Albemarle Chapter, NSDAR

About Albemarle Chapter, NSDAR

Albemarle Chapter, NSDAR, is in Charlottesville, Albemarle County, Virginia, and has 133 members and associates. We are always excited to welcome new members. Please see our membership page for additional information. We are a service-oriented, nonpolitical, women’s organization whose members volunteer hundreds of hours annually in support of NSDAR’s mission of historic preservation, education, and patriotism. Our service also supports the national DAR motto, “God, Home, and Country.”

Our chapter was honored to host Thomas Jefferson, aka Bill Barker, the interpreter from Monticello, at our February 2023 meeting, where we celebrated the 131st birthday of our chapter.

 Albemarle Chapter, NSDAR, History

The Albemarle Chapter, NSDAR, is the second oldest DAR chapter in Virginia, having been founded in 1892. Our official start date was February 1892, following the organization of the National Society in October 1890. What had begun as an effort for women to join the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) organization, only to be denied, became the rallying call for women to establish their national patriotic society.

We meet monthly from September through May, with six meetings at lunchtime and two in the evening.  Each meeting has an interesting speaker with such varied topics as Colonial clothing, local history, beekeeping to Thomas Jefferson, and service dogs.

Our Chapter Gavel

Each meeting of the Albemarle Chapter, NSDAR, is called to order with the rap of a handmade gavel. In 1928, former Chapter Regent Miriam Duke Boocock had the gavel made with wood she brought back from Israel. The engraving reads “Presented to Albemarle Chapter DAR by Miriam Duke Boocock 1928. Wood from the Mount of Olives.” Along the handle is burned the word “Jerusalem.”

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