Particular Characteristic
The American Village in Montevallo will rejoice its 25th anniversary this yr. When it opened its gates for the primary time on November 30, 1999, solely 4 buildings existed: Washington Corridor, impressed by George Washington’s Mount Vernon; the Courthouse, modeled after Colonial Williamsburg’s Courthouse of 1770; Founders Corridor, which served as the primary administrative constructing for American Village workers; and the unique Barn that remained from the time when the 188-acre campus was a working cattle farm.
Right now you can see greater than 20 buildings on the American Village’s campus, all impressed by a few of our Nation’s most iconic and cherished historic websites. Replicas of the President’s Oval Workplace and the East Room of The White Home; a Colonial Chapel harking back to Bruton Parish Church of Williamsburg; Harmony Bridge, which spans a one and a half-acre lake; the Nationwide Veterans Shrine, patterned after Philadelphia’s Carpenters Corridor; and Independence Corridor West Wing are however a couple of of the additions to this distinctive place. However the American Village just isn’t about its buildings, however moderately it’s about constructing within the hearts and minds of younger folks and grownup alike a way of stewardship of what George Washington known as “the sacred hearth of liberty.” Right here, nationally acclaimed and richly immersive packages have interaction 40,000 Okay-12 college students yearly in discovering America’s tales of independence, liberty and self-government. Since opening in 1999, the American Village has served properly over 750,000 college college students from 5 Southeastern states, and no less than that variety of grownup guests.
The objectives of the American Village at present are the identical as they have been twenty-five years in the past. These objectives embrace instructing you the very important classes of liberty and remembering the value of liberty and honoring those that have paid it. The American Village was created to fight a rising nationwide amnesia of our Nation’s founding and to assist Individuals uncover the timeless relevance of the ideas of equality, inherent rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and the foundations of self-government by consent of the ruled. On July 4, 2026, America will rejoice its 250th anniversary of independence. As this milestone approaches, the American Village is endeavoring to assist put together a brand new era of residents and leaders to guide and serve the nation. To be taught extra in regards to the American Village, go to www.americanvillage.org. †