Program Information

Program: Virginia’s Lewis and Clark: Roots of a Legacy
Segment Number: 1 (Watch entire program)
Duration: 00:03:03
Year Produced: 2003
Description:

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, both Virginians, grew up in a time where dreams of western exploration became reality. And it all started here in Virginia.

Meriwether Lewis was born in what is now Albemarle County, and William Clark’s family had roots in Albemarle soil. Their ideas of what lay beyond the Mississippi River were nurtured by Thomas Jefferson, a “vicarious westerner” who had never traveled farther west than Hot Springs. Jefferson intended to establish the United States as a continental nation, an “Empire of Liberty” that reached from Atlantic to Pacific. To further his goal, Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark’s Expedition of North Western Discovery. Their remarkable mission began here in central Virginia.

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Transcript

NARRATOR:

They were hometown boys.

CLARA BELLE WHEELER (owner of Buena Vista, Clark family homestead):

As Virginians we like to hold them in complete awe, and they were pretty impressive people.

NARRATOR:

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, both Virginians, grew up in a time where dreams of western exploration became reality. And it all started here.

JOHN LOGAN ALLEN (Geographer):

It's Albemarle County where this peculiar constellation of intellects came together in the 1750's to start this planning process.

NARRATOR:

As our nation commemorates the bicentennial of the Lewis & Clark expedition, Virginians celebrate the roots of the journey and consider its legacy today.

(UNDERWRITER)

NARRATOR:

A close look at the Lewis & Clark story reveals how deeply this journey was rooted in Albemarle County soil. Even today, there is much that the adventurers would recognize. The Rivanna River, the Blue Ridge mountains, even their family homesteads. All of which served as a backdrop to their everyday lives and formed much of their expectations regarding the expedition west.

While they would perhaps marvel at Charlottesville's bustling urban center, Lewis & Clark would see their dreams and visions still flourishing in the people and places of Charlottesville and Albemarle County.

Both Thomas Jefferson and Meriwether Lewis were born in what is now Albemarle County, which lies east of the Blue Ridge mountains in an area that Jefferson described as the "Eden of the United States" for its climate and fertility.

SARA LEE BARNES (descendant of Nicholas Meriwether II):

It's not hard to see why he felt that way--it's really a remarkable place.

DOLLEY BUSWELL (owner of Locust Hill, birthplace of Meriwether Lewis):

It is as beautiful and restful and peaceful an area as I've ever been, not only in the United States, but just about anywhere.

CLARA BELLE WHEELER (owner of Buena Vista, Clark family homestead):

The first settles who came to Albemarle County, I'm surprised that anybody went any further.

CINDER STANTON (Historian):

Jefferson's father, and the grandfathers of Lewis and his expedition partner William Clark were among the first settlers of this area, establishing plantations here in the 1730's. These men were from prominent Tidewater, Virginia families and they bought up fertile crown land near the southwest mountains. Among the first was Nicholas Meriwether who patented a huge tract of almost 20,000 acres on the east side of this ridge. Jonathan Clark got at grant for part of a 3,000 acre tract on the other side of the ridge and farther west Robert Lewis patented about 10,000 acres. And then there was Peter Jefferson, who received a patent for more than 1,000 acres on the Rivanna River, which included the small mountain which became Monticello.

Virginia Standards

4th Grade SOLs » History-Social Science » VS.6
5th Grade SOLs » History-Social Science » USI.8