We are honored to call Mt. San Angelo home to VCCA’s flagship artist residency program. We aim to be good stewards of this land, which has been a source of creativity, inspiration, and artistic retreat for many writers, visual artists, and composers since our arrival here in 1978.
However, we must acknowledge a long history of violence in Virginia and the legacy of colonialism and systemic racism that paved the path for our current claim to this land.
VCCA’s artist residency program at Mt. San Angelo is located on the traditional territory of the Monacan Indian Nation. Today, the Monacan community centers around Bear Mountain in Amherst County, where the Monacan Ancestral Museum is committed to preserving the rich legacy of the tribe’s history and culture. We encourage you to visit **monacannation.com** to learn more about the tribe while you are here.
We must also acknowledge the legacy of slavery woven into the history of Sweet Briar College, from whom VCCA rented and ultimately purchased Mt. San Angelo. On the site of the college is a preserved slave cabin as well as the Sweet Briar Plantation Burial Grounds where many enslaved people who built and worked on the former plantation are buried. You can read more about Sweet Briar College’s history at sbc.edu/museum.