As we begin to find our way around modern-day Staunton in Virginia, we are constantly reminded of the wealth of history that surrounds us. Last week we took some time to learn about Staunton’s most famous and influential native son.
Born in 1856 in Staunton, Virginia, Woodrow Wilson would become our nation’s 28th president, serving two terms from 1913-1921.
Woodrow was the third of four children. Soon after his parents were married in 1849, his father was ordained as a Presbyterian pastor, assigned to the church in Staunton and the family moved into the Manse. In 1856 Woodrow was born. Fourteen months later the family moved south to Augusta, Georgia.
Today, visitors are taken on a three-floor tour of the home. From the kitchen to the parlor to the bedrooms, the rooms are furnished with period pieces, some original to the house. Our guide was a wealth of historical knowledge and entertaining anecdotes about life in the nineteenth-century.
We moved on to the museum, featuring more family photos and history. More displays filled several rooms, leading us through Wilson’s presidency and showcasing the impact he had on our country during the early years of the twentieth-century.
I found it interesting to read the issues he dealt with as president. From racial inequalities to tariffs to voting rights (women) to wars and more, the political pendulum swings back and forth.
The First World War raged from 1914-1918. President Wilson believed neutrality was the best course for the U.S.
The sinking of the British passenger ship Lusitania by German forces was the turning point. Nearly 1,200 were killed, including 128 Americans. War was declared on April 6, 1917. The war officially ended in 1918 on the eleventh day of the eleventh month at 11:00 a.m. November 11 is now known as Veterans Day in the United States.
From the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum page
woodrowwilson.org
“When Woodrow Wilson returned from France after negotiating the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, a new Pierce-Arrow limousine awaited him at the dock in New York to take him back to Washington. The automobile had just been added to the White House fleet. Wilson favored this automobile so much that when he left office his friends purchased it for him to use. The car had received its finishing touches at the plant of the manufacturer, the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company of Buffalo, New York, in June 1919. It was the 120th of the “Series 51” model.”
Like our former president, Reg and I will continue to drive the roads as we explore new territory….but it would be far more fun if our friends would buy us a car like Woodrow’s. I think you all know who you are.
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