charlottesville’s first Confederate monument: a bronze statue of a Confederate soldier known as “Johnny Reb,” who stood outside the county courthouse for 111 […]
(More) mail woes For years, mail delays have plagued the Charlottesville area, thanks to short staffing and poor management at the Charlottesville Post Office. Last week, Senator Mark Warner visited Charlottesville again to meet with frustrated residents and postal workers, and address the ongoing crisis. “Our service has gotten better in the last month or […]
In 1808, the trans-Atlantic slave trade was abolished in the United States, but the horrors of slavery raged on for nearly six more decades. Between 1810 and 1860, approximately 1 million enslaved people in the Upper South were forcibly relocated to newly established plantations in the Deep South, fueled by the booming cotton industry. This […]
By Kristin O’Donoghue News that former Vice President Mike Pence would be appearing at UVA last week to deliver a speech titled “How to Save America from the Woke Left” sparked controversy. Competing editorials in The Cavalier Daily defended Pence’s visit as an expression of free speech while others called for the university to deplatform […]
For the win A sense of hope and victory was strong among the over 200 people who attended a virtual, national rally to stop construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The MVP is a 42-inch, underground natural gas pipeline system that stretches 303 miles from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia. Activists and environmental advocacy […]
It’s been over two years since a local resident threw the Court Square slave auction marker into the James River, and Charlottesville is slowly—yet surely—moving toward erecting a new memorial. Since 2020, the city’s Historic Resources Committee has met with several dozen descendants, gathering their input on how to properly memorialize the thousands of enslaved […]
Timing is everything, and that can certainly be said of Montpelier Foundation co-founder William Lewis’ new book, which traces the history and extensive renovation of the fourth U.S. president’s former home. Montpelier Transformed: A Monument to James Madison and Its Enslaved Community was published Monday, April 11, amid an ongoing controversy over a power-sharing agreement […]
Political polarization in the U.S. is extreme. People watch cable news networks that confirm their existing biases; Facebook offers an “unfriend” option, which encourages ideological homogeneity on feeds. A program at UVA, open to the entire Charlottesville community, aims to break down those barriers, one conversation at a time. “We’re really trying to get out […]