#7 Solitude
Faculty Row extended to Solitude. The Preston family built the original log cabin in 1801; it was expanded in 1851. The house was acquired as part of the institute when Virginia Tech was established in 1872. The Preston family was quite famous and included four governors and many other well-connected and known people. Today, Solitude is one of Virginia Tech’s most beautiful sights. Located near the Ice Pond (then partly a pond used to harvest ice—it sits near today’s Duck Pond, which was created in the 1930s), it was the last home in a line that made up Faculty Row. Professor William Saunders lived in the home during much of his career, which spanned a period from 1890 to 1945.
Solitude, home of the Preston family and a faculty home into the 1940s
Related Links
Land Grant @ 150
In 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act and created the land-grant university system. With the sweep of his pen, Lincoln made education more accessible, shaping the future of a young United States.
Virginia Tech celebrates this land-grant heritage 150 years later.
Calendar of Events
2012 Exhibits
The Morrill Act and Virginia Tech
Reception and opening
July 11, 4:30 pm
Newman Library, 2nd floor
Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War
September 5-October 19
Newman Library, 1st floor
2012 Lincoln Lectures
A Man Called Lincoln
James I. Robertson
September 6
The Age of Lincoln, Then and Now
Vernon Burton
September 11
Saving the Last Best Hope on Earth: Lincoln and the Constitution
Charles Hubbard
September 27
An Inestimable Jewel: Abraham Lincoln and Civil War Era Constitutional Amendments
Thomas E. Mackey
October 8