This stop was a little more business than pleasure though. As I have mentioned in a few other posts, Ross and I are buying a business. This stop in Lexington was part of that process.
However, it had been a long time since I had seen my mother and my step-father. They recently moved to Tennessee and live only a 4 hour drive away from Lexington. They asked if they could drive out to see us and spend a day with us. So of course, we said "yes"!
We spent a day with them, exploring the town and checking out the Virginia Military Institute's museum.
Lexington, Virginia is a pretty small town, but it's a town with a LOT of history and a lot of cool stuff to see.
To start, it's the birthplace of Sam Houston. Now that may not be very exciting to the average person, but after living in Texas for about 8 years, I find myself slowly starting to get as excited about Texas history as real Texans do. Sam Houston is pretty much a god in Texas. He is the man who ultimately won the Texas Revolution and then served as the president of the Independent Republic of Texas for two terms. (Fun fact: Texas Independence Day is still celebrated every year, and Texas students say the Pledge of Allegiance like the rest of the country does, but they also say a Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of Texas.)
Sam Houston is so tied into the history of Texas, that I would be willing to bet my life that most Texans don't realize that he was actually born in Virginia. (To be fair, I didn't know this either. We stumbled upon his birthplace accidentally.)
Our next stop was the Virginia Military Institute, which is one of two colleges in Lexington. The other one is Washington and Lee University. VMI has a lot of history connected to it - most notably, a lot of Civil War history.
I was a history major in college and concentrated on the American South. The time period of the Civil War is what I am most interested in, and I love Virginia for the fact that so much Civil War history happened there.
A few of my history classes in college were with one specific professor who liked to take us on various road trips. His trips were amazing - both educational and fun. I ended up in Virginia on two separate trips of his. I'm actually very surprised that VMI is NOT a place that he took us to. During one trip we were taken to see the grave of Traveler - Robert E. Lee's horse. Since Stonewall Jackson was so connected to Lee, I don't know how we bypassed this place on any of those trips.
So that being said, VMI is most notable for being the place where Stonewall Jackson was a professor. He taught there from 1951 until the Civil War started in 1861. The museum on campus has an amazing display about him, that is filled with his personal belongings - which included his horse Little Sorrel. The horse's bones have been buried on the parade grounds of VMI and the hide was mounted and stands in the VMI museum.
The second most notable thing that VMI is known for is the fact that in 1864, when the south was running low on troops, the cadets at VMI were called in to the war. They are known to have fought bravely and courageously at the Battle of New Market.
This museum is definitely worth a visit if you are ever in Lexington. It's small, yet full of incredible history and information.
The Virginia Military Institute
My mom and me at VMI
Cadets walking to class at VMI
The hide of Stonewall Jackson's horse - Little Sorrel
I had to get a picture of myself with Little Sorrel
Stonewall Jackson's saddle
The raincoat that Stonewall Jackson was wearing the night that he was shot by friendly fire (which resulted in his death a week later).
The bullet hole from the bullet that ultimately killed Stonewall Jackson
Slightly gross, but also kind of neat - this is blood from when a doctor removed the bullet from Stonewall Jackson's arm.
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