National Monuments · Virginia
Booker T. Washington National Monument
National Park Service source material · single source. Source dates and reuse information are available beside each field.
Check the official park website for current access, conditions and visitor information.
Introduction
Background: 1
Booker T. Washington was born a slave in April 1856 on the 207-acre farm of James Burroughs. After the Civil War, Washington became the first principal of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial School. Later as an adviser, author and orator, his past would influence his philosophies as the most influential African American of his era. Come explore his birthplace.
Geography
Designation: 3
National Monument
State or territory: 4
Virginia
Park Map - Booker T. Washington National Monument: 5
Map scope: Booker T. Washington National Monument
Map of Booker T. Washington National Memorial in Virginia. State Route 122 runs vertically up the left side of the map and the park, shown in green, extends like a forked flag to the right.
History and culture
Civil War and Burroughs Family: 6
The Civil War interrupted the routine on the Burroughs farm, when all of the sons left to fight for the Confederacy. James Burroughs, the father and master of the farm died in 1861, leaving the supervision of daily farm activities to the Burroughs women. Shortages of luxury goods and certain food items were common during the war years. Washington recalled that the white people suffered from the lack of products they were accustomed to. However, the war did more than create shortages and hard economic times. Only two of the Burroughs sons survived the war physically unscathed.
With the southern defeat in 1865, the Emancipation Proclamation issued in 1863 was enforced to free southern slaves. Washington remembered listening to a Union soldier read the document on the porch of the Burroughs house. After receiving the joyous news, his mother Jane took her three children to West Virginia to be reunited with her husband who worked there in the salt mines.
The southern economy suffered tremendously after the war and the Burroughs were not spared from economic and social turmoil. The emancipation of the slaves reduced the Burroughs family's net worth by one half. Post-war land values also plummeted. Since none of the children desired to farm the Franklin County property, Elizabeth Burroughs, James' widow, unsuccessfully attempted to rent or sell it for several years. In 1893, the family sold the property to John Robertson and his family.
History & Culture: 7
"I was born a slave on a plantation in Franklin County, Virginia. I am not quite sure of the exact place or exact date of my birth, but at any rate I suspect I must have been born somewhere and at some time."
Booker T. Washington NM commemorates the birthplace of America's most prominent African American educator and orator of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The property evokes an 1850s middle class tobacco farm, representative of Booker T. Washington's enslaved childhood at the Burroughs farm. He was born in 1856 to the Burroughses' cook, Jane and lived on the farm throughout the Civil War. Compared to their Franklin County neighbors, the Burroughses were an upper middle class family evidenced by their combined slave and land holdings. They produced tobacco as a cash crop and grew other subsistence crops like flax, potatoes, and grains for family sustenance. Washington lived in the farm's one-room kitchen cabin with his mother and two half siblings. As a small child he brought water to the men in the fields, carried the books of the Burroughses' daughters books to school, and transported grain to the local mill. more . . .
Nature
Ecology; Nature & Science: 8
Booker T. Washington National Monument protects 239 acres of fields and woodlands that support a diversity of natural resources. More than half of the park is forested, primarily with second growth maturing pine and a variety of hardwood species. Open fields of grasses and clover are scattered throughout. In addition to terrestrial ecosystems, the park also manages over 3.5 miles of streams, mainly in Jack-O-Lantern Branch and Gill’s Creek.
To date, over 200 species of vascular plants have been documented in the park. In addition, 26 mammal species, 122 species of birds, 9 amphibian species, 9 reptile species, and 38 species of fish have also been recorded.
Visitor centers and places
Visitor Center: 9
The Visitor Center is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm. The park grounds and restrooms are open daily from 9:00 am-5:00 pm. Booker T. Washington National Monument will be closed for Thanksgiving day, December 24 after 2 p.m., December 25 all day, and January 1 all day. The park may close early on December 31. The park closes sometimes due to inclement weather. Call the park at 540-682-0173 for more information.
Visitor information
Visitation
Sources & field notes
Source records (13)
Select a numbered reference to open a source card. Retrieval dates describe this edition’s source capture, rather than an independent verification or the date of the underlying information.
Background · Official park structured information. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-supplied text; NPS-authored government work generally public domain, subject to third-party rights.
Booker T. Washington National Monument · NPS. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Catalog image date
- 03/22/2013
- Source scope
- Booker T. Washington National Monument
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- Public domain:Full Granting Rights
- Rights
- Public domain:Full Granting Rights
Designation · National Park System directory. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- Factual reference data; source attribution retained.
State or territory · National Park System directory. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- Factual reference data; source attribution retained.
Park Map - Booker T. Washington National Monument · National Park Service, Harpers Ferry Center. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Source scope
- Booker T. Washington National Monument
- Download
- Official map PDF ↗
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- Public domain; NPS map
- Rights
- Public domain; NPS map
Civil War and Burroughs Family · Civil War and Burroughs Family — National Park Service. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Source page last updated
- February 26, 2015
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-authored U.S. government material is generally public domain; third-party content may have separate rights.
History & Culture · National Park Service. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-authored U.S. government material is generally public domain; third-party material may have separate rights. No images copied.
Ecology; Nature & Science · Nature & Science — National Park Service. Open source ↗
- Information date
- July 13, 2021
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS webpage text; U.S. government work generally public domain. Third-party material may have separate rights.
Visitor Center · National Park Service park structured data. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-supplied text; NPS-authored U.S. government work is generally public domain, subject to third-party rights.
Physical Address · Official park structured information. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-supplied text; NPS-authored government work generally public domain, subject to third-party rights.
Mailing Address · Official park structured information. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-supplied text; NPS-authored government work generally public domain, subject to third-party rights.
Telephone · Official park structured information. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-supplied text; NPS-authored government work generally public domain, subject to third-party rights.
Recreation visits · National Park Service Visitor Use Statistics. Open source ↗
- Information date
- 2025
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Methodology
- NPS reporting unit; annual total is the sum of 12 monthly recreation visit estimates.
- Reporting unit
- Booker T. Washington NM
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- Factual reference data; source attribution retained.