In this exhibit you can explore the different phases of Solitude’s history. We begin when this place was Indigenous land, move on to its history as a slave plantation in the nineteenth century, and take a look at Solitude's many uses as a university building. By Kenny Barnes, Emily Humes, Alex O'Dea, and Paul Quigley.
THIS IS HOME: WHOSE HOME?
Solitude. It’s the oldest building on Virginia Tech’s campus and the heart of the university’s history. For the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who call themselves Hokies, this is home.
This is home--but whose home? If Solitude embodies the pride of the “Hokie Nation,” it also symbolizes the social divisions and inequities that have characterized this place, during the 150 years Virginia Tech has existed and long before.
We use Solitude to uncover diverse strands of Virginia Tech's history, including stories that have traditionally been silenced, marginalized, or simply forgotten.
Solitude as it appears today
Solitude in 1908
Since 2011 the building has housed Tech’s Appalachian Studies program. But that’s only its most recent use.
The house and grounds of Solitude went on to form part of the original campus of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College--the institution that would become Virginia Tech--and have served many purposes for the university over the last 150 years.
