Updated 11/1/13
In Podcast #66 the Trekkers take you to Gunston Hall, home of George Mason, in the Coastal Plain region of Virginia. We were thrilled to have Frank join us again in this video. It actually all started because he met a teacher from Laurel Hill Elementary at Burger King and she invited us to her school. So we start off visiting the fourth graders there, and then we head over to Mason Neck. See where this famous Founding Father lived along the Potomac River, discover why he’s called the “Father of the Bill of Rights,” learn about how his family and slaves lived in the 1700s, and hear the millions of cicadas that have just emerged from the ground after living there for 17 years! Come on, let’s go trekkin’!
There is a memorial for George Mason right near the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. The bridge that crosses the Potomac River near the Memorial is also named after George Mason. It is called the George Mason Memorial Bridge and it carries southbound traffic for I-395. The northbound I-395 bridge was the site of a terrible airplane crash in 1989 and is called the Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge after one of the heroes of that tragedy. Together the two bridges are known as the 14th street bridge, and you’ve probably crossed it if you’ve ever visited Washington, D.C.
SOL Correlation:
2.3 The student will identify and compare changes in community life over time in terms of buildings, jobs, transportation, and population.
VS.2 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the physical geography and native peoples, past and present, of Virginia by
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b)locating and describing Virginia’s Coastal Plain (Tidewater), Piedmont, Blue Ridge Mountains, Valley and Ridge, and Appalachian Plateau.
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c)locating and identifying water features important to the early history of Virginia (Atlantic Ocean, Chesapeake Bay, James River, York River, Potomac River, Rappahannock River, Lake Drummond, and the Dismal Swamp).
VS.4a The student will demonstrate knowledge of life in the Virginia colony by explaining the importance of agriculture and its influence on the institution of slavery.
VS.6b The student will demonstrate knowledge of the role of Virginia in the establishment of the new American nation by identifying the ideas of George Mason and Thomas Jefferson as expressed in the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.
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Coastal Plain
