Fall RIVAH 2011 - The Rappahannock Record

The James Monroe Birthplace
Museum and Visitor’s Center (above)
is open on weekends during the
summer and by appointment. Photo
by Lisa Hinton-Valdrighi
Monroe was born in 1758 consisted of
250 acres and, through a purchase in
1764, the property grew to 350 acres.
When President Monroe finally sold the
property in 1783, the deed was recorded
at 550 acres. The James Monroe Memorial
Foundation was founded in 1927 by
President Monroe’s granddaughter, Rose
Gouverneur Hoes, and her son, Laurence
Gouverneur Hoes. It was incorporated in
1947 and has a long-term agreement with
Westmoreland County to develop the
site of Monroe Park as an educational,
historical, recreational, archaeological
and environmental landmark.
In 1976, the Commonwealth of Virginia
began the archaeological survey of
the birthplace and uncovered ruins of the
Monroe family house.
“We found an etching in a book in the
1830s of the home and have been working
with William and Mary and the Colonial
Williamsburg Foundation on plans,”
said Thomas. “We’re really very lucky.
What makes our little project unique is
that someone took the time to draw this
picture of Monroe’s birthplace.”
According to Thomas, drawings do
not exist for most of the early presidents’
homes.
The Monroe home was a four-room,
rough-cut wooden farmhouse with few
outbuildings.
Unlike President George Washington,
who also was born in Westmoreland,
President Monroe spent his entire youth
working the farm and did not leave until
he was 16. President Washington left his
birthplace at at 3.
Architects were commissioned in 2001
to prepare a master plan for the multi-
(Continued on the following page)
President Monroe’s
birthplace was a modest
18-foot by 42-foot roughcut
wooden farmhouse
with four rooms. Drawing
courtesy of jamesmonroe.
net
James Monroe:
Fifth President of the U.S.
Famous for his Monroe Doctrine, James
Monroe came from humble beginnings on
the banks of the Potomac River near what
is now Colonial Beach. He was the fifth president of
the United States and was one of five children born to
Virginians Spence Monroe and Elizabeth Jones.
At age 16, Monroe left his home in Westmoreland
County for William and Mary College and shortly
after that in 1775, he left college to join the Army and
to fight in the Revolutionary War.
At age 24, he was the youngest elected member in
the Virginia State Legislature.
In 1799, he was elected governor of Virginia and
served until 1803, when he was sent to France with
land negotiations. After serving for a second time as
Virginia’s governor, he was chosen as President James
Madison’s Secretary of State and on March 4, 1817,
he took his oath of office as President of the U.S.
During his second term, on December 2, 1823,
Monroe presented the Monroe Doctrine, which in
short, deemed the American continents as independent
and the nations of the Western Hemisphere as
republics and prohibited European intervention in
the affairs of nations of the Western Hemisphere. The
U.S. also promised to refrain from involvement in
European affairs.
Monroe died on July 4, 1831, in New York City on
the 55th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration
of Independence. He was buried in Marble Cemetery
in New York but was re-interred to Hollywood
Cemetery in Richmond, where the James Monroe
Memorial Foundation holds a grave site memorial
celebration annually in April.