Meriwether Homeschooled: Part I

You have already been introduced in preceding articles to Thomas Jefferson’s seminal American library at Monticello. There’s a much more expansive story to tell as it bears on the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803-06. Monticello Library’s Librarian-in-Chief reshaped our world through that Expedition, as he did in many other ways. And, by the way, Pittsburgh played a big part in the Expedition. The overland routes to Pittsburgh from the east, over the Allegheny Mountains, led from Philadelphia and Washington, passing through Fredericktown (present day Fredrick, MD) and Harpers Ferry (presently in the state of West Virginia). Meriwether Lewis traveled the rough, connecting, eastern roads beginning in mid-March 1803 while engaged in the acquisition of scientific knowledge, instruments…