ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 14, 1997 TAG: 9704140102
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FOREST
SOURCE: JOANNE POINDEXTER THE ROANOKE TIMES
Jefferson's retreat is in the midst of an extensive restoration, but there still was time to stop and mark the day.
Anne Harrington of West Chester, Pa., has been a Thomas Jefferson buff most of her life, so it's only fitting that she should attend a celebration of his 254th birthday.
Harrington, her husband Jim, and more than 100 others sat on the lawn of Poplar Forest on Sunday, listening to a Williamsburg trio, The Virginia Company, perform songs popular during Jefferson's time. Several of the songs came from Jefferson's own musical collection.
The Harringtons, both 70, drove 51/2 hours to Poplar Forest, which is undergoing extensive restoration, because they consider themselves supporters of the retreat that Jefferson designed in 1806.
Four years ago, they had planned to spend their 45th wedding anniversary visiting Poplar Forest, but Jim became ill. Since then, they've made five trips.
Sunday's trip was to hear the Colonial-period music on Jefferson's birthday. Anne Harrington, like the former president, was a violinist, and now she's studying Colonial-period music.
She points out other similarities.
She's a medical librarian and likes to read; Jefferson sold his personal library of more than 6,400 volumes to Congress.
She likes hideaways; Jefferson designed and built Poplar Forest as a retreat, a three-day carriage ride from his beloved Monticello.
It was a place where he could read, write and think, said Harrington. She also talks about communications from that period.
"I've always found it exciting the way folks talked ... the exchange of ideas," Harrington said. "People were political, but they communicated. They were enlightened."
It's amazing, she said, how some of Jefferson's letters have been preserved, but even more so that his correspondence is helping in restoration efforts.
Jim Harrington, who has written articles about the use of plastics in protecting Poplar Forest during the restoration, said he visits because "it's nice to see something in the process of being made over."
Even though Poplar Forest is in mid-restoration, the Corporation for Jefferson's Poplar Forest is sponsoring several activities to attract visitors. The home has been the site of archaeological digs, and the artifacts have helped in the restoration.
Archaeologists will conduct landscape tours the week of April 20 as part of Historic Garden Week.
"We are trying to do things to encourage people to come visit. We want people to think of this as a place to come and enjoy the grounds," said Sheryl Kingery, director of interpretations.
The season's activities also include "My Favorite Amusements," a family event that will look at some of the things Jefferson liked to do.
"One of his favorite sayings was, 'I like putting up things and pulling them down,'" Kingery said.
A September activity will include a lecture on harvesting and what life was like on a plantation.
Poplar Forest is open Wednesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., from April through November. Admission is $5 for adults, $4.50 for seniors, $1 for children 6-16 and free for children under 6. Group rates are available. For more information, call (804)525-1806.
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/THE ROANOKE TIMES. Anne and Jim Harrington ofby CNBWest Chester, Pa., sit on the lawn at Thomas Jefferson's Poplar
Forest on Sunday and listen to Colonial-era music. color.