The Mere Distinction of Colour exhibit spans the cellars of the plantation home and the South Yard of the property, where the enslaved people lived and worked. Provocative, interactive, and emotional, The Mere Distinction of Colour offers students the unique opportunity to hear the stories of those enslaved at Montpelier told by their living descendants, and explore how the legacy of slavery impacts the world today.

The Gilmore Cabin, an original freedmen’s cabin, was home to three generations of the Gilmore family. George, Polly, and their five children persevered in Reconstruction era Virginia, and their stories are preserved and told through oral histories, the documentary record, and archaeological artifacts. Their legacy, is an example to students, that freedom did not come easily for African Americans even after the end of slavery.

The 1910 Train Depot allows students to examine the African American struggle for equal rights. This original 1910 structure has been preserved, and restored, to its original appearance as a segregated train station and post office. The Depot presents students with the competing, complex views of what “separate but equal” meant to people living in the South during the Jim Crow era.

Play the same outdoor games James Madison did as a child.

Students will travel the plantation landscape and hear stories of the individuals that were enslaved at Montpelier through the lens of universally relatable concepts such as fear, loss, respect, creativity, hope, freedom, and love. The program is also designed to allow students to get to know one another---their shared lived experiences, stories, and similarities.

Students portray delegates to the 1787 convention and learn how our democratic government was created.

In this program, students work together as junior archaeologists to survey, document, and analyze a simulated archaeological site at Montpelier.

Discover Montpelier's Landmark Forest, on a guided hike. Students will consider this old growth forest from the perspective of people past, and present.

Students will analyze perspectives of the framers of the U.S. Constitution through primary sources. How did these men view the structure of the Legislative Branch, the Power of the Executive Branch, or the role that slavery played in the formation of this new government? Were the framers united in their vision for the United States?

Students assume the roles of competing national interests in the lead-up to the War of 1 812 to discover how and why “Mr. Madison’s War” began.

Many myths surround the institution of slavery. Using the Mere Distinction of Colour exhibit, students become “mythbusters” to dispel commonly held conceptions of slavery and the enslaved.