VA250

• Reimbursement style grant that requires a data-based marketing plan designed to promote programming, events, and interpretive signage related to VA250 and America’s 250th commemoration, particularly focused on encouraging overnight and out of area visitors.
• 1:1 cash match / up to $10,000.
• Open to VA250 local committees as well as museums and historic sites.
• Requires letter of support from local committee. In Charlottesville and Albemarle County, this committee is led by the CACVB, and we ask that all local organizations seeking letter of support present projects at full committee meeting. These meetings are held virtually. Contact VA250@visitcharlottesville.org to be added to next meeting agenda.
• Next round opens: March 2025.
• Find the application here.
  

Not a museum or historic site? If you are not eligible for this grant, consider applying for others through Virginia Tourism Corporation. Microbusiness Marketing Leverage Program, Marketing Leverage Program, and Virginia Special Events or Festivals Program are open to local businesses and non-profits. CACVB Destination Development Managers are happy to talk through which would be the best fit for you. Email development@visitcharlottesville.org to set up a meeting.

• Reimbursement style grant for projects whose content focuses on the American Revolution and its legacy. You can see a list of projects funded in 2023 here and in 2024 here.
• 1:1 cash match / up to $10,000.
• Open to non-profits, state and federally-recognized tribal nations, and VA250 local committees and their partners.
• Requires letter of support from local committee. In Charlottesville and Albemarle County, this committee is led by the CACVB, and we ask that all local organizations seeking letter of support present projects at full committee meeting. These meetings are held virtually. Contact VA250@visitcharlottesville.org to be added to next meeting agenda.
• Next round opens: March 2025.
• Virginia Humanities offers other grants and sponsorships throughout the year.
• Find the application here.

• Virginia DHR offers multiple grant programs, predominately for preservation, recordation, and interpretation of historic sites and resources, including graves and cemeteries, threatened sites, and historic and archaeological sites of significance associated with Virginia’s Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
• Most grants are open to non-profits, state and federally-recognized tribal nations, and Virginia localities.
• National Park Service also offers multiple grants programs. The Semiquincentennial Program is specifically for restoring and preserving sites and structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places that commemorate the founding of the nation before December 31, 1800.
• Most NPS grants are open to non-profits, federally-recognized tribal nations, and localities
• Find the DHR Application and NPS Application.

• Fund supports meaningful history education and preservation projects in Virginia. Projects may include restoration, rehabilitation and other related building and construction projects, preservation, research and documentation, publications, acquisition of property, land, and objects, conservation, landscape or infrastructure improvements, project planning, educational programs and outreach, and digitization and website projects.
• Open to non-profits, state and federally-recognized tribal nations, and local government agencies.
• Next round: September 2025. Special consideration will be given to applications related to VA250.
  Awards will be announced in early 2026. Half of grant will be dispersed up front with remainder reimbursed. Project must begin within six months of awarding of grant.
• Find the application here.

Thomas Jefferson's Escape Route is a VA250 project of NSDAR Albemarle Chapter. The brochure encourages people to follow Jefferson's path from Monticello to Poplar Forest during the British Invasion of 1781. The brochure is available at six welcome centers throughout Virginia, local visitor centers, Monticello, Poplar Forest, and Highland, as well as online here.

Jack Jouett Trail experience is being organized by NSDAR Jack Jouett Chapter. The trail will start in Cuckoo in Louisa County and end at Monticello with three new historical markers being planned to mark major stops along the way. Visitors can follow Jouett's ride by car or bicycle.

Lafayette 200, led by the American Friends of Lafayette (AFL), marks bicentennial celebrations of Lafayette’s return tour of America in 1824 and 1825. AFL members will be visiting greater Charlottesville area November 15 – 17, 2024, for a full itinerary of events. Plans are also underway for series of events to be held here in August 2025.

AFL created a public, digital tour of Central Virginia sites that is available via their website or TravelStorys.

On November 17, 2024, Monticello will host a special celebration commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Marquis de Lafayette's return visit. The day will include interpreters portraying Thomas Jefferson, Lafayette, Martha Jefferson Randolph, and Israel Gillette Jefferson, French phrase lessons, children's craft projects, and wine and French food tastings. Admission to event is included with all tickets.

In October 2024, Monticello hosted "Constituting a People", a special evening event on the iconic West Lawn, and two-day "After 1776: Opportunities, Shocks and Dangers" conference.

Monticello has launched two new monthly programs: Gallery Talks and Pursuits of Knowledge conversations.

“A Window to a New America”: this new exhibit at James Monroe's Highland explores the people and events of historic Highland and their connection to U.S. history. Exhibits are housed in buildings throughout the property including in the 1818 basement rooms, 1850s kitchen, Overseer's House, and Massey House. This work has been completed in collaboration with Highland’s Council of Descendant Advisors, who contributed to exhibition’s content, theme and tone.

WTJU's C’ville Puzzle Hunt on March 15, 2025, will have a VA250 theme. C’ville Puzzle Hunt collaborates with local businesses, musicians, and visual and performance artists to create a celebratory festival atmosphere for this giant scavenger hunt in downtown Charlottesville. 2025 will be Puzzle Hunt's fourth year with attendance expected at 1,000+.

Sister Revolutions Podcast examines the ideas of revolution and historical memory in Besancon, France and Charlottesville, Virginia. The podcast is co-sponsored by Brown Residential College, Charlottesville Sister Cities Commission, UVA’s Department of French, America2026 project, and Virginia Audio Collective at WTJU 91.1 FM.

Episodes first aired mid-April through mid-May in 2024, and you can hear them via the Virginia Audio Collective here.

Cheers to Independence Trail (statewide opportunity) is being organized by Heart of Virginia Artisans as a VA250 project. Heart of Virginia is based in Hanover and hosts artisan markets at breweries, cideries, and wineries. Cheers to Independence Trail will be promoted through website and brochure at Virginia welcome centers.