Rick Britton

RICK BRITTON is an award-winning historical journalist whose work has appeared in the pages of The Washington Times, The Richmond Times Dispatch, Virginia: The University of Virginia Alumni News, Civil War Magazine, and Civil War Times Illustrated. Having written over 200 articles—most of them on the history of the Old Dominion—Britton is the editor of The Magazine of Albemarle County History and a well published map artist. He resides in Charlottesville with his wife, two step-sons, and four felines.

Rick will be talking to us about his latest book, Albemarle & Charlottesville: An Illustrated History of the First 150 Years. It is a publication of the Albemarle-Charlottesville Historical Society which details Albemarle history from the county’s inception in 1744 to the final years of the 19th century. The book focuses on the many fascinating people who have walked Charlottesville’s streets and traveled Albemarle’s byways.

Albemarle County residents helped map, tame, and govern the Old Dominion. They opened up, explored, and conquered the frontier. They educated America’s youth, and they fought and died in Virginia’s great struggles. In Albemarle & Charlottesville, the reader will learn of central Virginia’s first inhabitants—the Monacan Indians—as well as Thomas Jefferson’s many contributions to his native region. Within its pages can be found George Rogers Clark (the Conqueror of the Northwest), Edward Coles (the Albemarle native who became governor of Illinois), the Marquis de Lafayette (who visited in 1824); George Armstrong Custer (who made two unwanted visits during the American Civil War); Fairfax Taylor (the local black leader who had purchased his own freedom); and Maud Coleman Woods (the Charlottesville woman who was named “America’s most beautiful blonde.”).