James Monroe in Georgetown By Scott Harris, Executive Director of University Museums

UMW Museums Executive Director Scott Harris was extended a hearty welcome by the community of Georgetown, South Carolina earlier this April. The Georgetown County Library is one of a dozen venues hosting the traveling exhibit, Your Obedient Servant: James Monroe’s 1819 Presidential Tour of the Southern States . The exhibit, sponsored by the Museum and the Papers of James Monroe, was created by UMW historic preservation students under the direction of Professor Cristina Turdean.

"Your Obedient Servant" at the Georgetown County Library, with Digital Library Manager Julie Warren (native of Crozet, VA) and Heritage Center Manager Joy Talbot.

Scott shared details about Monroe’s public service career with a receptive audience in the town’s old courthouse, and later visited the plantation once known as Prospect Hill, where the president’s traveling party stayed prior to his arrival in Georgetown on April 22, 1819. An unanticipated aspect of Scott’s trip, which came as a pleasant surprise, was the frequency with which he encountered individuals in the Georgetown area with ties to Virginia. These included former staff members of museums in the Commonwealth of Virginia and several UMW Alumni.

The original portion of the Prospect Hill house looks much the same as it did when Monroe stayed there in 1819. Scott Harris speaking on Monroe at the Old Courthouse in Georgetown.

Scott is grateful to the Friends of the Georgetown County Library for underwriting his visit, and for the assistance rendered by Library Director Dwight McInvaill, Heritage Center Manager Joy Talbot, and especially Digital Library Manager Julie Warren, who handled many logistical details of both the traveling exhibit and Scott’s lecture. Thanks are also due to Lee G. Brockington, Coordinator of Public Engagement at Hobcaw Barony, for a fascinating private tour of Prospect Hill plantation that included significant history, beautifully-landscaped grounds, and one shy alligator.

See you later, Alligator. Maybe one of his ancestors was on hand to welcome James Monroe to Prospect Hill . . .