Steve is, I reckon, the last living Confederate. We're staying in a Hampton Inn because he believes it's named after the Confederate general Wade Hampton. It's just a division of Holiday Inn. In the two day drive to get here we've listened to the 12-hour audio book of Shelby Foote's history of the battle of Gettysburg. Steve listens for loopholes but the outcome remains unchanged.
History is like that.
En route we stopped at Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson, and Ash Lawn, home of James Monroe. He designed Monticello to dazzle visitors, so it's filled with exotic artifacts guaranteed to slacken the jaws of his amazed guests. Wherever Jefferson traveled, and he loved road trips, he came back with new ideas to implement at Monticello. It, like the U.S., was always under construction. James Monroe was a self-made man who worked his way up in the world and held more offices than any other President.