Guests enjoy refreshments under the pergola following a Little Lecture.

2012 Little Lecture Series

Bob Bastress speaks to a group about the state constitution in 2011.

 

The Little Lectures are informal programs featuring respected speakers on a variety of topics. All programs are presented on Sunday afternoon beginning at 2:00 p.m. and are presented at our headquarters located at 1310 Kanawha Boulevard, East in Charleston. Admission is $10 per person and includes refreshments after the presentation.

When the weather is nice we often enjoy refreshments outdoors under our pergola. Please call Mark Payne at 304-346-8500 to inquire about seating availability. Seats may be reserved with advance payment. Otherwise seating is first-come, first-served until full.

 

2012 Little Lecture Schedule

 

Sunday, March 18
Thomas Jefferson's Revolutionary Garden at Monticello
Peter J. Hatch

The series kicks off on March 18 with Peter Hatch, director of grounds and gardens at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello near Charlottesville. Hatch has been responsible for the maintenance, interpretation, and restoration of the 2,400 acres landscape at Monticello since 1977. He has managed important restoration projects of the eight-acre Vegetable and Fruit Garden, and the Grove, an ornamental forest of eighteen acres. In 1987, he initiated the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants, a nursery to preserve historic and Jefferson-related garden plants. Hatch is the author of numerous books and articles on horticulture and historic plants and has lectured in thirty-five states.

 

Sunday, April 22
Better Homes for Less Money: Kit Homes of Charleston
Billy Joe Peyton

Kit homes first appeared in the early part of the 20th century. These kits were shipped by rail, arriving in thousands of pieces along with an instruction book, to be assembled on site by the new homeowner or a local contractor. The houses came in a variety of styles, designs, and prices with Sears Roebuck being the best known supplier of the pre-fabricated dwellings. Charleston still boasts several prime examples of kit homes and they are gaining the interest of historians and architects.

Historian, Dr. Billy Joe Peyton, chairman of the Charleston Historic Landmarks Commission, will share the story of the city's kit homes and the special features that identify them.

 

Sunday, May 20
Robert E. Lee in West Virginia
Hunter Lesser

It sometimes seems forgotten that General Robert E. Lee led Confederate troops to the mountains of "Western" Virginia in his first command of the Civil War. His experience with mountain warfare was a failure and defeats here led to a tarnished reputation. Yet he found a legendary warhorse in these mountains and gained lessons in leadership that shaped in career.

Hunter Lesser of Elkins is a consulting archaeologist and historical interpreter who serves on the West Virginia Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission and the Humanities Council's Sesquicentennial Speakers Bureau. He is the author of Rebels at the Gate and The First Campaign: A Guide to Civil War in the Mountains of West Virginia, 1861.

 

Sunday, June 24
Storming Heaven at 25: A Retrospective
Denise Giardina

McDowell County native Denise Giardina is one of the Mountain State's most acclaimed novelists. The year 2012 marks the 25th anniversary of her signature work, Storming Heaven, about the West Virginia mine wars. The book won the 1987 Weatherford Award and was a Discovery Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club. Now a quarter century since the book's release, Ms. Giardina will reflect on her literary work and Storming Heaven.

The author lives in Charleston and is writer-in-residence at West Virginia State University. She is also known for her activism in social justice issues in the Appalachian coalfields and is an ordained Episcopal deacon.

Contact the Program Officer