Highland

Descendants Day at Highland
2022-06-11 13:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York)
Join us on Saturday, June 11, from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m., for a Descendants Day at Highland. The Highland Council of Descendant Advisors invites you to an afternoon with other individuals and descendant communities whose ancestors were enslaved in Central Virginia and beyond. Guests will enjoy refreshments, music, resources, and stories. Space is available to display your community’s resources and stories. This event is free and open to the public. Click on the link below to register:
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Highland Virtual Book Club: June Meeting
2022-06-08 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Join us on Wednesday, June 8, from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m., for an evening of lively discussion hosted by James Monroe’s Highland. This event is FREE and open to the public.

During the June meeting of our book club, Highland’s Mellon Post-Doctoral Research Fellow Maria DiBenigno will lead the group in discussion of On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed.

“In a series of short, moving essays, [Gordon-Reed] explores “the long road” to June 19, 1865, when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger announced the end of legalized slavery in Texas, the state where Gordon-Reed was born and raised … One of the things that makes this slender book stand out is Gordon-Reed’s ability to combine clarity with subtlety, elegantly carving a path between competing positions, instead of doing as too many of us do in this age of hepped-up social-media provocations by simply reacting to them. In On Juneteenth she leads by example, revisiting her own experiences, questioning her own assumptions ― and showing that historical understanding is a process, not an end point.”
― Jennifer Szalai, New York Times

To register for this FREE event, email education@highland.org. Once registered you will receive a Zoom link via email.

Riparian Plant Walk at Highland
2022-05-19 14:00 - 16:30 (America/Halifax)
Please join us on Thursday, May 19, from 2:00 – 4:30 p.m., as we host a Riparian Plant Walk with representatives from the Upper & Middle James Riparian Consortium, the Virginia Native Plant Society, and the James River Association. Participants will hear about the recent riparian buffer project at Highland and learn about native and invasive plant identification during the walk along a portion of the Highland Rustic Trails. This event is free and open to the public.
Footwear appropriate for hiking is strongly recommended. Water to refill water bottles and light snacks will be provided.
Registration is required for this free event. Follow the link below to register:
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Highland Virtual Book Club: May Meeting
2022-05-11 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Join us on Wednesday, May 11, from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m., for an evening of lively discussion hosted by James Monroe’s Highland. This event is FREE and open to the public.

During the May meeting of our book club, Highland guide Jeff Butcher will lead the group in discussion of The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware by Patrick K. O’Donnell.

“Patrick K. O’Donnell has turned five years of research into an engrossing tale.”—Associated Press

To register for this FREE event, email education@highland.org. Once registered you will receive a Zoom link via email.

Annual Highland Sheep Shearing
2022-05-01 14:30 - 16:00 (America/New_York)
Highland’s annual sheep shearing will take place on Sunday, May 1 (rain or shine), at 2:30 p.m. Tom Stanley will demonstrate the New Zealand sheep shearing method at this educational, agricultural event.
If the weather is favorable, visitors are encouraged to enjoy a picnic lunch on the grounds.
Admission to the sheep shearing event is $5 per person. Children under 6 are admitted free. Monroe’s Farm Friends members are admitted FREE OF CHARGE (email info@highland.org to make a reservation)!
Register Now!
About Tom Stanley
Tom Stanley has worked with sheep his entire life, starting with an orphaned lamb when he was 9 years old. He started shearing his own sheep when he was 14 years old. Today, Tom is employed by Virginia Tech as an Agriculture Extension Agent based in Rockbridge County and keeps a small flock of 40 breeding sheep that lamb each April.

Bird Walk at Highland
2022-04-23 08:00 - 09:30 (America/New_York)
Join us at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 23, as we welcome the Piedmont Virginia Bird Club for a bird walk on the Highland Rustic Trails. This event is free and open to the public and is designed to appeal to novice as well as advanced birders. The habitat offered by the trails should allow for observations of our winter resident birds including Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (pictured) as well as others. Prepare to find and identify birds as a team. Binoculars are recommended but not required. The trails are rustic and suitable footwear is recommended. The event will proceed rain or shine and will start promptly from the Highland parking area at 8:00 AM. The walk will last approximately 90 minutes and will return to the parking area at the end.

Highland Virtual Book Club: April Meeting
2022-04-13 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Join us on Wednesday, April 13, from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m., for an evening of lively discussion hosted by James Monroe’s Highland. This event is FREE and open to the public.

During the April meeting of our book club, Highland guide Sharon Hiner will lead the group in discussion of All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles.

“A brilliant exercise in historical excavation and recovery . . . With creativity, determination, and great insight, Miles illuminates the lives of women who suffered much, but never forgot the importance of love and family.”—Annette Gordon-Reed, author of The Hemingses of Monticello

To register for this FREE event, email education@highland.org. Once registered you will receive a Zoom link via email.

