Alabama: Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site

In 1881, Booker T. Washington arrived in Alabama and started building Tuskegee Institute both in reputation and literally brick by brick. He recruited the best and the brightest to come and teach here including George Washington Carver who arrived in 1896. Carver’s innovations in agriculture, especially with peanuts, expanded Tuskegee’s standing throughout the country. The story continues….

Booker T. Washington National Historic Site

Civil Rights at Booker T. Washington National Historic Site, Hardy, Virginia. Booker T. Washington aimed to enable his students to teach other African Americans what they had learned; many of his students became teachers themselves.

Jack-O-Lantern Branch Trail

A 1.5 mile trail through the forest at Booker T. Washington National Monument. This forest is where Booker T. Washington spent time as an enslaved child away from the owner's house on the Burroughs plantation. In these woods, Booker may have gathered food for his mother, who was the cook for the plantation. He may have fished to help the family supplement the diet they were provided by the owners of the plantation.

• A walk into a 1.5 mile deciduous forest. This trail is not handicapped accessible except for all-terrain wheel chairs.

Booker T. Washington National Monument Visitor Center

• Booker T. Washington National Monument Visitor Center
• The visitor center is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 .pm., except for Thanksgiving, December 25, and January 1. Please call the park phone at 540-721-2094 to find out if the park is open or closed during inclement weather.

• Take a hike on the Jack-O-Lantern Branch Trail
• Take a hike on the Jack-O-Lantern Branch trail and see the forest where Booker T. Washington travelled as a child! You can also get exercise by hiking the entire 1.5 mile trail. The trail starts at the tobacco barn and takes you through a winding path in a deciduous forest. It passes by three creeks until you return to the tobacco barn.