The Great Beyond

Join Dr. Matthew Reeves on a walking tour of four of the cemeteries at Montpelier including: The Madison Family Cemetery, The Montpelier Burial Ground of the Enslaved, The Gilmore Family Cemetery, and The Taggs Island Cemetery.The tour begins at the Visitor Center and is broken up into three parts:Part 1: Madison Family Cemetery and Montpelier Burial Ground of the Enslaved ~ 45 minutesPart 2: Gilmore Family Cemetery ~ 30 minutesPart 3: Taggs Island Cemetery ~ 30 minutesThe Gilmore and Taggs Island cemeteries will require leaving the VC parking lot by vehicle and following Dr. Reeves across the property. As such, participants can take part in the first portion or all three at their choice. This is a walking tour with the final segment requiring some bushwacking. Study shoes and a sense of adventure recommended!Bio:Dr. Matt Reeves is the Director of Archaeology and Landscape Restoration at James Madison’s Montpelier. Matt has been the Director of Archaeology since 2000 and leads the overall archaeological research at James Madison’s Montpelier. Dr. Reeves is the principal investigator for all archaeological projects on the property. Over the past two decades, Dr. Reeve’s research has focused on plantation life, Civil War encampments, and an overall focus on sites of the African Diaspora (both pre-and post-emancipation). Prior to Montpelier, he directed projects at Manassas National Battlefield Park, Jefferson Patterson Park, and various New York DOT projects, and has worked on a wide variety of historic and pre-contact sites in Maryland, Virginia, New York, and Jamaica. His doctorate is from Syracuse University and focused on 19th-century settlements of the enslaved in Jamaica that he spent two years surveying and excavating.