Historic Tree Walk at Highland: Spring 2022
2022-04-09 09:30 - 22:30 (America/New_York)
Join us on Saturday, April 9, from 9:30 – 10:30 a.m., for the spring Historic Tree Walk with Highland guide, Sharon Hiner. View the seasonal changes of Highland’s majestic mature trees during this hour-long walk. Highlights include a towering white oak and hemlock that date back to Monroe’s time. Participants will walk among the property’s large maples, ashes, black walnuts and other native trees that grace the historic grounds. Learn how trees influenced Highland’s naming in the past and how tree-ring dating contributed to new discoveries and its historical interpretation.
Admission to this Historic Tree Walk at Highland is $10 per participant. Each tree walk is limited to 20 guests. Participants are expected to comply with all COVID-19 precautions while at Highland. Refunds will only be issued if the tree walk is canceled due to dangerous weather (thunderstorms, high winds, etc).
Register Now

Virginia Festival of the Book, In the Arena: A Memoir of Love, War, and Politics
2022-03-20 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
Highland, in partnership with the Virginia Festival of the Book, will host former Virginia Governor and U.S. Senator Chuck Robb, author of In the Arena: A Memoir of Love, War, and Politics, on Sunday, March 20 from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. Robb, in conversation with Monroe-Highland Commission member Judge John Charles Thomas, will share his extraordinary life experiences, from entering the national stage in 1967, through distinguished military service, followed by representing Virginia as an elected official—a story that encompasses family, civic service, and leadership. This event is free and open to the public.
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Highland Virtual Book Club: March Meeting
2022-03-16 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
*** The March 9th Highland Book Club Meeting has been rescheduled to March 16th ***
Join us on Wednesday, March 16, from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m., for an evening of lively discussion hosted by James Monroe’s Highland. This event is FREE and open to the public.

During the March meeting of our book club, Highland’s Mellon Post-Doctoral Research Fellow Maria DiBenigno will lead the group in discussion of Revolutionary Backlash: Women and Politics in the Early American Republic by Rosemarie Zagarri.

“An engaging book that successfully marries political practice and political theory with gender ideology. It is also a persuasive book. . . . What makes [Zagarri’s] study compelling is the pervasive presence of women; we hear their voices as they communicate privately in letters and as they argue publicly for rights. Visual evidences let us see them at political gatherings.”
—American Historical Review

To register for this FREE event, email education@highland.org. Once registered you will receive a Zoom link via email.

Virtual Program: The Material Culture of Elizabeth Monroe
2022-03-16 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Halifax)
Join us at 2:00 p.m Wednesday, March 16 as we welcome Jarod Kearney, Assistant Director and Curator at the James Monroe Museum, for a virtual presentation that will showcase a selection of original items from the life of Elizabeth Kortright Monroe. Elizabeth Monroe’s story is a fascinating one, from her childhood in New York through her experiences as wife of the Minister to France and later 5th U.S. President. Jarod Kearney will illustrate this interesting life using museum collections that had been handed down through generations of the family. Use the following link to register for this free, public event:
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Highland Virtual Book Club: February Meeting
2022-02-09 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Join us on Wednesday, February 9, from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m., for an evening of lively discussion hosted by James Monroe’s Highland. This event is FREE and open to the public.

During the February meeting of our book club, Highland guide Sharon Hiner will lead the group in discussion of The Virginia Dynasty: Four Presidents and the Creation of the American Nation by Lynne Cheney.

“Debates over power and justice are as old—even older, really—than the Republic, and Lynne Cheney has given us a thoughtful and illuminating account of how a group of distinctive Americans, all Virginians, confronted essential questions at the beginning of our common journey.”
—Jon Meacham, author of The Soul of America

To register for this FREE event, email education@highland.org. Once registered you will receive a Zoom link via email.

Virtual Program: General Jackson, President Monroe, and the Florida Territory
2022-01-13 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Join us at 7:00 p.m. EST on Thursday, January 13 as we welcome Hermitage’s Director of Education Erin Adams and Highland’s Manager of Education Programs Nancy Stetz for a virtual conversation examining Florida’s chaotic entry into the Union, involving Seminoles, enslaved and free Blacks, self-emancipated individuals, and Spanish, British and American forces. The correspondence between General Jackson and President Monroe sheds light on Jackson’s invasion of Florida and the relationship between the two men – figures who bridged the 18th and 19th centuries – and the broader impact of their actions on indigenous tribes and the enslaved families at the Hermitage and Highland.
This virtual event is free and open to the public. Click on the link below to register:
Register Now

Highland Virtual Book Club: January Meeting
2022-01-12 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Join us on Wednesday, January 12, from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m., for an evening of lively discussion hosted by James Monroe’s Highland. This event is FREE and open to the public.

During the January meeting of our book club, Highland guide Jeff Butcher will lead the group in discussion of Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory by Claudio Saunt.

