Day 1: George Washinton Carver Nat'l Monument

Our next unplanned stop was the George Washington Carver National Monument.


We didn't even realize it from the site's name, but this was the actual site where he was born and lived as a young boy!


There were so many activities to do inside. And, we didn't even have time to watch the video. The activity above was to use words and pictures to tell a story. Alexandra's story: "One day I was reading the newspaper and I read the George Washington Carver had died and he was a hero. He was kind, he was an artist, and he taught people about growing peanuts."

I had never seen how peanuts were grown. Pretty neat!

Besides being an artist, a musician, and all the work he did in botany and science... these are some of the actual needleworks he created!

This was an exhibit showing some "Carver developed products from A to Z."

We once again braved the 40 degree weather to take a walk out to the site of the one-room log cabin where George spent his infancy with his mother and brother. The actual home is gone, but through archaelogical discoveries, they have found the exact location of the cabin. I was amazed at the small size of this home for 3! Here's what the sign said: "George Washington Carver was born a slave on the Carver farm. After losing his mother and father in separate trajedies, he was reared as a foster child by Moses and Susan Carver. The replica (above) shows the exact location of the original one-room log cabin where George spent his infancy with his mother Mary and brother Jim.

A sickly child throughtout his youth, George later wrote, 'My body was very feeble and it was a constant warfare between life and death to see who would gain the mastery.'"

It was getting late and so cold, that we couldn't make the walk out to where George lived with his foster parents, the Carvers. But, here is a statue of young George. I was in awe when I realized these are the very woods where George played and learned about nature and started to love flowers. This is also the woods were his mother was taken from him. He was an incredible person and I am so glad we visited the place where his life started.

A sign near here said: "Day after day, I spent in the woods alone in order to collect my floral beauties, and put them in my little garden I had hidden in brush not far from the house, as it was considered foolishness in the neighborhood to waste time on flowers."