Earlier this Spring, PAC was made aware of an emerging situation at Montpelier, James Madison’s Virginia plantation. Basically, the Montpelier Foundation, the governing instrument, turned its back on a power sharing agreement with the Montpelier Descendant Community, the group representing descendants of the enslaved people who worked there. Montpelier is actually owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, so they were technically party to this action.
The Pennsylvania Archaeological Council sent a letter to the Montpelier Foundation expressing our concern over their actions (see below). A week later, as the Governing Board had fired many of its archaeological staff, PAC sent a stronger letter to the National Trust (also below).
The upshot of a national response to the Foundation’s actions, including ours, may have swayed the Foundation into a reversal of its actions. Our two letters, and a response from Montpelier Foundation’s new Interim President, Dr. Elizabeth Chew, is presented at the bottom of this post.
A synopsis of the entire episode can be found at the National Trust’s web site, as well in numerous news articles (https://savingplaces.org/montpelier-faqs#.YrNzOi-B3UI).
