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Sweet Briar History Blog
For the 26th year Sweet Briar hosted its annual Arts Day, when over 300 Amherst County 5th graders visit campus to sample workshops across campus. One of these offerings was a tour of the cabin behind the former Sweet Briar Plantation House (today the home of the Sweet Briar College President). During the antebellum period, enslaved individuals lived in the cabin, and after the college was founded it was used variously as a home, chapel, classroom, and even the Sweet Briar alumni office. In the photo above, students from Amherst Elementary School tour the cabin with Dr. Rainville (director, Tusculum Institute).
Professor Cathy Gutierrez’s spring class, Religions of Africa, curated an exhibit titled “Modern Reflections on African Society.” On display through May 1 in the Babcock Lobby it provides fascinating insights into African masks and local poetry. The masks were crafted by the Dogon (in Mali), the Lwalwa people (in the Congo), and the Dan (in Liberia). Evocative poems by notable local poetess, Anne Spencer (1882-1975) are accompanied by striking photos of the Old City Cemetery (taken by Sally Toms ‘13). To learn more about Ms Spencer, click here.
The Sweet Briar curriculum is always challenging and innovative. A perfect example is Prof. Hamilton’s “The Land as Art,” Art History class. This spring they envisioned and planned a project on the Sweet Briar landscape: the construction of a serpentine mound. The photo above illustrates the work in progress (courtesy of one of the class blogs written by Maddie Hodges ‘13). Click on the post to visit her blog and see more photographs of the mound.
Spring has sprung on campus. Here is an historic view of some of our lovely trees. The undated (but probably first quarter of the 20th century) postcard view on the left is titled “Elm Street.” The photograph on the right illustrates the same view today. We’ve lost most (all?) of our Elm trees but our tree canopy is still thriving.
Asked by sarahlindemann
There is no one source. It’s mentioned in several SBC Alumnae Magazines (with photos). Jan Osinga, the former dairy manager, wrote a book where he organized his recollections of the Dairy. The bookstore should have a copy of it. I think it’s called “My Story” or “The Best Years of My Life.”
After I shared the photograph [posted April 10, 2012] with Mr. Jones’ granddaughter, Crystal, she made a pilgrimage to campus to locate the flagpole. Unfortunately, the pole is long gone, but with persistence she located the former site of the pole. Both photographs were contributed by Crystal Franklin Rosson.
A photograph recently uncovered by Sweet Briar Librarian Liz Kent. It shows Sterling Jones raising the flag in front of the Cochran Library. Retired librarian Shirley Reid remembers Mr. Jones raising the flag every day and sometimes going into the library to get her to remove metal splinters from his hand that came from the flag cable. Mr. Jones died in 1959. Photograph courtesy of the Sweet Briar College Library Archives.
Asked by katemacklin
I don’t have any published articles or references on hand. But if you read through Elijah Fletcher’s letter (edited into a volume, available in the library) you can read about the 19thC orchards. By the 1950s the College had phased out all of the orchards.
This weekend JMU is hosting the annual Virginia Forum (founded in 2006). The program contains a fascinating group of papers about the Old Dominion. Dr. Rainville (Director, Tusculum Institute), presented a paper on tracing the descendants of enslaved African Americans. For more information on that project: www.centralvirginiahistory.org. To view photographs from the 2012 Virginia Forum conference, visit the Tusculum Institute’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TusculumInstitute. The drawing above was done by Alice Canon as part of her research into enslaved individuals at Bleak House (Albemarle County).
In 2012 the Tusculum Institute will be researching the history of the on-campus slave cabin. Research is on-going into the antebellum, enslaved residents.In the 20th-century Sterling Jones and his family were the last residents of the cabin (in 1926). This photograph shows Sterling Jones, Sr. (1875-1959) and his wife, Aurelia Tyler (1896-1990), along with several of their children: four of their daughters and one son, Fletcher.
