CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) — The VA250 Mobile Museum is parked outside of Charlottesville’s City Hall this week, bringing a full-fledged, interactive exhibit on the nation’s founding to Virginia ahead of the United States’ 250th anniversary.

The exhibit, titled “Out of Many, One,” is attached to the back of a custom-built 53-foot-expandable tractor-trailer. It’s been touring around Virginia since the start of 2025 and will be in Charlottesville through Wednesday. The exhibit will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“Each state has their own version of the 250 celebrations, and of course the first 13 are always gonna be loud and proud,” Erin Smith, Program Coordinator for the Mobile Museum, told Cville Right Now. “Virginia wanted to showcase that in the most unique way possible, which is how we ended with the mobile museum.”

The exhibit itself showcases Virginia’s role in the nation’s founding, using interactive displays to showcase the commonwealth’s role in the revolution.

Among those displays is a video of an actor portraying Patrick Henry reciting his famous “Give me liberty of give me death” speech, which was given at the St. John’s Church in Richmond in 1775.

Another display shows a map of Virginia, allowing guests to select different cities and counties in the state and learn about that area and its residents’ contributions to the revolution.

“People like to see themselves in the museum,” Smith said, “and one thing that we’ve successfully done here is make sure that every Virginian is represented.”

The museum was brought to Charlottesville by the city, as well as Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, Friends of Charlottesville Downtown, the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau, Virginia American Revolution 250 Commission and VA250 Charlottesville-Albemarle.

Its arrival this week was planned to coincide with Founder’s Day, Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, on Monday, April 13.

Monticello’s Vice President for Education and Guest Experience Steve Light told Cville Right Now the museum is a great way for people and explore and be inspired by the nation’s founding, while highlighting how all Virginians played a role.

“It doesn’t just tell the story of founders like Jefferson,” he said, “but it tells a story about women in the revolution, and native people in the revolution, and African Americans, and it tells a complete story that, I think, is important for us to kind of reflect on as we’re in this 250th moment.”

Friends of Charlottesville Downtown Executive Director Greer Achenbach told Cville Right Now that with the 250 anniversary as well as the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Downtown Mall, she believes it’s important to be reflective of ‘the incredible amount of history” around Charlottesville.

“It’s such a tourism draw for us — Monticello, Highland, University of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson,” she said, “and we really want to be capitalizing on that. We have a lot of history here downtown, just on Main Street before it was the mall over in Court Square. 
And then, of course, the history of the Mall over the past 50 years.”

The mobile museum is just one program highlighting the anniversary this year in Charlottesville, with everything culminating in July with Friends of Charlottesville Downtown’s 50th Anniversary celebration on the 3rd, followed by Monticello’s naturalization ceremony on the 4th.

These are just a few of the events both organizations will be running this spring and summer, and the mobile museum itself will be touring Virginia through at least 2027. Smith said the hope is to continue touring through 2031, mimicking the timeline of the actual revolution.

“America was made in Virginia,” She said. “Everything that we did then affects today. Government, politics, presidents, everything comes from Virginia. 
And I think we wanted to highlight that and show just how much of a powerhouse we were then and how much of a powerhouse we are now.”