Tea Talk: Piedmont Culture
November 14, 2023 @ 11:00AM — 4:00PM Eastern Time (US & Canada) Add to Calendar
Rising Sun Tavern: 1304 Caroline St Fredericksburg, VA 22401 Get Directions
Discover the Piedmont region's rich culture and heritage from its very roots with an emerging local historian!
Kyle Griffith, an interpreter from the Rising Sun Tavern, is pleased to present some of his family's heirlooms and artifacts that inspired the writing of his recent book, Piedmont Culture. Many of the artifacts relate to the farming of tobacco and rural material culture from more than a century ago. Copies of the book will be available for purchase. A Bourbon blend and a period blend tea will be served, along with savory and sweet offerings prepared by the Mary Washington House Museum Store volunteers.
Tickets are nonrefundable. We advise arriving 15 minutes before the event's start. Please let us know about any food allergies by emailing giftshop@washingtonheritagemuseums.org
Did you know that WHM members receive early access and discounts events like this? Join today: https://washingtonheritagemuseums.networkforgood.c...
And mark your calendar for the Rising Sun Tavern's FREE holiday open house on Friday, December 1st from 5:30-8:30pm! Learn about how early Virginians celebrated the holidays at home and abroad, while sampling seasonal treats and listening to live, holiday music from the 18th century performed by Colonial Faire. Explore our calendar here: https://www.washingtonheritagemuseums.org/calendar
Interested in learning more about Piedmont Culture? Read the description here:
The aim of this book is to capture the essence of rural life and the unique tobacco culture that thrives within the Virginia Piedmont region of the United States. The content explores personal documentations of history that center around tobacco farming families whose lineage can be traced back to the earliest settlements in Virginia. Although remnants of tobacco farming culture are scattered all across the state, the heart is still found in the southern Piedmont region of Virginia. The fields of bright leaf are what largely developed the towns of Lynchburg, Martinsville, Danville, South Boston, Farmville, and small communities in the surrounding countryside.
This book was a passion project and academic commentary on the past primarily based on historic written correspondence, historic photographs, surviving architecture, and surviving traditions. It’s not meant to be a complete collection of all aspects of the culture, but rather a contextual narrative by someone with deep roots in the area. Entire communities of rural Virginians share strong and complex family bonds to their particular county and communities. For generations, descendants continue to live on the same land as their ancestors with a similar and familiar slow-paced lifestyle. Along the old country roads, there are old hand-hewn log home places, secret fieldstone cemeteries in the woods, and countless tobacco barns with the unmistakable sweet scent still lingering. Some sort of remnant from the 19th century often serves as a proud relic of their family’s recent history as yeoman farmers. In many cases, tobacco farmers can trace their family’s tobacco farming roots in Virginia over three hundred years ago.
