I told Becky that I wanted to visit Black Dog Salvage in Roanoke because I love the DIY television show called "Salvage Dawgs". That was the only reason we headed to Virginia. In chatting about what else we could do while there, we decided to take a little trip out to Booker T. Washington National Monument. Since we had seen his childhood home in Malden just a couple days earlier, it made sense to re-visit the Burroughs tobacco farm where he grew up in slavery before moving to Malden as a nine-year-old in 1865.
After Becky and I completed the Midland Trail, we didn't hit the road straightaway for home. Instead, we drove over several mountains to Salem, VA where we checked into a very nice LaQuinta Inn for the evening. I told Becky that I wanted to visit Black Dog Salvage in Roanoke because I love the DIY television show called "Salvage Dawgs". That was the only reason we headed to Virginia. In chatting about what else we could do while there, we decided to take a little trip out to Booker T. Washington National Monument. Since we had seen his childhood home in Malden just a couple days earlier, it made sense to re-visit the Burroughs tobacco farm where he grew up in slavery before moving to Malden as a nine-year-old in 1865. "There was a time in America when human beings were bought and sold. A written inventory cataloged the slaves on the Burroughs farm in Virginia in 1861, their monetary worth calculated according to the work they could do. On this list was a little boy, named simply 'Booker', valued at $400. Farmer James Burroughs never anticipated that one day his young slave would be remembered for his value in promoting education for all black Americans." First we watched a video about his life that contained quotes from his autobiography, Up From Slavery. Even though the visitor center, museum, and bookstore aren't very large, it contains a wealth of information about this special man. The self-guided tour took us past the pig pens, horse barn, chicken and duck lot, reconstructed slave cabin, smokehouse, and garden. The site is restored to its general appearance in the mid-19th century. The position of the house and slave cabins have been outlined with stone. Several of the trees on the property were growing there in the 1850s! There was always work to be done and young Booker was expected to so simple chores from the time he could walk. "I was not large enough to be of much service." he said in his autobiography, "still I was occupied most of the time in cleaning the yards, carrying water to the men in the fields, or going to the mill." Before leaving, we got our National Park trading cards and Passport stamp to complete our visit. We headed back to Roanoke to find Black Dog Salvage and I'll send you that Postcard tomorrow. Thanks for coming by today!!
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