Everyday Life at Tusculum: Exhibit Opening

Between August 20th and November 15th, a Tusculum Exhibit will be on view in the Benedict Gallery at Sweet Briar College. Dr. Lynn Rainville will give a lecture on the exhibit September 10th at 5pm (a reception will precede the talk at 4pm).

The exhibit includes a full-sized reproduction of one of the fireplace mantels, artifacts excavated by the William & Mary Center for Archaeological Research in 2006, and dozens of archival photographs.

The exhibit is organized around several themes: daily life in the household, burial grounds, architectural history, sustainable preservation, and the formation of the Institute.

Tusculum to Host the Annual Preservation Virginia Conference: 20-22 September, 2009

Please join us for the annual Preservation Virginia (formerly the APVA) Conference. Co-sponsored by the Department of Historic Resources, the City of Lynchburg, the National Park Service, Sweet Briar College, and the Tusculum Institute the conference will feature nationally known speakers and interactive walking tours of the Sweet Briar campus.

For three days in September 2009, some of the nation's most respected thinkers and practitioners in the fields of historic preservation and sustainable building will converge on Sweet Briar College to explore and chart the moving frontier of historic preservation and sustainability.

On-line Historic Database: The Sweet Briar Plantation

One of the goals of the Tusculum Institute is to encourage the public to care about historic structures in their communities, with an end goal of preserving these physical remnants of our shared heritage. One of the services that the Institute can provide is digital access to local history. To demonstrate this capability Dr. Rainville posted two websites dedicated to sharing information about Sweet Briar's history. Sweet Briar's ante-bellum history is entwined with that of Tusculum's. Elijah Fletcher (Sweet Briar's founder) managed Tusculum on behalf of his wife's mother (after William S. Crawford died in 1815). The first historic website shares information about the Sweet Briar Plantation, circa. 1840 to 1900 (when Indiana Fletcher Williams donated the land and her savings to create Sweet Briar College). This website contains historic photographs, excerpts from Elijah's letters to his parents, and a virtual tour of historic structures

On-line Historic Database: African American Heritage

A second on-line resource is dedicated to two hundred years of African American history at Sweet Briar and Tusculum. Both plantations used enslaved labor to produce successful harvests and manage the households. Although initially opposed to the "peculiar institution," Elijah owned over 110 slaves upon his death in 1858. In 1865, the slaves were freed, but some families settled nearby and continued to work for the Fletchers as paid laborers. Sidney Fletcher also owned slaves. The 1860 census lists 74 enslaved individuals who lived at Tusculum.

Research is on-going to locate the descendants of these communities. In 2008, Sweet Briar hosted the Fletcher family reunion. The Fletchers are descended from James and Lavinia, both born in 1835. After emancipation, their descendants took the surname Fletcher. Several family members still live in Amherst, but the majority moved to the north. Over 150 people returned for the Fletcher reunion.

And for those of you who know what a "tweet" is...

Tusculum Advisory Board member Joe Stinnett (whose father played with Buddy Williams at Tusculum as boys) has generously established a tweet feed for Tusculum. Taking on the persona of the house itself, Joe posts regular updates on his own research into Tusculum and the surrounding community of Clifford. You can follow the updates and add your own comments. Visit the twitter site.

View Historic Photographs of Tusculum on-line

In addition to the Tusculum website, I have established an account on flickr (a photo sharing site). Numerous individuals have helped document the house. Special thanks to Jackie Beidler (the grand-daughter of John Jay Williams), Suzanne Ramsey (Sweet Briar College Public Relations), Shelia Alexander (Development), Adair Williams (Buddy's wife), Timothy Robinson (Heartland Construction), Robert Carter (DHR), and an unnamed photographer who documented family members and the house in 1905.

Update: Reconstructing the House

Currently we are working towards raising 2 million dollars to reconstruct Tusculum on the Sweet Briar campus.

Special thanks to two generous donors - Ms. Cynthia Wilson Ottaway '57 and Mr. Pete Dewey (in honor of his sister Ann Dewey Guerin '41) -   who kicked off this campaign and contributed towards an endowment to sustain the Institute's programming.

If you are interested in helping us reconstruct Tusculum on the Sweet Briar campus and/or in supporting our on-going programming efforts, please see the contact information at the right.

About The Tusculum Institute

The Tusculum Institute is an historic preservation resource center on the campus of Sweet Briar College providing education and outreach to students, faculty, and the wider community and region. Using the rich historic and intellectual resources of the College, working in partnership with the Department of Historic Resources and other agencies, the Institute supports the preservation of the region's historic assets in a context of environmental stewardship and promotes the use of Virginia's historic legacy as a learning resource. The institute is working with a range of academic disciplines to deepen our understanding of Virginia's historic places.

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