Date: July 26, 2006 Time: 12:00 AM Location: Charlottesville, Virginia

Strother Conference - 2006

The Strother Conference 2006 was held in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the host hotel was the Holiday Inn - University Area.  Ninety-nine members and their families enjoyed programs that focused on historic estates around the Charlottesville area and included, in addition the Board and Business Meetings:

• tour of Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson.
• following dinner on Thursday, a presentation by C. Thomas Chapman, Archeologist and Historical Researcher at Montpelier, on the restoration work underway at Montpelier, home of James and Dolley Madison.
• bus tour to Montpelier to see the restoration work underway, a box lunch on the grounds; then a tour of Meadowfarm, the largest private family farm in Virginia today and home of the Honorable Helen Marie Taylor; and a tour of Bloomsbury, the home Mrs. Taylor received as a wedding present from her husband and formerly the home of two US presidents, James Madison and Zachary Taylor.
• the Saturday night banquet at the Holiday Inn was followed by a presentation by Dr. Gail Williams Wertz, who, along with her husband, Dr. Andrew Ball, currently owns Millbank, on the restoration of Millbank and the archeological digs underway.  Millbank was originally settled by the Strother ancestor, William the Immigrant.

For more details on the activities at the 2006 Conference and accompanying photographs, please check the October 2006 issue of the Houses of Strother Newsletter.