Explore Ivy Creek Natural Area & Historic River View Farm (In-Person)

In-Person Event, Open to All, $25 (includes lectures, tours, and coffee)

Join Lifetime Learning to explore the history of Albemarle County’s Ivy Creek Natural Area & Historic River View Farm. This farm is the home of Hugh Carr, a formerly enslaved laborer who amassed over 125 acres of land by 1890, making him among the most prominent African American landowners in Albemarle County. River View Farm is also a rare surviving example of the Union Ridge/Hydraulic Mills area, an African American community that flourished in the region in the late nineteenth century. It is now the home of the Ivy Creek Natural Area.

Ivy Creek’s Sue Erhardt, Susie Farmer, Mariah Payne, and Olivia Brubaker, and three UVA faculty members who serve on the Ivy Creek Foundation Board of Directors, Sarita Herman, Jody Lahendro, and Lisa Schutt, will provide lectures and tours. We will learn about the history of the Carr family and their landholdings and tour the farmhouse, barn, cemetery, and grounds.

This program requires periods of walking, sometimes on uneven lawns or terrain.

Olivia Brubaker, Program Coordinator, Ivy Creek Natural Area & Historic River View Farm

Olivia Brubaker is a Program Coordinator at the Ivy Creek Natural Area & Historic River View Farm. She recently graduated from Christopher Newport University, majoring in History and minoring in Literature, Leadership, and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Brubaker interned at Ivy Creek, giving tours and researching the Carr-Greer family and the site’s history.

Sue Erhardt, Executive Director, Ivy Creek Natural Area & Historic River View Farm

Sue Erhardt is the Executive Director at the Ivy Creek Natural Area & Historic River View Farm. She has over 20 years of senior leadership experience in the conservation, nature, and place-based education movement. Over her career, she has grown programs, expanded staff, and sustainably developed organizational infrastructure. She has worked for urban forestry organizations in Detroit and Washington, DC, and most recently for an agriculture nonprofit based in Augusta and Highland Counties in Virginia.

Susie Farmer, Director of Education, Ivy Creek Natural Area & Historic River View Farm

Susie Farmer is the Director of Education at the Ivy Creek Natural Area & Historic River View Farm. She has over ten years of experience working in museums and National Parks, leading tours, and creating formal and informal educational programs for children and adults. These programs have included geology, history, wildflowers and native flowers, native animal species, and conservation programs.

Sarita Herman, Senior Supervisory Project Manager, Facilities Management, University of Virginia

Sarita Herman is the Supervisory Team Leader on the Ivy Corridor project in Facilities Management at the University of Virginia. She also serves as President of the Board of Directors at the Ivy Creek Natural Area & Historic River View Farm. She manages historic projects on behalf of the University from initiation through design and construction. Her work includes hiring and overseeing specialty historic preservation architects, engineers, contractors, and archaeologists who work on many historic buildings and landscapes at the University.

Jody Lahendro, Retired, Facilities Management, University of Virginia

Jody Lahendro retired in 2021 after seventeen years of working as a Historic Preservation Architect at the University of Virginia. His final projects at UVA included managing the Carr’s Hill and Rotunda renovations. Before UVA, he owned an architectural practice in Richmond for 18 years, specializing in historic preservation. In retirement, Lahendro now provides pro bono services to nonprofits with historic buildings associated with African Americans and serves on the Board of Directors of the Ivy Creek Natural Area & Historic River View Farm.

Mariah Payne, Education Coordinator, Ivy Creek Natural Area & Historic River View Farm

Mariah Payne is the Education Coordinator at the Ivy Creek Natural Area & Historic River View Farm. She graduated from Christopher Newport University in 2022 with a major in history and double minors in museum studies and psychology. A native of Charlottesville, she is a descendant of River View Farm through Texie Mae Hawkins and Monticello through the Gilletes.

Lisa Shutt, Associate Professor, Department of Women, Gender & Sexuality and Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and African Studies, University of Virginia

Lisa Shutt is an Associate Professor in the Department of Women, Gender & Sexuality and the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and African Studies at the University of Virginia. Her research interests include transnational studies, colonialism/post-coloniality, media representations of Africa/race in the U.S., foodways, African autobiography, and the history of anthropology. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Ivy Creek Natural Area & Historic River View Farm.

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Cancellation Policy

Participants may cancel their registration for this One-Day UVA program by emailing Susan Lynch at [email protected]. Susan will send an email notification confirming your cancellation.

Refund Policy

If Lifetime Learning (via Susan) receives your cancellation email before midnight on October 15, 2024, you will receive a refund of 50% of your registration fee.

If Lifetime Learning (via Susan) receives your cancellation email after midnight on October 15, 2024, no refund will be issued.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Ivy Creek Natural Area & Historic River View Farm, 1780 Earlysville Road, Charlottesville, United States