点评:The restoration process underway at Poplar Forest is interesting and is being very well done. The quality of the tours being offered, however, is low. Our tour guide, Darla, was very knowledgeable about the architecture and the restoration process. However, she was uncomfortable with, and unable to knowledgeably respond to, guests’ questions about history when of course tour group members will have questions about Jefferson himself and not just about Poplar Forest. For example, when a tour group member asked about Sally Hemings’ relationship to Jefferson, she stated that “what you hear depends upon who you talk to,” as if there is no historical evidence and it’s all opinionated hearsay. She did not provide information or recommend that guests visit the Monticello website section on Sally Hemings where historical and DNA evidence is presented. When another guest asked about whether Jefferson was against slavery as some of his writings indicate, she responded that yes, he was against slavery but that he was also a man of his time who held slaves just like others around him. But of course there were contemporaries of Jefferson of greater integrity and conscience such as Edward Coles and Robert Carter III, both of whom were wealthy Virginians who did free their slaves during their lifetimes. And when asked if Jefferson was a good slave master, she responded that Jefferson never beat his slaves which, while technically true in that there is no evidence that he himself beat people that he enslaved, he did have others beat them for him, as documented for example in the article "The Dark Side of Thomas Jefferson" easily accessible on the Smithsonian Magazine website. After completing the tour, we stumbled upon an interesting history exhibit downstairs that our tour guide had not mentioned. Upon seeing it, we wished that we had completed a self-guided tour instead. Poplar Forest would benefit from having their tour guides receive updated training from Monticello. Both Monticello and Montpelier provide excellent historical background during their tours; Poplar Forest should do so as well.
翻译:白杨林正在进行的恢复过程很有趣,而且进展得非常好。然而,所提供的旅游质量很低。我们的导游 Darla 对建筑和修复过程非常了解。然而,她对客人有关历史的问题感到不舒服,也无法明智地回答,因为旅行团成员当然会对杰斐逊本人提出疑问,而不仅仅是白杨林。例如,当一名旅行团成员询问莎莉·海明斯与杰斐逊的关系时,她表示“你听到的取决于你与谁交谈”,仿佛没有历史证据,全是固执己见的道听途说。她没有提供信息,也没有建议客人访问蒙蒂塞洛网站上有关莎莉·海明斯的部分,该部分提供了历史和 DNA 证据。当另一位客人问杰斐逊是否像他的一些著作所表明的那样反对奴隶制时,她回答说,是的,他反对奴隶制,但他也是他那个时代的人,就像他周围的其他人一样拥有奴隶。当然,杰斐逊的同时代人也有更正直和更有良心的人,例如爱德华·科尔斯和罗伯特·卡特三世,他们都是富有的弗吉尼亚人,在有生之年解放了奴隶。当被问及杰斐逊是否是一个好的奴隶主时,她回答说杰斐逊从未殴打他的奴隶,虽然从技术上讲是正确的,因为没有证据表明他本人殴打他奴役的人,但据记录,他确实让其他人为他殴打他们例如,在史密森尼杂志网站上可以轻松访问“托马斯·杰斐逊的黑暗面”一文。参观结束后,我们在楼下偶然发现了导游没有提到的一个有趣的历史展览。看到它后,我们真希望我们完成了一次自助游。白杨林将受益于他们的导游接受蒙蒂塞洛的最新培训。蒙蒂塞洛和蒙彼利埃在游览期间都提供了绝佳的历史背景;杨树林也应该这么做。