“One of the most important books published on U.S. history in recent years and should be required reading for all Americans.”
― Sven Beckert, Laird Bell Professor of History, Harvard University, author of Empire of Cotton

To register for this FREE event, email education@highland.org. Once registered you will receive a Zoom link via email.

SOLD OUT After Hours at Highland: December 29
2021-12-29 16:30 - 17:30 (America/Halifax)
Experience Highland after hours! Participants will be greeted by James Monroe first-person interpreter Beau Robbins, with a private viewing of the newly opened exhibits in the 1818 guesthouse. President Monroe and a Highland guide will be present for questions and discussion. Admission is $25 per person. Masks are required inside.
SOLD OUT

SOLD OUT After Hours at Highland: December 28
2021-12-28 16:30 - 17:30 (America/Halifax)

SOLD OUT - After Hours at Highland: December 18
2021-12-18 16:30 - 17:30 (America/Halifax)
*** SOLD OUT ***
Experience Highland after hours! Participants will be greeted by James Monroe first-person interpreter Beau Robbins, with a private viewing of the newly opened exhibits in the 1818 guesthouse. President Monroe and a Highland guide will be present for questions and discussion. Admission is $25 per person. Masks are required inside.
SOLD OUT

After Hours at Highland: December 11
2021-12-11 16:30 - 17:30 (America/Halifax)
Experience Highland after hours! Participants will be greeted by James Monroe first-person interpreter Beau Robbins, with a private viewing of the newly opened exhibits in the 1818 guesthouse. President Monroe and a Highland guide will be present for questions and discussion. Admission is $25 per person. Masks are required inside.
Purchase Tickets

Musical guest Timothy Seaman to perform at Highland
2021-11-24 12:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
Join us from 12:00 to 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 24, for a special performance in the Highland Museum Shop by featured musical guest Timothy Seaman. Enjoy the soothing sound of the hammered dulcimer while browsing our selection of locally made crafts in the Highland Artisan Room. Timothy will be signing CDs at this free, public event.
Check out Timothy’s musical magic in the video below:
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Virtual Program: Francophiles, Friendships, and Femmes Artistes
2021-11-16 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Join us at 7:00pm on Tuesday, November 16 as we will welcome Maura Gleeson, Visiting Professor of Humanities at Valencia College, for the virtual program: Francophiles, Friendships, and Femmes Artistes. Program participants will learn more about the Monroe family’s connection to Madame Campan, Eugène de Beauharnais and Hortense Bonaparte—friendships that began in 1790s France—as well as new scholarship on the artists behind their portraits.
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Highland Rustic Trails Dog Day
2021-11-14 10:00 - 16:00 (America/Halifax)
On Sunday, November 14, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., we invite you and your four legged friends out on the Highland Rustic Trails for a day of doggone good fun!
The Highland Rustic Trails are free and open to the public. All dogs must be leashed. Dog owners are responsible for cleaning up after their animals. Please keep our trails clean so everyone can enjoy their experience on the Highland Rustic Trails.
*Please note that while dogs will be allowed on the Highland Rustic Trails on November 14, from 10am-4pm, only service animals, as defined by the ADA, are permitted in the ticketed museum area.
Highland Rustic Trails

Veterans Day Commemoration Ceremony
2021-11-11 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
On Thursday, November 11, from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m., the University of Virginia Army ROTC Cadets, the Buford Middle School band, and featured speaker Master Sergeant Jim Carpenter, US Army Reserves, Ret., will join us for a ceremony in salute to our veterans. This event is FREE and open to the public.
To honor and thank U.S. veterans, all active duty, former, and retired United States military personnel will receive free admission to James Monroe’s Highland for Veterans Day.

Highland Virtual Book Club: November Meeting
2021-11-10 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Join us on Wednesday, November 10 from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m., for an evening of lively discussion hosted by James Monroe’s Highland. This event is FREE and open to the public.

During the November meeting of our book club, Highland guide Sharon Hiner will lead the group in discussion of How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith.

“Sketches an impressive and deeply affecting human cartography of America’s historical conscience…an extraordinary contribution to the way we understand ourselves.” ―Julian Lucas, New York Times Book Review
To register for this FREE event, email education@highland.org. Once registered you will receive a Zoom link via email.

Bird Walk at Highland
2021-11-07 08:00 - 09:30 (America/Halifax)
Join us at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 7, as we welcome the Piedmont Virginia Bird Club for a bird walk on the Highland Rustic Trails. This event is free and open to the public and is designed to appeal to novice as well as advanced birders. The habitat offered by the trails should allow for observations of our winter resident birds including Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (pictured) as well as others. Prepare to find and identify birds as a team. Binoculars are recommended but not required. The trails are rustic and suitable footwear is recommended. The event will proceed rain or shine and will start promptly from the Highland parking area at 8:00 AM. The walk will last approximately 90 minutes and will return to the parking area at the end.

