Booker T. Washington National Monument

Booker T. Washington is an incredibly important figure in American history, and the BTW National Monument - which is basically the Burroughs family plantation where the young Booker and his family were slaves. As they like to promote around the monument, he was both ENSLAVED here, and FREED here. It was from these beginnings that his thirst for book knowledge began, and that deep drive to learn was the impetus behind him eventually enrolling in Hampton Institute, and then later starting Tuskegee Institute, which he led for more than 30 years. You can walk through the buildings which are left of the plantation - some still stand, including the small home that Booker lived in - hike on a few trails, enjoy a short movie on his life, and shop in the gift shop, where they have all of his books as well as others about slavery, Jim Crow, and his life. If you have kids that still need to learn about plantation life, slavery, as well as emancipation, this is an EXCELLENT place to take them. You can spend 30 mins, or 3 hours.