Charlottesville, West Virginia
It had been my plan to visit Monticello today but the keepers thereof advised me I would not be allowed to take any photographs of it and I would still be assessed $22 to wander around it for an hour. I opted out as I wandered around years ago. My point was to ‘collect’ it and share it with the world. With a bit of time to spare I enjoyed a nice hot breakfast in the hotel before going instead to the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. There I found myself immersed in the most glorious of academic environments possible. Finding a parking place under a shade tree, I embarked on foot for five hours to see the grandest of university campuses, with an architectural coherency that is rare on university campuses.
Thomas Jefferson believed the surest way to safeguard a viable democracy was to diffuse knowledge among the people. He championed a multi-tiered system of education with a capstone consisting of a university “where every branch of science, useful at this day, would be taught at its highest degree. Jefferson was 75 when the Commonwealth voted to establish the University of Virginia in 1819.
The Rotunda is considered by many architects to be one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. Every aspect of this academic basilica is stunning – siting, landscaping, interior use of light. The circular hall on the third floor must be one of the most magnificent academic rooms in the world. This room reserved for ceremonial academic purposes is quintessential America at its very best. Those defending doctoral dissertations in this room are truly privileged. I was certainly privileged to wander around alone in this grand space for as long as I wanted.
Those that have lived in the Pavilions around The Lawn are truly privileged. Students of academic excellence are granted private rooms up and down the long borders of The Lawn. Behind them is an amazing array of fine walled small gardens, renown for their serpentine brick enclosures. This campus is certainly a destination in its own right. For those with any interest in American architecture, history, or academia, this is one stop shopping at its best. Perhaps I should take a doctorate here so I can defend in the great hall of the Rotunda.
While walking around a fine amphitheater I had a most pleasing conversation with an affable woman out taking a walk during her lunch hour. A couple hours later I learned of a hall filled with epic murals in Clark Hall, once the home of the Law School. During my search I ended up in the graduate library reading rooms to find it. There I found none other than Linda I had met hours earlier on the other side of the campus where I had twenty minutes of pleasant conversation. The University felt rather user-friendly to me.
After ‘collecting’ hundreds of wondrous images of Jefferson’s oasis I set off for the east, passing around metro Richmond. Driving out Route 360 I passed through the very flat but pleasing rural land of eastern Virginia. At sunset I landed in the small town of Tappahannock where I expect to have a very different kind of travel experience – far from the gird. The brackish marshlands and Rappahanock River here define the topography. At sunset I was granted some of the most colorful coastal images possible.
1 comment:
In Virginia, "Mr. Jefferson's University" is simply called "The University." Of course, people in other states refer to their state universities with the same phrase. Of course, as a Virginian, I'm prejudiced, but somehow it does seem to fit the school in Charlottesville as your photos show. As a teenager, I had the pleasure of playing in a chamber music concert in Cabel Hall, a never to be forgotten experience. Thanks for sharing.
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