The Jefferson County (WV) Historical Society and Friends of Happy Retreat (a non-profit 501.c(3) organization dedicated to acquiring and preserving the home of George Washington's youngest brother Charles in Charles Town, WV are pleased to sponsor the subject lecture at 2pm on April 19th, hosted by the Byrd Center for Legislative Studies and located in the Center's auditorium at Shepherd University.  

The speaker will be Dr. Philander Chase, editor of the Colonial Series of the Papers of George Washington at the University of Virginia (http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/project/index.html), shown in the adjoining picture chatting with President Bush during a visit with other Washington Papers editors to the Oval Office of the White House on Friday, April 29, 2005, to present the President with volume 12 of the Presidential Series.    

Dr. Chase will discuss George Washington's experiences as a Shenandoah Valley surveyor and landowner in what is now Jefferson County, WV, and how those experiences fostered his commitment to western development and American nationalism. Much of this lecture will be drawn from his essay "A Stake in the West: George Washington as Backcountry Surveyor and Landholder" that was published in Warren R. Hofstra, ed., George Washington and the Virginia Backcountry (Madison, WI: Madison House Publishers, 1998). The formal portion of the presentation will extend for about forty minutes, with subsequent time for questions and answers about any other aspects of Washington's life the audience may wish to raise. Dr. Chase will also discuss briefly the Washington Papers project.  

For further information, please e-mail me at cmasonwhf@aol.com or phone 304.724.7008.   

Curt Mason, President, Friends of Happy Retreat; Communications and Web Site Coordinator, Jefferson County Historical Society