RCC Lifelong Learning looks at local celebrities
The Rappahannock Community College Educational Foundation’s Rappahannock Institute for Lifelong Learning (RILL) will provide an intimate look at several historic personages in “Presidents and First Ladies of New Kent and Charles City, Virginia.” The two sessions, to be held October 29 and November 5 (Sundays), from 1 to 4 p.m., will include visits to Berkeley Plantation and St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, then Sherwood Forest Plantation and Cedar Grove Cemetery (not all parts of the tours are wheelchair-accessible). Brian McGovern will be the instructor.
From the Virginia counties of New Kent and Charles City, no less than six individuals have attained the White House: Presidents William Henry Harrison and John Tyler, First Ladies Martha Washington and Martha Jefferson, and Tyler’s first and second wives, Letitia Christian Tyler and Julia Gardiner Tyler. John and Julia Tyler also made Charles City County their home for many years following their departure from the White House in 1845. Participants will learn about the lives of these distinguished Americans by experiencing their homes and houses of worship.
Brian McGovern holds the degree of Master of Arts in history from Old Dominion University, teaches United States history with Peninsula Catholic High School’s dual enrollment program, and serves on RCC’s adjunct history faculty.
Advance registration, with a tuition payment of $35 and an additional fee of $35 to cover the costs associated with the plantation tours, is required to take this course. For more information on “Presidents and First Ladies of New Kent and Charles City, Virginia” and other RILL courses, or to register, please call Sharon Drotleff at RCC’s Educational Foundation office (804-333-6707), or e-mail her at sdrotleff@rappahannock.edu.
The Educational Foundation expresses sincere appreciation to the Bank of Lancaster’s Golden Advantage program, and to Rappahannock Westminster-Canterbury, for their generous support of RILL in 2017.
