Life at Liberty Hall: Education, Idle Frolicks, and Post-Revolutionary Degeneracy.

"...the intellectual education of such depraved youth was injurious to society, because the increase of knowledge with a corrupt heart only adds power to wickedness."

-William Graham, Rector of Liberty Hall Academy

A Safe, Comfortable Existence

The school’s rural location led many to believe that Liberty Hall was economically isolated and self-sufficient. However, artifacts recovered from excavations illustrate that domestic production of goods was limited and that the school and Lexington as a whole had ready access to a variety of imported goods and news. By 1782, the concept of frontier was no longer applicable to the socio-cultural circumstances of Rockbridge County. In addition, archaeologists have found that the Liberty Hall community was of a relatively high socio-economic class that led a sheltered, affluent life.

Rules and Regulations

Although accounts of student life at the academy conflict concerning the behavior of the young men who studied there, it is certain that their activities were strictly regulated by the Rector and the Board of Trustees. They were forbidden to play cards, dice, or indulge in any form of gambling. Students were not to be found at the taverns late at night nor were they allowed to "engage at any debauching revel." However, there are reports of fighting, swearing, and stealing and archaeological evidence of gaming.

Excavations Of The Liberty Hall Complex

From 1972 to 1979 the Department of Anthropology at Washington and Lee conducted intensive excavations of eight structures in the vicinity of the Liberty Hall Ruins. Of these, six were determined to have been in use during the period in which the academy was located atop Mulberry Hill. The only documented structure that was not found was the 1793 smokehouse. In addition, two buildings, a domestic structure and a smokehouse, from the first quarter of the nineteenth century were excavated.

Supplemented by a wealth of documentary evidence, the data gleaned from these projects provided a comprehensive reconstruction of life at Liberty Hall.