Program

FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026

9:00 a.m-3:00 p.m.  
Optional Day Tour to Middleton Place with presentation and Lowcountry lunch
Three Centuries of Landscape Innovation at Middleton Place
Thomas L. Woltz, Senior Principal and Owner, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects; New York, NY and Charlottesville, VA

A coach will be provided from the Charleston Visitor Center, 375 Meeting Street, to Middleton Place and return.

The Optional Day Tour will be limited in size and offered
only to Charleston Symposium ticket purchasers on a first-come, first-served basis.

5:00-6:00 p.m.
Symposium Registration and Opening Night Reception: 
Old Federal Court Room, 23 Chalmers Street 
This early 19th-century building was the site of the U.S. District Court from 1845 to 1860 before becoming part of the Confederate Home and College property. Sisters Mary Amarinthia Snowden and Isabella Snowden established the Home for war widows and orphans in 1867, while later opening a teacher’s college on the premises as well. The facility today operates as a nonprofit organization, which respects the dignity of all people and continues its mission of providing affordable housing for those with limited means, and college scholarships.

6:00-7:00 p.m.
Commander in Chief: From Revolution to the Presidency
Inaugural Richard Hampton Jenrette Keynote Address with R. Scott Stephenson, Ph.D.
President and CEO, Museum of the American Revolution; Philadelphia, PA

Welcome by Cynthia M. Wood
Board Member, Charleston Symposium; Charleston, SC

Introduction by Robert A. Leath Moderator, Charleston Symposium; Charleston, SC
Executive Director, Edenton Historical Commission; Edenton, NC

SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 2026

8:15 a.m. 
Coffee Service: Old Federal Court Room, 23 Chalmers Street 

8:45-9:15 a.m. 
Welcoming Remarks and Preservation Society Overview 
Brian R. Turner, President & C.E.O.,
Preservation Society of Charleston; Charleston, SC

9:15-10:15 a.m. 
Federal Faces: Portraits of a New Nation
Laura Pass Barry, Juli Grainger Senior Curator of Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture;
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; Williamsburg, VA

10:30-11:30 a.m. 
More than a “pocket full of Letters”: Uncovering Adams Treasures
Sara Martin, Editor in Chief, The Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society; Boston, MA

11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m. 
Black Founders: The Material World of the Forten Family of Philadelphia
Matthew Skic, Director of Collections and Exhibitions, Museum of the American Revolution; Philadelphia, PA

12:45-2:00 p.m. 
Midday Break
Box lunches are being provided 
Old Federal Court Room, 23 Chalmers Street 

2:00-3:00 p.m.
“I Beg for liberty’s sake …Give us dinner to Morrow”: Diplomacy and Dining at Jefferson’s Monticello
Diane C. Ehrenpreis, Curator of Decorative Arts and Historic Interiors, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello; Charlottesville, VA

3:15-4:15 p.m.
American Experiments, Then and Now
Sylvia L. Yount, Ph.D., Lawrence A. Fleishman Curator in Charge, The American Wing, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; New York, NY

4:15-4:30 p.m.
Symposium synopsis and introduction to the Old St. Michael’s Rectory for the Evening Soirée;
Robert A. Leath, Executive Director, Edenton Historical Commission; Edenton, NC

6:00-7:30 p.m.
Evening Soirée at the Old St. Michael’s Rectory (c.1766)
The three-story Charleston single house was designed and built for St. Michael’s Church by Miller & Fullerton, one of colonial Charleston’s few master builder partnerships. It served as the rectory for the church’s first minister before his dismissal in 1776 for remaining loyal to the Crown. The house was then rented to various tenants before being sold in 1825 to William Read. Dr. Read was a prominent physician in the city who had served with distinction in the Continental Army Medical Department.

Shuttles are provided to the Old St. Michael’s Rectory from the Old Federal Court Room.

SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2026

10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Study Tour
Information to come.

This visit includes Bloody Marys and a light brunch.
Shuttles are provided to the house from the Old Federal Court Room.