Booker T. Washington National Monument - A Winter Visit

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Who was booker T. washington and what is the importance of this national monument?

Booker T. Washington was born in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1856, into the so-called Peculiar Institution of American slavery. At the tender age of 9, Booker and other slaves on the Burroughs family plantation were freed, and Booker began a journey that would make him a well-known and important figure during the Reconstruction Era. He founded what is known today as Tuskegee University and published Up From Slavery, his memoir (read our review of that book here).

The location of the Burrough’s plantation was made into the Booker T. Washington National Monument in 1956 and includes recreated buildings, a small farm, and an interpretative hiking trail of about 1.5 miles.

winter hiking at booker t. Washington national monument: a story in pictures

We previously visited the site for the first time in the fall of 2020 and wrote about the site and history, so check that post out here. On this return visit, we decided to make the most of a warm winter day that followed on the heels of single-digit temperatures and returned. There were far more farm animals out and about than during our past visit, and we enjoyed exploring the hike in the tree-less forest.

An interesting sighting along the way: Dustin spotted a carcass of a large animal across the river on the sandy beach. It was too far away to get a good look but was most likely a deer or horse. I captured a photo of it, but it’s too small without my zoom lens to see it in the photo.

We also had some discussion about the small cemetery halfway through the hike and in one of life’s coincidences, there was an article in the local paper today explaining what is known about the site. Read that article here.