Historic Tree Walk at Highland: November
2021-11-06 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Halifax)
Join us on Saturday, November 6, from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon, for this Historic Tree Walk with Highland Guide, Sharon Hiner. The hour walk will focus on Highland’s tall, mature trees including the ash and sugar maples that frame Highland’s entrance. We will also observe a hemlock and towering white oak that date to Monroe’s time. Learn about Highland’s oldest trees as well as how Highland trees and tree-ring dating have contributed to historical interpretation.

Admission to this Historic Tree Walk at Highland is $10 per participant. Registration is required and attendance is limited to twenty participants. The tree walk will take place rain or shine. Refunds will only be issued if the tree walk is canceled due to dangerous weather (thunderstorms, high winds, etc).
Participants are expected to comply with all COVID-19 precautions while at Highland.

Register Now

Highland Rustic Trails Dog Day
2021-10-24 10:00 - 17:00 (America/Halifax)
On Sunday, October 24, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., we invite you and your four legged friends out on the Highland Rustic Trails for a day of doggone good fun!
The Highland Rustic Trails are free and open to the public. All dogs must be leashed. Dog owners are responsible for cleaning up after their animals. Please keep our trails clean so everyone can enjoy their experience on the Highland Rustic Trails.
*Please note that while dogs will be allowed on the Highland Rustic Trails on October 24, from 10am-5pm, only service animals, as defined by the ADA, are permitted in the ticketed museum area.
Highland Rustic Trails

Highland Virtual Book Club: October Meeting
2021-10-13 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Halifax)
Join us on Wednesday, October 13 from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m., for an evening of lively discussion hosted by James Monroe’s Highland. This event is FREE and open to the public.

During the October meeting of our book club, Highland’s Mellon Post-Doctoral Research Fellow Maria DiBenigno will lead the group in discussion of Goat Castle: A True Story of Murder, Race, and the Gothic South by Karen Cox.

Drawing on extant personal papers, correspondence, legal case files, prison reports, extensive contemporary newspaper coverage, and recently recovered photographs and oral accounts, Cox makes evident her diligence and resourcefulness. –The Journal of Southern History

To RSVP for this FREE event, email education@highland.org.

CANCELED: Historic Tree Walk at Highland: October
2021-10-02 09:00 - 10:00 (America/Halifax)
This event has been canceled.
Join us on Saturday, October 2, from 9:00 – 10:00 a.m., for this Historic Tree Walk with Highland Guide, Sharon Hiner. The hour walk will focus on Highland’s tall, mature trees including the ash and sugar maples that frame Highland’s entrance. We will also observe a hemlock and towering white oak that date to Monroe’s time. Learn about Highland’s oldest trees as well as how Highland trees and tree-ring dating have contributed to historical interpretation.

Admission to this Historic Tree Walk at Highland is $10 per participant. Registration is required and attendance is limited to twenty participants. The tree walk will take place rain or shine. Refunds will only be issued if the tree walk is canceled due to dangerous weather (thunderstorms, high winds, etc).
Participants are expected to comply with all COVID-19 precautions while at Highland.

Highland Rustic Trails Dog Day
2021-09-19 10:00 - 17:00 (America/Halifax)
On Sunday, September 19, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., we invite you and your four legged friends out on the Highland Rustic Trails for a day of doggone good fun!
The Highland Rustic Trails are free and open to the public. All dogs must be leashed. Dog owners are responsible for cleaning up after their animals. Please keep our trails clean so everyone can enjoy their experience on the Highland Rustic Trails.
*Please note that while dogs will be allowed on the Highland Rustic Trails on September 19, from 10am-5pm, only service animals, as defined by the ADA, are permitted in the ticketed museum area.
Highland Rustic Trails

Highland Virtual Book Club: September Meeting
2021-09-08 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Halifax)
Join us on Wednesday, September 8 from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m., for an evening of lively discussion hosted by James Monroe’s Highland. This event is FREE and open to the public.

During the September meeting of our book club, Highland guide Emily Stanfill will lead the group in discussion of The Ledger and the Chain: How Domestic Slave Traders Shaped America by Joshua D. Rothman.

“The story of the international slave trade is well known to many. Much less known are the workings of the domestic slave trade in the United States that sent scores of enslaved African Americans from the Upper South to the cotton and sugar fields in the Deep South. With exhaustive research and piercing insight, Joshua Rothman’s The Ledger and the Chain brings that history alive through the stories of three men who sat at the nexus between Southern cotton producers and Northern financial institutions. As the tragic legacies of these men are still with us, this book should be read by all who are interested in our current racial predicament.”―Annette Gordon-Reed, coauthor of Most Blessed of the Patriarchs

To RSVP for this FREE event, email education@highland.org.
