Small Cool Town Part 1: The Birthplace

This post has been ready for posting for three weeks, but I am so out of my blogging routine. Here's a to a new start in blogging in 2015.

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We think Staunton is a such a cool little town, so we decided to visit it for part of a day over winter break. All of Virginia pronounces that "stan-tun," for your information.

First stop: "the Birthplace". That is the birthplace of President Woodrow Wilson who is known for, among other things, being a governor of New Jersey, the president of Princeton University, our 28th president of the United States, the face on the $100,000 bill, and the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. That man was busy. It all started here in Staunton, just over the mountains from Charlottesville.

His father was a Presbyterian pastor, and he moved his family here for his first job in that capacity. This town really knew how to take care of their pastors--their house has an awesome view over the town, which was smaller then, of course.

It took me a few minutes to discover that I shouldn't be taking photos inside, but I figured I should post the ones I have since I took them in ignorance.

Have a mentioned how much I love being inside old houses? Cast iron stoves might be one of my favorite things to spot.

The home now sits adjacent to the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, which also houses a museum dedicated to the former President. A really good museum makes me want to visit other connected places. On my "to visit" list: his home in Augusta, Georgia where he lived as a boy during the Civil War and  the National Historic Site in DC where he moved when he left the office of the President.

The kids grabbed clipboards and we searched high and low for clues about this man's life as he taught at Princeton and had leading political lives in the state of New Jersey and the U.S. From our days in New Jersey, we feel a connection to Princeton where Wilson taught and was president for almost two decades. 

Here's a closer view of that cover of Harpers Weekly during his days a Progressive. I like the caption.

Can you spot him three times in this photo with Amelia?

The basement of this building has a compact exhibit on World War 1, featuring a soundtrack of explosion and recreation of life in the trenches. Only a few of us felt like going downstairs, but I'm glad I did, as it gave me greater appreciation for the things President Wilson thought about as he formed world-influencing policies.