Virginia is taking a unique victory lap as the country celebrates its 250th birthday this year.
The commonwealth was a leader in the rebellion against King George III and then in the building of the United States that followed American independence from Great Britain. Today, it is a leader in finding creative ways to tell those stories.
Instead of forcing Virginians to travel to a museum to learn about our shared history, the commonwealth is bringing the museum to every corner of the state.
The VA250 Mobile Museum Experience, which is titled “Out of Many, One,” is touring the state in an expandable tractor-trailer. When it arrives in town, it takes roughly two hours to convert the trailer to an exhibit space, according to Jeremy Martin, the program manager of the Mobile Museum Experience. The Daily Signal chatted with Martin when we caught the exhibit during a stop in Charlottesville last week.
Martin noted that it took about two years to assemble the traveling exhibit, which curators started pulling together in 2023 with the help of partners from across the state.
Guests enter the space from the back of the truck, which is adorned with an 1823 quote from Thomas Jefferson: “The generation which commences a revolution rarely completes it.” He died three years later on the 50th anniversary of Independence Day. It’s a timely reminder that it’s up to us in the 21st century to keep the spirit of 1776 alive for future Americans.
“Out of Many, One” lays out many of the ideals we should focus on in the years ahead. Inside the museum, guests are greeted by a video of an actor portraying Patrick Henry giving part of his famous “Give me liberty or give me death” speech at St. John’s Church in Richmond in 1775. The virtual Henry even sports reading glasses pushed back up on his head, as he is usually depicted. He would go on to be Virginia’s first post-British governor.
Another display highlights the role that George Mason’s Virginia Declaration of Rights played in shaping the United States. Mason shaped the thinking of his fellow Virginians Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, and the concepts he outlined in 1776 formed the basis of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution’s Bill of Rights.
The exhibit also features an interactive display that allows visitors to select any Revolutionary War battle on a map. The kiosk then provides details about the battle, whether it was fought in Virginia or far afield.
The VA250 Mobile Museum’s visit to Charlottesville coincided with the 50th anniversary of the city’s Downtown Mall, an eight-block pedestrian area lined with shops, theaters, and restaurants. Visitors who wanted to reflect on the world as it was in 1976 could also visit the “Then and Now: Charlottesville in the 1970s” exhibit along the mall. Charlottesville was one of many American cities that built walking spaces decades ago, but most of those have been returned to vehicular traffic over the years.
While the glorious Fourth of July has passed, there is plenty of time to visit this exhibit, which will be on the road until the end of 2027.
By the time the mobile museum is decommissioned, it will have “visited all 368 middle schools in the commonwealth.” Martin said. The facility is often parked near a nearby historic site, allowing students to visit both on the same trip. Be sure to see the mobile museum when it’s in your neighborhood.
