Friday, October 9, 2015

James Madison

On October 9th, I had the opportunity to visit the museum of James Madison in Orange County. The historic site displayed many artifacts from James Madison’s first house in Montpelier. The first part of the museum showed all of the president’s pictures in the form of quilts. The different quilts represented something unique about each president. James Madison showed how he was the “Father of the Constitution”.
The museum had displayed wire eye glasses, some infant caps, some of the clothing from the women, and even one of his pipes. The house showed his favorite reading chair. The museum also showed the Virginia U.S. Constitution, which was created to adapt the Constitution. The first room also showed the bed that was given to the James Madison’s cousin, which is where he stayed at while staying at the President’s house. The first part of the museum was so enjoyable because it showed a good amount of what James Madison used. The second part of the room really focused on the different historic artifacts that were in Orange County and a part of James Madison’s life. The room showed some of the agriculture equipment being used during that time.
The site also showed some of the vehicles that were used at that time. The vehicles were all donated by people in the town of Orange. My favorite part of the tour was the house of the Spottswood family. The house was donated by someone in the town of Orange, Virginia. The house was moved to fit inside the bottom part of the museum. The Spottswood family bought the land from Arjalon Price family. The third part of the museum was dedicated to the slavery that existed during this time. The museum showed one of men that was a known slave for James Madison. The man shared that James Madison was one of the better slave owners, and he treated his slaves with great kindness.

The display also showed several different some of the artifacts the slaves possessed, which was not much. One of the slaves possessions was they created a banjo out of gourd. The town of Orange County wants to create a museum dedicated to the African slaves at the time. The museum was enjoyable and was very interesting. I enjoyed seeing how much Monroe and Madison spent time together, and how closely knit they were. I definitely recommend the museum for another person to come and visit.

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