July 1, 2021

July 1, 2021

From Woodstock, VA we continued southwest one hour through the Shenandoah Valley to Staunton, VA, home of the Statler Brothers. It is also the birthplace and presidential library of Woodrow Wilson. The museum on his life was rather small and disjointed with large gaps. The best part was his presidential car in the attached garage. The son of a Presbyterian minister, it mentions he attended several colleges (did he graduate?), and then suddenly he is president of Princeton.  Wilson is elected governor of New Jersey in 1910, and then runs for President in 1912. The Republican vote is split between Taft and Teddy Roosevelt letting Wilson win with only 42% of the vote.

Wilson runs for a second term on the basis of peace and proceeds to get us into WW1 only a couple months later. I have to chuckle when one of the storyboards about civil rights has been papered over because this section has been reinterpreted. It now acknowledges Wilson was a southern racist who expanded segregation in the government. There is nothing on the stroke and incapacity Wilson had in the final year of his presidency. While the museum is disappointing, in all fairness it would also have had to be double or triple the size to be more comprehensive. There would have to be a lot more interest in this controversial president to justify that investment.

Since we have seen so many old houses in the last two weeks, we chose to forego the house tour. Plus Wilson only lived the first two years of his life in the Manse (a Presbyterian minister's home). From Staunton, we continued southwest spending the night outside Knoxville, TN.